A Place to Call Home: After six seasons, new stadium adds to Southside’s excitement in 2025
by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
The vision for a new football stadium at Southside High School, complete with an all-weather track, was in place when Jess Curtis interviewed for the school’s head coaching position last year.
The $60 million school, located in Youngsville, opened in 2017 with all the amenities befitting a 21st-century school that became the first new high school constructed in Lafayette Parish in 47 years.
The school, though, was built without a football field, forcing the football team to bus 12 miles to St. Martinville High School to play its home football games. The Sharks reduced their trips in 2024 under Curtis to eight miles and played their home games at Comeaux High School.
Six years of varsity football games (the school played junior varsity for two seasons) finally gave way to the construction of a new on-campus football facility that’s consistent with the other public schools in the parish, built with an all-weather track and artificial turf playing surface.
“When I interviewed, they told me it was about a year away,” Curtis said. “There were plans that hadn’t been finalized, and then it got finalized after I was hired. They’ve done a great job of getting it built. It’s what you have to have to be competitive around here.”
Curtis credited the support of the Lafayette Parish School Board, including Superintendent Francis Touchet, for bringing the 5,000-seat project to reality for Southside’s home games this year.
The Sharks host Catholic-Baton Rouge in their fall scrimmage and officially open their new stadium on Sept. 9 against Notre Dame in the first of six home contests.
The stadium will also have a Jumbotron scoreboard, and the Sharks will benefit from the construction of a new fieldhouse for the 2026 season.
“We have a three-story, state-of-the-art school,” Curtis said. “It’s really nice. Good things are happening. We have a lot of momentum coming off a (state) quarterfinal year. We’re excited about how it looks down the road. They’ve (school board) enabled us to do big things.”
Curtis realizes the importance of playing in an on-campus stadium where the school’s large fan base and student body can help create an environment to help spur on the home team and create a distraction for the visitors.
It was certainly tangible during Curtis’ 14 seasons as head coach at Many, which won 142 games, three state championships, and were state runners-up three times.
“We’re going to start building our game day environment,” he said. “It’s like we did at Many. We had one of the best game day environments in the state. We’ll eventually have tailgating and fun things to try and build a fun, festive-type atmosphere. Those things lead to a home-field advantage.
“I tip my hat to all of the people that made it happen,” he said. “It’s a beautiful stadium. It was something that was needed that you really need to have to be competitive at the 5A level.”
After a successful run at Many, coupled with one season at Natchitoches Central, Curtis became aware of the community’s desire to have a stadium they could call their own. He quickly joined their push, leading the Sharks to a 9-3 and state quarterfinal appearance in his first season.
“It seems like it’s something they’ve been pushing for since the inception of the school,” Curtis said. “Everybody’s really excited. I’ve heard that since I’ve gotten here, how bad they wanted it. They know you have to have those things to be as successful as we want to be here at Southside.
“That’s tough when you have to travel every week,” Curtis said. “It’s going to be nice. These guys are excited about it. It will totally change the dynamic of our game day experience.”
Josh Fontenot was the school’s first football coach, taking the first two seasons to lead Southside against a sub-varsity schedule, before competing for district honors for the first time in 2019.
The Sharks were a playoff team by 2020 before ‘hosting’ their first postseason game, defeating Northshore 35-14 at St. Martinville, to earn a quarterfinal date with state powerhouse Zachary, which took a 48-37 victory.
Southside was back in the playoffs again in ’23 and advanced with a 42-9 first-round ‘home’ win over Thibodaux when the Sharks lost a heartbreaking 36-35 regional game at Airline in Bossier City.
Fontenot, a former coach at Crowley, was 34-19 in his five official seasons, including a 10-2 mark and District 3-5A championship in 2022. He left a year later after accepting a position with the Lafayette Parish School Board as director of construction, facilities, and maintenance.
The school turned to Curtis, who built his own powerhouse at his alma mater, Many, to keep the football program flourishing.
“Josh Fontenot did a great job starting this program from scratch, and what we tried to do was continue to build on top of that foundation,” Curtis said. “He left it in good shape. We felt like we could continue to push forward and got to the quarterfinals (last season). To do that in Year 1 was pretty special in Division I.
“I’m blessed to be successful,” Curtis said. “We had a great program at Many with a great culture and a great program. We’re ripping and roaring to take it deeper. Our mindset is to take this thing into December to play in the semifinals and finals. That’s what we want.”
Curtis remained committed to Fontenot’s style of offense – the flexbone – to take advantage of Southside’s talent at running back and ability to move people up front with solid offensive line play.
Curtis subscribed to the same philosophy to try and shorten games with time-consuming drives and keep opposing offenses off the field.
“We believe in a lot of the same things,” Curtis said. “I welcomed the flexbone when I got here. I’d never run it before. I had a run-dominated offense where I came from. I really like the flexbone. Being a defensive guy, it’s hard to stop.
