Big sophomore, freshman classes prepping for 2026 season
– A young squad of players is working hard to prepare for the 2026 football season at Breaux Bridge High School.
Big sophomore and freshman classes provide the majority of players on the squad this year.
“It’s a total youth movement,” third-year head coach Tyler Pierce said. “Eighty percent of this team is freshmen and sophomores.
“What’s exciting, though, is there’s not a whole lot of upperclassmen, but when you look at the freshmen that are now sophomores, they all have a lot of playing time. And then the maybe 15 or 16 (juniors and seniors) have got a lot of playing time. So since I’ve been here, this is a group that’s been playing for three years.”
With such a young team, the focus is on winning each day.
“When you’re saying you have a team that is mainly built upon freshmen, a big, good group of freshmen, and then some sophomores, you have to have patience,” Pierce said. “We’re just trying to slow down the game for them.
“For us, we’re proud because from June to July we’ve had tremendous growth. (We’re getting them to realize) it’s not about ‘you’re going to have freshmen games and jayvee games and wait your turn.’ (For us), Friday night, it’s here.”
With teams that have a lot of upperclassmen on the roster, players can develop over three years before seeing the field.
“Over here, whatever our weakest link is, he’s got a role somewhere that’s ready for him, whether it’s on special teams or whether it’s offensively or defensively somewhere,” Pierce said. “It’s fun because all the kids now know where we’re at and we know we have to build depth. This is a group that, instead of being 15 and 16 year olds, when they’re 17 or 18 the game is going to be so slowed down for them.”
Pierce is excited about the prospect of having a good group of players who will be together for a few years instead of having to reset every year with a new group.
“We know exactly who we are,” Pierce said. “We know what our identity is on offense. We know what our identity is on defense. That’s a calming presence.”
Public schools now have to fight to get players out, he said, both keeping them in the school instead of transferring to a private school or even just getting them to play football instead of opting for other sports or other activities, Pierce said.
But this group that came up through the junior high program wanting to stick together is one that wants to be a part of getting Breaux Bridge High football back to the kind of program it once was.
“They want to be a part of this,” Pierce said. “It’s just a great group of kids that come from great families and guardians, and it’s just fun to be around these kids.”
Pierce credits the junior high program with a coach who helped make it fun for the players with the big groups of young players on the squad. The junior high team had around 70 players from sixth through eighth grade on the team the last couple of years, and that makes others want to join the team to be a part of it, Pierce said.
The Tigers lost not only such standout players as receiver Isaiah LeBlanc and running back/linebacker Baylon Champagne to graduation, but also the bulk of the offensive line, both in a numbers sense and in terms of the size of those players.
“We are now lighter up front,” Pierce said. “We can move, but replacing those guys is tough.”
The Tigers are moving from the split back veer to a flexbone, which is based on the wishbone but features a fullback directly behind the quarterback and two slotbacks set up behind the line on each side of the formation.
“It’s a little bit easier based on our skillsets,” Pierce said. “They’re having fun. It’s ball control. We can still be explosive. What’s really explosive is Dakowen ‘Pop’ Celestine, the junior, is going to be our quarterback, and he is electric. To me, he can play at any college in the country, big or small. He is the real deal. For us, it gives him options. If we were running a different offense and we had him at receiver, there might be a handful of times we could get it to him.”
The team loves Celestine, Pierce said, and the Tigers have a good group of weapons supporting him.
The flexbone gives the team a better triple option threat, especially with a threat like Celestine at quarterback.
“For us, when you’re small in numbers, run game will open up our pass game,” Pierce said. “That’s where we really feel flexbone will help. It’s not that we’re trying to be a hundred percent run. It’s that everybody is attacking so fast downhill, we’re going to have some of the easiest throws (when going to the pass game).”
College teams like Army and Navy run the flexbone.
“Sometimes you can’t outathlete them, but you can definitely give them some fits with all of what the flexbone creates,” Pierce said.
The coaches learned the flexbone from Harding University in Arkansas, and from Southside High in nearby Youngsville, which has had success with the offense the last couple of years.
The defense builds on the 3-3 stack the squad played late last season.
“I think we played faster toward the back end of the season, but now that it’s our base defense, I’m hoping that all we’re doing is building off of it,” Pierce said. “It can give offenses some problems, but we have to make sure to be perfect on our end, too. It looks easy and it looks undisciplined at times, but it’s the most disciplined thing that I’ve been a part of.”
The team’s veteran leadership has been strong, Pierce said. Though there aren’t many seniors or juniors, they are leading by example.
“The way that we hold practices, our weight room, our offense, our defense, I think everybody just sees the buy in,” Pierce said. “They’re bought in, which helps those young guys buy in a whole lot quicker. If the veterans set the tone for it, then we’re in great shape.”
Pierce added that he appreciates how the team has taken it upon itself to turn the program in a positive direction.
“For them, it’s the excitement of trying to build back what we know Breaux Bridge football is,” the coach said. “Did we win today? From warmups to the end of practice, did we do more things right than wrong? That’s really what we’re all about right now.”
OUT IN THE HEAT – Breaux Bridge High head football coach Tyler Pierce runs a recent summer practice at the school as the team prepares for the upcoming football season. (Chris Landry)
COOLING DOWN – Players wrap up a morning practice on the field at Breaux Bridge High School as they get in condition for the upcoming football season that starts this fall. (Chris Landry)
