Creating Quite a Stir: Gritty Sulphur’s already doubled its win total over last season
by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
David Feaster has coached football for more than four decades with one common denominator.
He’s jumped into each job, including head coaching positions at seven different high schools in Louisiana, with both feet first.
“I never do my homework,” he said. “I haven’t said, ‘Let’s see who they’ve got coming back this year. Let’s see who they’re playing.’ If I’d done my homework and looked at how the district (3-5A) was going to be this year, this would not have been a job that anybody would have come into.”
Sulphur High and the town’s rabid football community of more than 20,000 couldn’t be more thankful.
The four-time state champion Golden Tors hadn’t enjoyed a winning season since 2021. They’ve endured four head coaches and two interim coaches over a six-year stretch until the school’s latest opening attracted the attention of Feaster, the offensive coordinator for John Melvin Christian College in Pace, Fla.
Feaster, a 67-year-old native of Mamou, began his coaching career as an assistant to head coach Ronnie Chaumont at Jennings in 1982, giving him a taste of working in the area.
With a career that became more northbound, with head coaching stops at D’Arbonne Woods, Glenbrook Academy, Many, Minden, Natchitoches Central, and Parkway, mixed in with collegiate assignments at Louisiana College (now Louisiana Christian) and John Melvin, Feaster had long maintained a healthy respect for the coaching and level of football that’s been played in the greater Lake Charles region.
Not only had Sulphur finished 2-8 in 2025, but seemingly the upper echelon of District 3-5A would feature loaded teams with the potential for deep state playoff runs this season.
Certainly, this wasn’t the time for Feaster to consider moving back home, for one of his restoration projects that have been commonplace during his 44-year career and more than 200 victories.
Following the interview process, he felt it was, and agreed in December, to take over the program, which last won a state championship in 1965 and last played for one in 2006.
“It’s not about me not doing my homework,” Feaster said. “The only thing I ask is it’s got to be somebody good to work for. The tough part about that is, through jobs I’ve taken, I never know when my principal may move up to the central office, and I may have to work for somebody else, and it changes everything. If I find somebody that’s good to work for, which I felt good about in the interview, then I feel I can be successful.
“My attitude is that I’m just going to try to do more than any other coach in this situation would have been able to do, and then we’ll go to work,” Feaster said. “Then, three years from now, they’ll be talking about it being Sulphur, Barbe and Acadiana. We’re going to be mentioned in the mix because we’re going to do things right and people will not want to transfer to other schools. They won’t concentrate on some other sport. They’ll want to be part of what we’re doing here because it’s fun.”
Sulphur (4-0, 1-0 in 3-5A) is off to its best start since 2005 and hosts Barbe (4-0, 1-0) at Matt Walker Stadium, which had its largest attendance of 9,000 when the Tors and Bucs met in 2016.
It’s the first time since 2003 that both Sulphur and Barbe face off with undefeated records.
“This is an historic year for them,” Feaster said. “I think we surprised a lot of people when we beat Sam Houston (55-54). I think we would be shocking people if we beat Barbe because this is one of their best years ever. We know what’s in front of us. We feel like when we’re playing at home, you never know. Our guys really play well at home.”
Three different coaches delivered state championships at Sulphur, which experienced a 27-year run of success that included four state titles, three runner-up finishes and five semifinal appearances.
B.S. Walker helped bring the first two state titles to the school in 1943 and ’44, followed by Joe Mount in ’46 and Jack Doland in ’65. The Tors also secured state runner-up finishes under Walker (’45), Doland (’64), Shannon Suarez (’68) and Paul Bouregois (’06).
Current McNeese State football coach Matt Viator coached for four years at Sulphur and led the Tors to consecutive trips to the state quarterfinals in ’97 and ’98. He was named the LSWA’s Coach of the Year in ’97, with Bourgeois winning the award after guiding the Tors to a state runner-up finish.
“When I started out at Jennings, I was very familiar with what LaGrange did over the years,” Feaster said. “Back in the day, Washington-Marion, Lake Charles High, Barbe, Sulphur and Sam Houston. … I was very familiar with them. When I went to north Louisiana, I still followed all of them, kept up and paid attention.”
