re: Greatest Louisiana High School Football team

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We then proceeded to get our asses beat by Ouachita.

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35-7 and it wasn't that close. I had a great view from the CBS radio booth.

Ouachita really wanted another shot at Ruston, the only team to beat them that year (close game at Ruston).

Lester why is West Monroe so good? Is the town big enough for 2 schools but pools it into one?

Kind of like what Springdale did when they had Malzahn?

Catholic High 1990 was pretty stacked when they went to the dome.

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Todd White '92 - Minnesota Vikings
Kevin Franklin '93 - Oakland Raiders
Cory Gaines '94 - Indianapolis, Baltimore, Frankfurt (NFL Europe)
Warrick Dunn '93 - Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay

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4 Future NFL guys on the team and

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1992
Kevin Franklin - LSU/Southern
Warrick Dunn - Florida State
Jim Kitchen - Southern Mississippi
Stuart Archer - Northwestern State
Tim Booth - Army
Jason DeCuir - Howard
Jason Coffey - Navy
Chris Davros - Baylor

1993
Josh Yankowsky - Louisiana Tech
Cory Gaines - Tennessee
Rhaoul Guillaume - Tulane
Brown Boudreaux - LSU
Keith Jackson - Pittsburgh/Murray State
Ben Archer - USL

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AND Ruston ran over them in the dome

So I give it to the 1990 Ruston team

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Lester why is West Monroe so good? Is the town big enough for 2 schools but pools it into one?

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Don't ask him, he's a WM hater.
WM is one of the larger schools in the state but by no means the largest. It's not big enough for 2 5A schools, though they could probably change the zone and bit and give more students to neighboring West Ouachita making them a 5A school. But now with the new rules, the kids would still choose to go to WM most likely anyway.
The major reason for WM's success is the early introduction of a legitimate S&C program. In the mid to late 90s, WM was able to out physical other teams due to this. Now most other programs have recognized this and started up their own programs, which is why you no longer see WM dominating like they once did. They've rarely had the best athletes. You'll have a few years when they'll send multiple kids to D1 schools, but when we won it in 96, we had one senior get a scholarship.
In the 80s, WM was a train wreck. Once Don Shows arrived, it only took 3 years to turn the program around. WM has always had decent athletes, but many of them did not play ball. He scoured the hallways for athletic looking kids and talked them in to joining the program. I know from first hand experience that he has pulled kids out of class rooms to try and persuade them to play ball.
You'll hear a lot of people throw out steroids and hold backs. I would guarantee you that steroids have never been any more of a problem at WM than any other school its size. And as far as hold backs go, I'd put the average age of their team up against any of the perennial contenders. I held back but was still only 18 when I graduated. The rumors of WM being filled with 19 year olds playing ball is greatly exaggerated.

Carencro the "The Faulk Years"

I can't believe this thread went a whole page without an appearance by JJ27.

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Once Don Shows arrived, it only took 3 years to turn the program around. WM has always had decent athletes, but many of them did not play ball. He scoured the hallways for athletic looking kids and talked them in to joining the program. I know from first hand experience that he has pulled kids out of class rooms to try and persuade them to play ball.

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Same thing Childress did at Ruston

Evangel

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In the 80s, WM was a train wreck.

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We used to beat that arse on the reg in those days. Bastrop too but I digress. Don Shows was a true coaching legend for turning that program into the powerhouse that it is today. For sure on the Mt. Rushmore of NE LA coaching greats. RIP Coach.

BUMP

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