Conquerors prepare for first game as team

For the final day of Houma Conquerors training camp on Saturday, there were 35 men still battling for a roster spot.

On Monday morning, only 27 got the call from Conquerors head coach and owner Franklin Thomas Jr. that they were on the team.

Despite cutting players throughout the camp, Thomas said making the final decisions were the hardest.

“It’s tough because that means you’re cutting guys who could have played for you, but it’s a numbers game. You can only take so many,” he said. “That’s the nature of the business.”

The team will make its Southern Indoor Football League debut Sunday night at 7 p.m. when they travel to Houston to play the Texas Pirates at the Kicks Indoor Sports Complex.

The Tri-parish area is well represented on the Conquerors’ roster. Among the local players on the squad are former Nicholls State Colonels’ kicker Chris Stropolo, running back Kevin Johnson, defensive lineman Anthony Harris, receiver Herbert Zeno and linebackers Tim Bingham and Royce Hooks.

Former H.L. Bourgeois and UL Lafayette product Charles Phillips made the cut at the defensive lineman/linebacker position.

Thibodaux residents Durrell Jones and Dequincy Richard and Houma resident Brandon Butler are also on the roster.

Defensive lineman/linebacker Tim Betts, along with Stropolo, are the only members from Houma’s last indoor football team – the Bayou Bucks – on the Conquerors.

Stropolo is excited to be back playing in Houma. This will be his first time playing football since 2006.

“I was sad to see the Bucks go. The fans were great in Houma, and I hope we’re here for a long time,” he said.

As the team goes into game preparation for Sunday’s matchup, Thomas wants to see mental toughness and discipline from his players.

“I told the guys on the first day of camp that everybody has the physical attributes or else they wouldn’t be here,” he said. “We’re going to have to be mentally sound, especially this first game because we’re a new league, so we don’t have any film on the opponent.”

Entering the game, the coach believes his offensive and defensive lines have progressed the most, while the receiving corps still has some issues to work out.

“In any type of football, you have to have solid linemen up front, and we have some good talent on both sides of the line.” Thomas said. “We had too many dropped passes and receivers running the wrong routes today. But that comes with having a new team, plus guys who have never played this game before.”

On the field, Thomas is looking to quarterback Omar Haugabook and safety Prince Riley as his offensive and defensive leaders respectively.

Haugabook, 23, played college football at Troy University where he earned the New Orleans Bowl MVP and Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year awards in 2006.

Haugabook was a substitute teacher at Rosenwald Elementary School in his hometown of South Bay, Fla. when Conquerors director of player personnel Clyde Maiden asked him to try out halfway through training camp.

New to indoor football, Haugabook knows he will get better as he adjusts to the speed of the game.

“The biggest thing right now is keeping the deep balls inbounds. I know there is a wall there, but they still get away sometimes,” he said. “I also have to read defenses quicker. You have to make up your mind real fast and the field is so crowded.”

Riley, 26, played college football at LSU and Southern University before playing the 2006 season in the Canadian Football League with the Toronto Argonauts.

For the past two years, he played semi-pro indoor football under Maiden with the Louisiana Storm, winning North American Football League 2 championships in 2007 and 2008. Both years he was named Defensive Player of the Year, named to the league All-Star team and won All-Star Game MVP in 2008.

He views his role as a defensive leader with a divine purpose.

“It’s not my responsibility. It’s God’s responsibility. I just need to do everything I’m suppose to do,” Riley said. “I can’t be a leader and tell other players what to do if I’m not doing my part. That’s why I stay disciplined on and off the field. The Lord is the key to my success in everything I do.”

He added, “Our defense is looking pretty solid, especially the linemen. We have a few injuries in the secondary, but they should be okay when Sunday rolls around.”

All the Conquerors players and coaches are anxious to get the season started.

They also enjoy the positive response they have gotten from the local community.

“I think they are going to support us the same way they did for the Bucks,” Stropolo said. “We’re going to try to bring some championships to Houma.”

That’s music to the ears of Larose native Buddy Halford, a season ticket holder and member of the Conquerors booster club, the Knights of the Crawfish Table.

As he watched the team’s final training camp practice, he said the squad reminded him of the last Bucks team that went 11-3 and made the playoffs.

“I’ve been missing this for five years,” Pellegrin said. “I don’t watch the Saints or the Cowboys because they get on my nerves. But this right here gets the firing burning. I can’t wait for the first home game.”