“We had some coaches that were ready and well-versed in the flexbone, and our kids loved it and believed in it,” Curtis said. “I saw that in the spring, and the kids embraced it. We’re (he and Fontenot) a lot alike. We like to be physical. They were used to physical practices, early-morning workouts. It fit hand in hand with what I wanted to do.”
Curtis’ first game with Southside had a dramatic conclusion with Notre Dame of Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame coach Lewis Cook taking a 21-20 decision.
It may not have been the debut Curtis was looking for, but the Sharks were on the right track toward another successful season.
They went on to win five straight games, opening District 3-5A play with four impressive wins, until running into eventual league champion Acadiana, which handed the Sharks a 43-10 defeat.
The Sharks rebounded in the final two weeks of the regular season with wins over Carencro (44-21) and New Iberia (31-21), earning a No. 6 seed in the state playoffs.
They blasted District 5-5A foes Live Oak (42-10) and Walker (47-0) – a pair of games played at Comeaux High – until being eliminated at state runner-up Ruston, 49-7, in the third round.
“We didn’t like the one-point loss in Week 1,” Curtis said. “I was a new coach with new things, and we were learning our way. To have a season where you only lost to Notre Dame, Acadiana, and Ruston, we felt like we did some really good things.
“We like where we’re at,” Curtis said. “We feel like the program made some great strides. Now we’ve got to not be happy and plant our flag, thinking the quarterfinal is the end-all.”
Southside rushed for 3,403 yards and scored 41 touchdowns. They also scored 40-plus points three times and had 30 or more points on two occasions.
“It was a great job by our staff,” Curtis said. “Zach Bertrand took over as offensive coordinator and did a great job calling it. We have some great position coaches that are right there with him. It’s kind of who we are. It’s in our DNA, our way of winning games.
“We like to get the football, and we like to wear on you,” Curtis said. “We like to control the clock; we like to control time of possession. Teams want to run tempo, and we want to get them off the field fast so the offense can take the ball, take those long drives, dish out body blows. That’s kind of what Acadiana and Ruston do.”
The Sharks placed seven players on the first team All-District 3-5A team, led by East Texas Baptist signee Ramon Singleton with 198 carries for 1,267 yards and 14 touchdowns.
Singleton and fellow first team selection Luke Dutil were honorable mention Class 5A All-State selections, while the Sharks also had three players selected to the first team on defense – defensive back Derrick Collins, Carson Goulas, and Cooper David – and special teams with kicking specialist Owen Beshears.
Defensive end Jayden Hypolite was another player who signed a scholarship with Missouri Southern.
Curtis’ excitement from last season stems from the large number of sophomores who played key roles in the team’s success.
When the Sharks line up with another 100-player roster (and over 200 in the program), they’ll have second-team All-District choices Parker Dies at quarterback and Justin Williams at running back in position to lead the offense.
Dies rushed for 429 yards and scored six touchdowns on 50 carries, while Williams was the perfect complement to Singleton and was second on the team in rushing with 1,080 yards and 10 TDs.
“That’s why we were kind of excited to go to the quarterfinals with a lot of sophomores playing and getting that experience,” he said. “I’m a big believer in you never stay the same. You either get better or worse. If we improve, we think we can push this thing forward.”
Acadiana transfer Coby Broussard, a junior, has the making of a player to match the productivity of Williams, and fellow junior slotback Kollin Francois figures to give Southside another productive running game.
The Sharks return three honorable mention all-district offensive linemen in seniors Ashton Labit (tight end), Damire Mouton (guard), and Bricker Eskind (center), along with junior tackle Esai Gonzales.
Senior cornerback Emanuel Collins, a Louisiana Tech commitment, is one of three returning players who were second-team all-district choices.
He’s joined by Shamar Broussard (linebacker), with seniors Earl Perro (safety) and Gavyn Kern (defensive line) coming off seasons where they were honorable mention all-district last season.
“We’re going to be an attacking defense, pressure teams to get the ball back to our offense,” Curtis said of his multiple defensive alignments.
Southside concluded spring training with a 35-0 victory over Liberty Magnet of Baton Rouge and resumed its offseason conditioning, which typically begins before the sun rises.
“The kids have shown up and worked their tails off,” Curtis said. “That’s what we’ve got to do if we’re going to do what we say we want to do.”
The Sharks, who host Catholic High in their August scrimmage and face Northside in the Kiwanis Jamboree at Cajun Field, believe everything’s aligned to truly take off in the Division I non-select bracket.
The program’s positioned under Curtis’ leadership to move forward, and with the arrival of its own stadium and a new fieldhouse on the horizon, Southside’s primed to take its place among the state’s elite programs.
“We’re in a good place that a lot of people would love to be,” Curtis said. “Now we want to push this thing forward. I’ve got some great kids that come to work every day. They’re believing. Who’s to say it’s not for us? We’ve got everything we need at Southside to be that top-tiered team … Those semifinal and final teams.
“That’s our goal,” Curtis said. “How long it takes to get there is on us. We were in the quarterfinals, and we feel like we have a chance to be better. We can say it, but now we have to put that into action. We want to play in December, which is something that’s expected around here.”