Located mere miles away from the Louisiana-Mississippi border in Franklinton, the Pine Raiders have become a formidable football program in 3A, contending for district titles and deep playoff runs year in and year out.
A lot of that is thanks to Head Coach Bradley Seal, who has brought the program to relevance after a number of years of dormancy following their relocation from Hurricane Katrina. Pine went a decade plus without a playoff appearance before Seal became the Head Coach in 2012. Now entering his 14th year with Pine, they have rattled off 12 straight playoff appearances, frequently making it to the quarterfinals in that time as well. It’s hard to argue against those results, and Coach Seal has learned many lessons over that time.
I’ve grown a lot. It’s not about the plays you run, it’s about execution. There are lot of different plays that can work, but they only work if you can block and tackle properly.
Pine High School Head Coach Bradley Seal
The program has grown under Coach Seal’s leadership for many reasons, but the main one one he points to is the behavior of the players off the field. He puts a lot of emphasis on the players doing the right thing in day to day life in the classroom and the community, and how those actions lead to them becoming better football players.
They have to be the right people off the field too, and those things go hand-in-hand. As we’ve grown as a football program, we’ve also improved academically and behaviorally. People say they raise young men first and football players second, but you can’t have one without the other. You have to do things right off the field to maximize your ability on the field.
Pine High School Head Coach Bradley Seal
Said community has done its part too, supporting the football team at all levels of the school. Everything seems to have grown together to make both the football team and the school surrounding it the best it possibly can be. It’s not just the football players that have maximized their potential, the community has too.
The administration, all the way down to the teachers, have done a really good job. We are an “A” school, and that comes down to everyone in the community contributing and making that the case.
Pine High School Head Coach Bradley Seal
The team itself is coming off of a 7-7 season and a quarterfinals appearance in the playoffs, but has a lot to replace. One key player is 2024 Gridiron Football All-American and Player of the Week DJ Garrett, who made plenty of plays for the Raiders bot has WR and a DB. Luckily, they do return a lot of key players both on offense and defense, including the rest of their starting secondary, as well as their starting QB. The position of biggest concern, however, was the defensive line, as Pine lost a lot of great players on their front last year. Despite that concern, the new faces that filled the gaps have not missed a beat, reinforcing an experienced back end that makes for a ferocious defense going into 2025.
I like the way our defense has looked at all three levels. We lost some good defensive lineman, but we aren’t going to take a step back along the defensive line, which might be the surprise of the spring so far.
Pine High School Head Coach Bradley Seal
Coach Seal also highlighted a few key players to look out for going into next season. The first place to start is with the returning Quarterback, Trey Knight. He threw for over 2,000 yards last season, and is poised to lead the Raiders to another effective year on offense.
The other players Coach Seal mentioned are the three returning starters he has at linebacker, a solid and explosve group in the middle of his defense. Chris Williams is a senior leader of the group, “one of the best I’ve ever coached” in Coach Seal’s words, and an A+ person off the field.
The other two members of the linebacking core are nothing to scoff at either. Caden Woodward is also a senior, and he keeps finding himself overlooked despite being a great player in his own right. Finally, there is Cadyn Stogner, who will is a 3 year starter for Seal’s stout defense.
The Pine Raiders have been consistently successful for over a decade now, and there is no reason to think that success will stop now. We can’t wait to see what new heights they can reach going into 2025.
