New-look Tarpons hoping for progress

South Lafourche fans have high expectations for their football team – always.

And they know that last season, first-year coach Terry Farmer transformed the Tarpons from a one-win team to a 10-win team, without spring practices at his disposal.

So with a spring under his belt, the hometown faithful have even bigger plans for this year.

But the now soon-to-be second-year coach knows it’s just not quite that easy.

“I know that people are saying, ‘Hey, Coach started on July 17 last year and look what they did, so imagine what he can do when he gets a spring.’ But it’s the kids. We have different kids every year. Obviously, we had that bunch last year who were all veterans, so that was great. We can’t say that this year. You just work with the team you’ve got.”

The team Farmer will have this time around is a virtual skeleton squad compared to last year’s Tarpons.

South Lafourche lost 31 seniors to graduation and 29 of those seniors saw significant action.

Gone are high-octane wing back Rusty Borne, steady quarterback Cameron Esponge and virtually the entire offensive and defensive lines.

“Baby steps,” he said. “Everybody’s starting from scratch. Young line, young backs, everybody’s young. We haven’t had any varsity experience.”

Farmer said he has coached a team with this much turnover just once in his career.

What he learned from that experience? It’s not going to be easy.

“The next year after all of that turnover is tough. It’s a big adjustment. The most important thing is leaders. You’ve got to find new leaders, especially with me not being here until later last year, I didn’t spend as much time with these younger guys.”

Last year, the Tarpons’ junior varsity squad had success and lost just two games the entire season. But the coach stressed to take that progress with a grain of salt because they were a team of mostly juniors playing against other teams comprised of mostly sophomores.

“Our guys were older, because most of the guys we played needed their so-called JV guys to move up to play varsity,” Farmer said.

The Tarpon youngsters got their first little taste of varsity action in a controlled scrimmage on Thursday against McDonogh 35 at Memorial Stadium.

The controlled portion of the scrimmage didn’t exactly go as the Tarpons planned and the Roneagles controlled South Lafourche’s offense and ripped a few big plays on the other end of the football.

But after a pep talk from Farmer, the Tarpons took their game up a notch in the live quarter portion of the scrimmage and tied McDonogh 35 with each team punching in a touchdown.

But the Tarpons were driving to add one more when the quarter expired.

“We learned a whole lot tonight,” Farmer said. “It was a B+ performance for this time of the year. We did everything really well, except earlier in the scrimmage, we didn’t hit and we missed some tackles.”

One of the bright spots South Lafourche will take from the scrimmage is quarterback play.

Seth Griffin, who just completed his sophomore year, showed poise both throwing and running the football against the Roneagles. With a summer of experience, the coach said he believes the Bayou District will be watching a playmaker under center for the next two seasons.

“He’s salty, isn’t he?” Farmer said. “He’s the real deal. He can go.”

Halfbacks Brook Eymard and Javorte Vallian were also among the players who drew Farmer’s praise following the scrimmage.

“We’ve got plenty kids who can play,” Farmer said. “Obviously they’re trying to learn their new roles. Leaders are trying to be leaders. There’s a lot of things going on with the kids … but I thought we did well overall with the new kids we had.”

While all of the attention seems to be on the so-called rookies, the Tarpons do return one of the top players in Louisiana, senior linebacker Justin Lasseigne.

Lasseigne recorded more than 100 tackles in his junior season and wreaked havoc on Bayou District offenses all year.

Farmer said Lasseigne has had a solid spring, but it is up to the 10 Tarpons surrounding him if he will have another dominant statistical season.

“I’ve already had a talk with him and he understands that,” Farmer said. “We’ve got to get the guys in front of him playing good, because it will make him that much better. It’s not that he’s a bad player, but I’ve coached a kid in the past who went to Ole Miss, that rushed for 2,000 yards in his junior year, but in his senior year, he gained just 1,000 because the line changed. It wasn’t that the kid became a bad player all of a sudden, but he just didn’t have the supporting cast that he had the year before. Justin will have to deal with that same thing this year.”

With spring practice now complete, the Tarpons will take part in numerous 7-7 camps this summer and the focus? Progress.

“We’ve got to get better. Whether you’re 5 years old, 12 or 18, whether you’re a senior, junior or sophomore, you’ve got to get better,” Farmer said. “Every day you come out needs to mean something to you. No matter where you’re at in your program, you’ve got to get better.”

South Lafourche defensive end Jared Billiot lunges toward McDonogh 35’s quarterback during the team’s spring scrimmage. A junior, Billiot is one of countless Tarpons who will be counted on for varsity action this year. * Photo by CASEY GISCLAIR