Deborah Carney
October 20, 2009
Mrs. Leontine (Tina) Harris
October 22, 2009
Most boys begin playing football at a very young age in Peewee and recreational leagues.
By their senior year in high school, they have played in hundreds of games and attended a few football camps.
Not Central Catholic Eagles’ senior quarterback Andrew Templet.
The 2009 season represents only his second year playing organized football, but that has not stopped the Pierre Part native from becoming one of the state’s top leaders in passing yards (1,696), touchdowns (23) and completion percentage (60).
“In my younger years, they didn’t have football at my previous schools,” Templet explained. “I always had a passion for the game. I never had a chance to play because of injuries and stuff like that. I was so excited that I got a chance to play at Central Catholic.”
Templet said he suffered from back pain growing up but did not reveal the origin of the problem. However, it made playing football a forbidden activity.
Today, he has declared himself “pretty much 95 percent recovered” from his back trouble, but he still does extra pre-game stretching to keep himself from tightening up.
“I’m good to go now,” he said.
Despite never playing the game before, Templet tried out for the quarterback position in 2008.
He had to learn Eagles’ head coach David Furhur’s complex spread offense with its three, four, and even five receiver sets designed to open up multiple vertical running and passing lanes to exploit a thin line of defense.
“Coming out for the first time last year as a junior, he’s really picked up the offense,” Furhur said. “He still has a little work to do, still rough around the edges. He throws the ball well. I’m just impressed with him.”
The coach said Templet’s best qualities are his big arm, quick release and ability to read the defense and going through his progressions to find the open receiver.
“I had two really good summer workouts, a lot of good coaching and worked extra hours with Coach (Chris) Sanders, the offensive coordinator,” the quarterback said. “I just put in the time to learn the offense.”
Templet is quick to share the credit for his speedy learning of the offense to his receiver corps – Dontrell Brown, Lloyd Grogan, Devante Frank and Devin Boutte.
“I think we have the four best receivers in the state,” Templet insisted. “We did a lot of extra repetitions during the summer in seven-on-seven drills to get our timing down.”
At 5-2 and 2-0 in District 7-1A play, Central Catholic has already surpassed last year’s record of 2-7. Templet has led the Eagles to three come-from-behind victories this season, Sept. 11 over Christian Life, Oct. 9 against Vermillion Catholic and Thursday’s 27-21 win over the Delcambre Panthers.
What’s the key to his comeback success?
“It’s probably not my running,” Templet joked. (He ran in the game-wining touchdown over Delcambre). “I just have confidence in myself and my teammates. That’s the big thing.”
Furhur would prefer to coach without the late-game heroics.
“We didn’t play well in the first half of those games,” he said. “We have to start fast, get things moving early in the game.”
“It’s good to win more than you did the previous year,” he added. “The kids work very hard. Going through what we did last year at 2-7, things just didn’t click for us. Everybody came back and we have been more focused this year. Andrew is a big reason for that.”
The Eagles are tied for the district lead with the Gueydan Bears, who they travel to play on Friday night.
With only three games left in the season, the game could determine the district championship.
Templet is looking to lead Central Catholic to its first playoff appearance since 2007 and also extend his high school football career a little bit longer.
“I’m having so much fun playing football. I don’t want the ride to end,” he said. “We have the talent to make a run in the playoffs. We just have to keep doing what it’s doing.”
Central Catholic quarterback Andrew Templet (10) gets a “low five” from offensive lineman Ethan LeBlanc after a victory. Despite this being only his second year playing football, the senior is among the state leaders in passing yards, touchdown passes and completion percentage. * Photo by KEYON K. JEFF
