Bulldogs look for continued playoff success in 2026
– A new quarterback and a new defensive look bring new challenges for the Cecilia High School football team, which is looking to continue a legacy of playoff success over the past decade.
The Bulldogs have reached the postseason for 12 straight seasons, including three trips to the quarterfinals, two trips to the championship game and one state title, which came in 2024. Cecilia has reached at least the quarterfinals in four of the past five seasons, including last season under first-year head coach Cody Champagne. Junior Layne Champagne (6-foot, 175 pounds) brings a different style to the quarterback position than the Bulldogs have had in recent years.
With Diesel Solari and Collin Dore, the threat of their running abilities helped open up the passing game.
Champagne, the head coach’s nephew, is a passing quarterback first who has the run skills to hurt opposing teams if they don’t take those abilities seriously.
“That’s the thing about him, he’s smart enough to know that ‘I’ve got all these weapons around me, let me use them, but if they’re not worried about me, I can hurt them with my legs,’” Coach Champagne said. “He was a guy that I brought into the (quarterback) room last year and on Sundays in gameplanning, he was right there with us like he was preparing to be the starting quarterback. I think that helped prepare him to be that guy this year.”
He’ll have plenty of weapons around him, led by 6-foot-2, 210-pound senior receiver Braylon Calais, who is committed to sign with LSU.
Calais also plays some quarterback, and is a threat to throw as well as run, and carries the ball from both receiver and running back positions.
Senior running back Deondre Briscoe (6-foot, 195 pounds) is another speedy player, nearly matching Calais in the team’s pro agility tests.
“They were neck and neck,” Coach Champagne said. “I think Braylon ran a 4.33 and Briscoe ran a 4.35 in the pro agility test. And that actually broke a (school) record that’s been here for a little while. They both broke it. They always work out together. They’re always coming out on the field together.”
Senior Ashton Ruffin (6-4, 180) is another weapon and the younger brother of former Cecilia standout receiver Ellis Stewart. Senior receiver Christian Guidry also brings size at 6-foot-3.
The line returns three starters, including junior center James Deluna (5-8, 205), senior right guard Ethan Journet (6-1, 295) and senior left tackle Davion Charles (5-6, 185).
“That’s huge,” Champagne said. “We’ve got three of our five that’s back. We’ve got James, who was a sophomore, is our center. (Journet’s) been a three-year starter. Davion’s been a twoyear starter. So even though Davion’s undersized, he’s very tough, very strong. He handles his own out there. It’s just to plug and play two more guys. We’ve got more linemen than we’ve had in a while on both sides of the football.”
The offense will continue to feature both the run and pass.
“Last year you had Dore, who we had to figure out what he did well,” Champagne said. “Once we did that, he was able to run the offense like he was supposed to at a high level. Dore wasn’t a traditional quarterback where he might’ve done a little bit of quarterback before, but he was an H-back. So we kind of knew what he could do but weren’t sure until he went through the fire. Once we did that, we threw the ball a little more than we have. Obviously it was getting him out of the pocket and rolling him out a little more. With Layne, nothing changes. If we’re going to do quarterback run, Layne’s going to do it. We’re football players first and not just position players.”
The defense shifts to more of a traditional front under new defensive coordinator Curt Ware, who formerly served as head coach at New Iberia Senior High. Former coordinator Jason Faulk was named an assistant principal at the school this summer.
“When Coach Faulk settled into his coordinator position last year, we went kind of more traditional anyway, towards the end of last season,” Champagne said. “That’s a big thing from what we were doing because it’s more hitting the target and not being very technical.
“We have the guys to do it. We don’t have linebacker types anymore, we have more Dlinemen. I think coach (Dennis) Skains (former Cecilia head coach for nine seasons) always wanted to do that, he just knew that we couldn’t survive that way, especially when we’re playing those bigger offenses up front.”
The team held a liftathon at the end of July with the defensive line performing exceptionally well.
The defensive front features returners Kennan Batiste, a 6-foot, 230-pound senior, and Kaden Journet, a 6-1, 240-pound sophomore, with newcomers Chance Guidry (5-8, 285, junior) and Dylan Wolf (6-3, 185, senior).
Senior Brandon Lejeune (5-0, 170) and junior Chase Narcisse (5-8, 180) return at linebacker with junior Kaleb Journet (6-0, 180) joining them.
The secondary features returning seniors Franky Frank (6-0, 175) and Damarcus Babineaux (5-7, 175) at cornerback and strong safety, respectively, and junior Amari Noel (57, 165) and sophomore Broderick Patt Jr. (56, 160) at cornerback and free safety. Patt is the third sibling in his family to play for the Bulldogs, and possibly the most talented, his coach said. Frank was a first-team All-District performer as a sophomore but was injured for much of last season.
