Wednesday, December 15, 2010
The 2010 Acadiana Wreckin' Rams returned from New Orleans with a state football championship. By Leslie Turk
Photos by Kevin Stutes.
The Acadiana High School Wreckin' Rams know what it feels like to be a winner, knocking off reigning Class 5A state champion West Monroe in the Superdome Saturday night and ending the Rebels' 29-game winning streak. But the 2010 season taught this team of young men an important lesson about life: When you get knocked down, you get back up. And that's exactly what Acadiana did this year, overcoming the adversity of being stripped of four wins going into week nine of the season due to an ineligible player. The infraction was over a player who transferred to Acadiana High during the spring from Texas with a transcript listing his birthday as Sept. 28 when his birthday is May 28. A student-athlete is not eligible to participate in LHSAA sanctioned events if he turns 19 before Sept. 1. When AHS realized the discrepancy during what was called a routine check of transcripts, it reported it and accepted the consequences: The 5th ranked team in Class 5A went from 7-l to 3-5 on the season.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
The 2010 Acadiana Wreckin' Rams returned from New Orleans with a state football championship. By Leslie Turk
Photos by Kevin Stutes.
Clockwise from top left: AHS players lift the championship trophy;
Ryan Bergeron avoids a sack; Terry Abraham reaches for the goal line;
Bakari Hollier breaks up a pass. View more images from the game at
facebook.com/IndWeekly or www.realsportsphotos.com.
The Acadiana High School Wreckin' Rams know what it feels like to be a winner, knocking off reigning Class 5A state champion West Monroe in the Superdome Saturday night and ending the Rebels' 29-game winning streak. But the 2010 season taught this team of young men an important lesson about life: When you get knocked down, you get back up. And that's exactly what Acadiana did this year, overcoming the adversity of being stripped of four wins going into week nine of the season due to an ineligible player. The infraction was over a player who transferred to Acadiana High during the spring from Texas with a transcript listing his birthday as Sept. 28 when his birthday is May 28. A student-athlete is not eligible to participate in LHSAA sanctioned events if he turns 19 before Sept. 1. When AHS realized the discrepancy during what was called a routine check of transcripts, it reported it and accepted the consequences: The 5th ranked team in Class 5A went from 7-l to 3-5 on the season.
It would be a long road back, but Acadiana seemed to embrace the challenge. "We have to win out to get into the playoffs," head coach Ted Davidson told local sportswriter Dan McDonald. "It'll give us a mission. You try to look for silver linings. You can't wallow in self-pity."
The Wreckin' Rams hard-fought 21-14 victory over powerhouse West Monroe - which has won seven state championships ('93, '96-98, '00, '05, and '09, decimating Archbishop Rummel 30-0) and six state runners-up titles - was a sweet ending for this class act team and a lesson for all of us in the real virtues of youth sports. In the process the Rams scored a spot in the record books, becoming the first Lafayette Parish football team to win two state titles.