Louisiana Football Magazine 2026 Class 3A Football Preview (Written by Lee Brecheen)

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District 6

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Avoyelles Mustangs

Head Coach:Corey Bannister(4^th year)

2025 Record:6-5

2025 Playoffs: 1^st Round lost to St. Helena Central HS

Signees Colleges: Athlete Kevin Jones(Kentucky Christian)

2026 Non District Games: Week 1 Ville Platte HS(Away), Week 2 Sacred Heart HS(Home), Week 3 Bunkie HS(Away), Week 4 Marksville HS(Home), Week 5 Block HS(Home), Week 6 Many HS(Home), Week 7 St. Martinville HS(Away)

Team Outlook: “Kids have been in the system 3 years now," said coach Bannister. “I feel good about our team and I think the experience will give us a chance to take the next step and goal is to win District and be better than we were in 2025.” “We need to get off to a good start. We somehow always start 0-3 and have to work out of a big hole every year and love to change that in 2026.” “Offense we will be Double Wing but you will see some spread in the Offense too.” “We don’t have a lot of players and hope to have about 35 in the fall but the players we do have work hard and are tough kids.” 

The program will be led by returning Quarterback Terraj Valant 6'0" 175 pounds, WR/DB Kelvin Jones 5'11" 175 pounds, All-District in 3 Sports in his career, and All-District OL/DL Kobe Smith 6'2" 245 pounds, one of the top Linemen in the District on both sides of the football. More players to watch will be DE/LB Omarian Lavan 6'2" 225 pounds, WR/CB Jayden Williams 5'6" 155 pounds, 4.5 speed in the forty, playmaker, SR, RB/LB Xavier Scott 5'9" 170 pounds, 4.55 speed, LB/FB Braiden Murray 5'9" 185 pounds, OL/DL Trevonne Prier 6'0" 250 pounds, DT/OL Josh Casugay 6'0" 230 pounds, leader, tough Lineman, DT De'travian Waters 5'8" 245 pounds, Center Conner Adams 6'0" 260 pounds, 2nd-year starter, FB/LB Evan Saucier 5'10" 210 pounds, 2nd-year starter, LB Broady Guillot 5'10" 190 pounds, RB Xazion Keller 5'11" 170 pounds, WR/DB Terrance Valant 6'0" 185 pounds, new starter, and WR/DB Honorable Mention All-District Hanson Guillot 5'8" 160 pounds.

Special Teams will be mostly Broady Guillot, who will handle both Punting and Kicking duties.

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Holy Savior Menard Eagles

| Head Coach David Perkins

| Photo by Lee Brecheen (Louisiana Football Magazine)

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Head Coach:David Perkins(4^th year)

2025 Record:6-4

2025 Playoffs:1^st Round beat Thomas Jefferson HS and 2^nd Round lost to Newman HS.

2026  Non District Games: Week 1 Lake Arthur(Home), Week 2 Grant HS(Home), Week 3 St. Marys HS(Home), Week 4 Abbeville HS(Home), Week 5 Buckeye HS(Away), Week 6 Church Point HS(Away), and Week 7 Delta Charter(Away).

Team Outlook: “Just graduated 15 seniors from the program. We only return 6 seniors and 6 Juniors in 2026 young but a few players have experience in key positions. We will also have a few players play both sides of the football in 2026,” said coach Perkins.

Key skill players to look for are leader All-District RB/LB Sam Brocato 5'9" 170 pounds (104 tackles, 9 tackles for loss in 2025, and on Offense 19 catches for 138 yards as a WR), 2nd Team All-District RB/WR Brooks Juneau 5'10" 170 pounds (70 tackles with 3 interceptions in 2025), WR Pierson Gremillion 6'2" 155 pounds, WR/DB Boston Serio 5'9" 150 pounds, new starter, WR/DB Patrick Lyons 5'8" 135 pounds, new starter, SS/RB Wyatt Heyward 5'10" 170 pounds (101 tackles with 40 of them solo in 2025, All-District), LB/RB Griffin Glankler 5'10" 190 pounds, and new starting QB Peyton Procell 6'2" 205 pounds, a talented 3-sport Athlete at the school who started Weeks 9 and 10 last year and the playoffs and did a great job (557 passing yards in 3 games with 6 touchdowns in 2025), so he has experience. Procell made All-District as a Defensive End in 2025.