Until Bourgeois’ arrival, which coincided with consecutive trips to a quarterfinal and the Prep Classic in the Superdome, Sulphur had won just two playoff games and had been victorious only once in the 2016 postseason with a 45-35 win over Airline. The Tors had a winning season (7-3) the following season and again in 2021 (6-5) before suffering through four straight losing seasons and a 13-27 record.
“Sulphur has always been a great job,” Feaster said. “Regardless of some of the other athletes going to other schools, and some of the athletes being convinced just to play basketball or baseball, and so it’s gotten tough. To me, it’s still a great town. It’s a great football town, and it’s just a matter of having this kind of success that people appreciate, and they have. I’ve always kind of been drawn to this job, and when it came open. I was very excited.”
Sulphur concluded the 2024 and ’25 seasons in similar fashion.
The Tors ended each season with four-game losing streaks and didn’t qualify for the playoffs. They lost by an average of 23 points during that span in ’24, which increased to 38 points last season.
Head coach Cody Gueringer was relieved of duties in the eighth week of the season, signaling a different path for the football program.
Feaster previously demonstrated a Midas touch in making downtrodden programs relevant again.
Could Sulphur be the next?
Feaster, who played quarterback for his father Bill at Mamou High, was revered for his fast-paced offenses that generated plenty of points and lots of excitement. He also studied the concepts of offensive coordinator Gary Crowton and the ‘Air Raid’ system made popular by Tony Franklin.
Many was 7-23 prior to Feaster’s arrival in 1996 and enjoyed back-to-back regular-season records of 9-1 and 10-0 with teams reaching the quarterfinals and semifinals.
He guided Parkway, where he helped develop three Division I quarterbacks, to the Class 5A state championship game in ’13 against Acadiana. Glenbrook enjoyed unprecedented success, which at one point had nine players, in Feaster’s four seasons that included a trip to the quarterfinals.
Feaster was also part of a prolific offense at Louisiana Christian, which went 9-2, won the Red River Athletic Conference and reached the NAIA playoffs. The Wildcats averaged 41.1 points and 475 yards per game.
“The community’s very excited and they’re appreciating it,” Feaster said. “We have other drama going on with city politics and stuff like that, so people have a nice distraction in football. I would say they’re fully engaged at this point and enjoying it.”
Feaster put together a staff that was like-minded and ready to roll up their sleeves and get to work.
“Usually when I go someplace it’s tough to get the older guys to buy in because they’d been doing it a certain way and everything changes,” he said. “These guys have been really good about it. The results have borne that out.
“We’ve kind of come a long way from what we first saw in the weight room when I got here,” he said. “One big aspect of it is getting a coaching staff in here that believes in all of the right stuff and is willing to work and good with the guys. We said when we got here, we would work. I have a really good freshman staff and 75 kids out. We’re going to build it through our junior highs and with young guys.”
Feaster made a commitment to his senior group – which numbered 17 with four starting on each side of the ball – to try and put together the best season possible.
“What we really want to do is to have one great year for our seniors,” he said. “Our seniors have been through a lot of adversity, a lot of drama and all of the other stuff. They stuck it out, and I’m real proud of them. For them to have an opportunity to have some nights like we’ve had the last couple of weeks is really special.”
One of the key parts of this year’s start has been the return of a former quarterback.
Feaster was excited about the top two quarterbacks returning from last year’s team when Noah Courtney also showed up to the first team meeting, expressing a desire to play again.
“Last year he had a dispute with a coach and didn’t play,” Feaster said. “He’s a really good baseball player and concentrated on that. When I got hired and met with the guys, Noah was at that first meeting. He was immediately ready to play. I was kind of excited.
“It was a really good battle (at quarterback), and the other two guys aren’t here anymore,” Feaster said. “He’s done a fantastic job. He’s really tough, stayed healthy and hasn’t missed anything. He was just ready to play football.”
Sulphur equaled its win total of 2025 in its first two games this season. They’ve since doubled that in dramatic fashion.
