A New Coach at South Lafourche High has High Hopes

In a far southern portion of Louisiana lies South Lafourche High School. This is a 4A school located in Galliano, LA and is home to the Tarpons football team. South Lafourche has seen success years ago, producing state championship teams in 1971 and in 1977.

 

On that 1977 championship team was current LSU interim head coach Ed Orgeron. He along with former New Orleans Saints player Bobby Hebert played on that team and brought a state championship to South Lafourche. Now in 2016, the Tarpons football team is being coached by first year coach Brandon Nowlin.

 

Nowlin also has ties to the LSU Tigers, who played on the team in the early 2000’s and was a member of the 2003 National Championship team under coach Saban. Coach Nowlin has previously coached at Nicholls State as well as Central Arkansas. He also coached at Morgan City High School for a few years, and before the 2016 school year started, he received a call from South Lafourche to be the head football coach and gladly took the position.

 

Coach Nowlin was asked how he felt about his team this year and he said that he felt very confident about his team and that his players have been competitive so far. The team has fell to their opponents the last couple of games but coach Nowlin stated that no team was physically dominant in these games, and that his team has played well throughout these games.

 

His players are also confident and ready to learn and improve in order to win games this season; the players also realize how close they are to winning these games, which can only give them further confidence to perform better. Coach Nowlin also stated that the education of the players is stressed and that they strive to build champions on and off the field.

 

The Tarpons have about 20 seniors on the team this year, some of those are injured but most of these seniors are significant contributors to the team. The team as a whole is packed with juniors and seniors who are ready to perform the best they can for their new coach. There are a number of players have the potential for the next level of football, and some are already on their way.

 

One of those players who can be a college prospect is Gevin Matherne, a senior defensive end who has been performing well this year. Junior Corbin Allen, a 5-11 receiver and running back will be a senior next year and definitely can go to college after next season. Caleb Dufren is a senior linebacker who can play college ball after this season as well. There is also a player being recruited by a college team. Other players that were mentioned by the coach as college prospects were Melik Guidroz, a junior tackle, Drake Billiot, a 5-11 defensive end who is a junior, Jeremy Rodger, a junior on the offensive line, and Terry Hunter, who is a junior linebacker.

 

 

This team has several seniors with some talent, and also some juniors with talent who can perform well for the team. Coach Nowlin has also stated that the community has given a lot of support for him as a new coach and he can see this support improving as more games are played and he coaches more seasons.

 

So far in his short time at South Lafourche, coach Nowlin has enjoyed his time as coach of the football program and will look to improve in the coming weeks and for future seasons. Coach enjoys his position and looks forward to coaching his team and teams that will come in future years. The tarpons will continue district play for the rest of the season, playing teams like Morgan City, Vanderbilt Catholic, and Assumption