Key Linemen back are OL/LB Cooper Sullivan 5'8" 190 pounds (2nd Team All-District OL in 2025), OL Kaden LaCombe 6'0" 210 pounds, 2nd Team All-District OL/DE/DT Carson Naalbandian 6'1" 230 pounds, OL/LB Luke Brocato 6'1" 190 pounds, DT Beckett Duplechian 5'10" 205 pounds, DE/OL Sawyer Brown 5'9" 210 pounds (7 fumble recoveries and 8 sacks in 2025), OLB/DE Jack Simpson 5'10" 185 pounds (voted Defensive Player of the Game twice in 2025), OL Daniel Robichaux 5'9" 230 pounds, OL/LB Cameron Kidd 5'11" 190 pounds, LB Hayden Kidd 5'11" 175 pounds, and Center Conner LaCombe 5'10" 220 pounds.

Special Teams: Kicker will be returning starter Hayden Kidd, who was All-District at Kicker in 2025.

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Oakdale Warriors

Head Coach:Kevin Bertrand(3^rd year)

2025 Record:0-10

2026 Non District Games: Week 1 Sacred Heart HS(Away), Week 2 Oberlin HS(Home), Week 3 Grand Lake HS(Home), Week 4 Lake Arthur HS(Away), Week 5 Delcambre HS(Away), Week 6 Vinton HS(Home),Week 7 Elton HS(Away)

Team Outlook: “Rebuilding and returning a lot of players who had to play young players got experience in 2025 and we will see where that takes us since we have some experience now and will still play some younger players overall," said coach Bertrand. “We did not have a Spring because most of our Football team was on the Baseball team that went to the Semisfinals this year.”

The Warriors will have 90% of the starters starting both sides of the football in 2026. Key players coming back to watch are 4-year starter, leader, playmaker Jacarvi Alsburry 5'10" 195 pounds, who will be a big-time RB/LB for the team again with toughness on another level and commitment to the program. Also watch WR/Safety/QB/RB/LB Maddox Thompson 5'9" 175 pounds, does it all for the team, senior, LB/RB Payton Crawford 5'9" 180 pounds, 3-year starter, OC/OT/DL Jayce Thomas 5'11" 290 pounds, 3-year starter, CB/WR/LB Jewell Hayward 6'1" 175 pounds, 3-year starter, tough player on Defense, DB/QB/WR Gabe Jones 5'8" 160 pounds, big-time hitter, DE/TE Kameron Ned 6'2" 190 pounds, DT/OL Norris Taylor 6'0" 200 pounds, OL/DL Xavien Melbert 5'5" 155 pounds, tough as nails, RB/LB Khaiden Boyd 5'8" 150 pounds, Safety/QB/WR Matthew Hebert, WR C.J. Davis 6'2" 180 pounds, and WR Isiah Robinson 5'8" 160 pounds, both newcomers to the program for this Fall.

Special Teams will be Payton Crawford starting at both Kicker and Punter for the program.

Port Barre Red Devils

| Drake Thomas

| Photo by: Rusty Aymond

Head Coach:Mike Robinson(1^st year)

2025 Record:3-7

Team Outlook: “New Head Coach Mike Robinson was hired late in May so the team did not go through a full Spring Pratice. Coach is inheriting a really talented team that has the potential to be playoff bound in 2026 if they can put it all together with the young talent that is returning.”

The Quarterback position will have a new starter between Owen Willis 5'10" 175 pounds and Kegan LeDoux 6'1" 175 pounds. Both bring different skill sets to help this team win games.

Skill players for the Red Devils to watch will be RB Zane Brinkhaus 5'9" 175 pounds, RB Gavin Albert 5'9" 185 pounds, FB Kohlyn Green 5'10" 185 pounds, FB Karson Darbonne 5'10" 200 pounds, WR Aiden Espree 5'10" 175 pounds, WR Kegan LeDoux 6'1" 175 pounds, WR Davion Boast 6'0" 165 pounds, CB Aiden Espree, CB Davion Boast, and SS Kegan LeDoux.

Key Linemen, Tight Ends, and Linebackers back will be OL Ben Bordelon 5'11" 220 pounds, senior leader, OL Kardell Pickney 6'3" 285 pounds, OL Luke Grimmett 6'3" 265 pounds, senior leader, OL Harland Friou 6'2" 200 pounds, TE John Metrejean 6'3" 190 pounds, TE/DE Brendan Higginbotham 6'3" 180 pounds, DT D'Myrion Smith 6'1" 230 pounds, DT Luka Maddox 6'0" 220 pounds, DE Ben Smith 6'0" 180 pounds, LB Cullen Mayhall 5'10" 185 pounds, LB Kohlyn Green, LB Karson Darbonne, and LB Caleb Mulvaney 5'10" 205 pounds.

Special Teams: Kicker and Punter were still open positions to win during the Summer/Fall.

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