The Tors jumped out to a commanding 56-12 halftime lead and, with a running clock in the second half, polished off a 56-34 victory over St. Louis in the season opener.
A week later, junior running back Bryson Hardy got loose for a career-best 304 yards rushing and three touchdowns in another game. Sulphur gained separation in the first half and defeated Iota, 38-14.
“The seniors that play for us are warriors,” Feaster said. “They’re tough guys that are leaders. They’re going to be missed. I want to say three years from now we’re going to have 35 to 40 seniors. For a 5A team, 17 is really small. We’re anxious for next year, but we want to do as much as we can for the seniors this year and have as great a season as possible.”
Feaster was adamant about his enjoyment in Week 1 against St. Louis compared to the last two weeks of high-wire acts.
“We’d much rather have the St. Louis model where we score 56 in the first half, and we play running time before the first half is over with,” he joked. “That’s what we’re looking for.”
Sulphur was locked in a 28-all game after the third quarter with Pineville when the lead changed hands four times, with the Rebels leading 42-38 in the final quarter.
Sulphur drove to Pineville’s 10-yard line and turned the ball over on downs. The Tors then forced a fumble at the 20, and Hardy scored on the first play, and Ethan Stephenson added the extra point with less than two minutes to go in the 45-42 triumph.
Hardy finished with 191 yards on 19 carries and a touchdown, and tight end Bryson Mier, who missed all of last season because of a knee injury, had five catches for 41 yards.
“After it was over with, we said it’s good we got this one at Pineville because it prepared us if we ever got in that situation again,” Feaster said. “That game was lost. We gave it up on fourth down and with two minutes to go, and they fumbled on second down.
“We scored on the first play to go up and held on for dear life with a minute to go,” Feaster said. “We hung in there, hung in there, and got a break. We also had some breaks that went against us. Some self-inflicted wounds. We don’t take it for granted when we get those breaks. That game was a very improbable win as well.”
A week later, which was also played at home, Sulphur managed to surpass its own flair for the dramatics in a one-point win over Sam Houston.
The Tors built a 31-21 halftime lead when the Broncos reeled off 33 unanswered points for a 34-31 lead in the fourth quarter.
“We never heard any complaints,” Feaster said of his team. “We stayed in there and just kept playing.”
Sulphur scored on three successive drives, recovered one of three onside kickoffs and converted three two-point conversions with Courtney adding the finale.
Hardy’s 58-yard TD run was the catalyst with 7:18 remaining, and Courtney found Wyatt Hackler for an 8-yard score with 58 seconds left.
The Tors, which had a four-game losing streak against Sam Houston, recovered the ensuing onside kick and drove 76 yards in 7 plays with Hardy scoring on a 3-yard run with 49 seconds left. Courtney kept around the left side and helped his team erase a 23-point deficit.
Courtney produced the first 400-yard passing game at Sulphur since 2017, completing 28 of 44 attempts for 449 yards and four touchdowns and two interceptions. Hardy had his third 100-yard game of the season (13-161, 3 TDs) with senior Jaden Lilly (10 catches, 157 yards, TD) and Hackler (10-177, 2 TDs) as the team’s top targets.
Junior cornerback Rowdy Partin led the Tors with eight tackles and two interceptions.
“It was bad for a while against Sam Houston,” Feaster said. “They were scoring on us at will. The fact that we were able to keep it together, the things that coaches talk about, is that nobody started blaming anybody. After that (the comeback), everybody was pretty excited by then.”
Sulphur’s averaged 49 points and 483 yards a game, while allowing 36 points.
Courtney has thrown for 940 yards (63 of 112) with 11 TDs and six interceptions, while Hardy’s averaged 11.5 yards per carry (58-669, 8 TDs), and a solid corps of receivers – Lilly (19-315, 3 TDs), Hackler (18-334, 3 TDs) and Mier (10-103, 3 TDs) have provided Courtney with additional weapons.
Senior strong safety Tracy Washington has been solid in his new role this season, Feaster said.
“It’s the things that parents are most proud of,” Feaster said. “Parents love to win. They love to see their kids be successful. They’re most proud of their kids having courage and character, and that’s what we’ve seen.”