The Avoyelles Mustangs will enter the 2024 season led by one of their own in alum Corey Bannister, who is in his second full season as the team’s head coach. After a 4-8 season, the Mustangs did end the second on a little bit of a high note by upsetting Kinder in the first round of the playoffs with a 28-22 win before losing in the second round of the Division III Non-Select Playoffs to the Pine Raiders.
Carrying that momentum from last year, Coach Bannister has been focused on making sure that his Mustangs are conditioned and ready to roll.
“We’ve just been getting bigger, stronger, faster. We have been trying to take care of business in the weight room. I wanted to improve on our conditioning and we have definitely been doing that. This summer, we have been having a 90% attendance rate. Whether it has been running, lifting, you name it, they have been there. I couldn’t be any more prouder of those guys because they are taking on that responsibility. In 9th and 10th grade, they backed up some pretty good players so now, it is their turn to step up and they have really been taking the lead.”
Avoyelles Head Coach Corey Bannister
Some of those guys that Coach Bannister has talked about have contributed early in their careers as part of some of those great Avoyelles teams just a couple of years ago and are now carrying on that responsibility of trying to bring that magic back this season.
“One of the guys that I brought here today in Kobe Smith has been stepping up. He doesn’t miss anything along with Preston Barnes and our new quarterback Kaise Gauthier have been stepping up as leaders for us not only in the weight room, but on the field.”
Avoyelles Head Coach Corey Bannister
The Mustangs have one of the more unique offenses in the state, which has allowed them to be successful program under former head coach Andy Boone, who guided the Mustangs to 12 playoff berths and an 81-70 overall record including the team’s first district championship and semifinal berth in 2021. Under Coach Boone, he has been known for always going for it on fourth down while never punting and always kicking onside kicks. Even though the Mustangs are more conventional now a days under Coach Bannister, they are still running the double wing while also expanding the playbook and running a more modern style of offense.
“We are known for being a double wing team. We are starting to open things up a little bit and doing some things in the ace and in the pistol and we are even running some five wide. Kaise is more of a pocket passer, but he does know how to run the double wing so it gives us the ability to run and pass.”
Avoyelles Head Coach Corey Bannister
The Mustangs have produced some great running backs including two that recently played in the Gridiron Football All-American Bowl Game the last two seasons in Carlos Bazert Jr. and Decareyn Sampson. Both running backs had outstanding prep careers with a combined 10,431 yards and 153 touchdowns. The play in the trenches and the patient running style of the running backs have made it such a hard rushing attack to stop in the past.
“We’ve had a lot of advantages against teams inside the trenches. We’ve always had strong linemen so that is one advantage that we had when we practiced in the double wing. Also, our skill athletes were patient in it. That made them more successful because they weren’t just trying to hit home runs every play. Being patient allowed them to hit more holes and make big plays.”
“When running the double wing, that’s what stands out and that’s the linemen. We have two guys that are going to be really good for us this year. One of them is going to be a senior and has been doing his thing since 9th grade. That is Xavier Prier and we have another one that we are excited about that is going into his junior year that will be playing football for the first time. I am looking forward to seeing those guys and the season that they are going to have.”
Avoyelles Head Coach Corey Bannister
As far as the upcoming season is concerned, what will help is that the Mustangs won’t have to go through a grueling non-district schedule like they faced last season, which will give them a better opportunity to improve their record from a season ago.
“I got the job last year and I was on the staff the year before, and we had the hardest schedule in 2A last year. We were playing Southern Lab, Teurlings Catholic, Lafayette Christian, Eunice, and Bunkie so we had a very difficult schedule, but it prepared us for district. This year, we won’t have to play those teams except for Bunkie because they are our parish rivals. We will play Pineville and we will play Buckeye, which was in our district when we were in 3A. We will play them and we will also play Lakeview.”
“As for district play, we lost Rosepine and Pickering and we have to replace them with Port Barre and Kinder, which was a team we were able to beat in the playoffs. I also know that they has us circled on their calendar as well because we knocked them out of the playoffs last year and they are itching to get us back. Also, every year, the big game is going to be Marksville and that is going to be the opening game of the season. The Bunkie game is always big and in district, we have built a little rivalry with Menard. It is going to be exciting and looking forward to that.”
Avoyelles Head Coach Corey Bannister
As an alum of the school in the 1990’s, Coach Bannister has always had a special place in his heart for Avoyelles High School and he is appreciative of the support that he has gotten from the community ever since replacing a program legend that has been at the head of the program for over a decade.
“Our principal has been very flexible when it comes to allowing coaches to go to clinics and doing things with players because I would understand if that wasn’t the case because we are a small 2A school and they would need us at school a lot of times. I also can’t say enough about our booster club. They help us out with anything that I even mention and make sure that we get it. Our community is different because we are a consolidating school and we have five communities surrounding it, but they have been a real help. I graduated from Avoyelles way back in the ’90’s, but they have been really supportive of the kids and the parents have been amazing.”
Avoyelles Head Coach Corey Bannister
Not only has Coach Bannister been an alum of the school, but he was on the coaching staff when the program had their best year in school history in 2021. Seeing that success first hand, he knows what the program is capable of doing and now, it is all about building upon that and making sure that magical semifinal run was sustainable and not a flash in the pan.
“The culture that we are trying to build, we are just trying to concentrate on being great and trying to build a great culture. We are fortunate when I got there, a lot of those guys led the team to the semifinals for the first time ever in school history. When I was there as an assistant, they won the district for the first time ever. The school has been playing football since 1988 so what I want to do now is to build on that and start to do those things on a regular basis.”
Avoyelles Head Coach Corey Bannister
The upcoming season begins at home against Marksville on Friday, September 6th. Coach Bannister wants the fans and the community to come out and support them all the way from the beginning of the season to the end in year number two.
“I just want to give a shoutout to everybody in Mustang Nation and anybody that is affiliated with Avoyelles High School. I am looking forward to my second season at my alma mater and hopefully, we can go further than what we did last year.”
Avoyelles Head Coach Corey Bannister
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