Keeping it in perspective: Undefeated, No. 1 Teurlings boys soccer team tries to focus on one message with start of district

by: William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor

When national pundits annually raved about Alabama’s football program, threatening to take away from the team’s focus, former iconic football coach Nick Saban famously shot back with the phrase: rat poison. 

Saban wanted to remain the one voice his players heard above all of the outside clutter about how good the Crimson Tide was.

It was a way for Saban to combat such rhetoric before it infiltrated too deep and threatened to negate his process toward victory.

Fourth-year Teurlings Catholic soccer coach Stephen Devine has sounded a similar tone, telling anyone who will listen not to anoint his undefeated (13-0) and top-ranked Rebels in Division II just yet.

“I work at Third Coast Soccer in Lafayette,” Devin said. “Someone came into the store and said, ‘You’re the coach at Teurlings, you guys are supposed to win it all this year.’ I don’t even know these people. We’ve talked to the players about it. Whatever’s being said, we told them don’t buy in. The games have to be played. You’re not a (state) champion. 

“We haven’t won anything and that’s what we keep on their minds,” said Devine, who was assisted by Cade Trahan. “Be confident, but don’t be cocky because we don’t have anything in the trophy room. Don’t let the noise on the outside affect how our program is being run, how we play, and how our program depicts itself on the field.”

Devine acknowledges this year’s roster is the best he’s fielded.

With returning Division II Offensive Player of the Year Charlie Mader, who scored 42 goals, and fellow all-state selection Matthew Rushing in goal, the Rebels returned 10 starters from last year’s 17-5-1 team that was upset in the state quarterfinals.

Teurlings has been on a tear this season going into Tuesday’s District 4-II opener at David Thibodeaux.

“We know district’s important to some extent,” Devine said. “It’s a goal to reach our ultimate goal, but winning district’s probably on the back of a lot of our minds. Unfortunately, the LHSAA doesn’t give you an extra (power) point to do anything other than solidify you have a spot in the playoffs. Our goal in every game is to get a good result and to get as many power points as possible.”

It’s been 16 years since Teurlings last won a state championship when the Rebels went back-to-back in 2008 and ’09. 

It was a golden age for the program which made six consecutive trips to at least the semifinal round and wound up with two state runner-up finishes in ’06 and ’07. 

Last year’s trip for No. 1 Teurlings to the state quarterfinals, a 4-1 loss to No. 10 Riverdale, was the first for the program in five years.

“We were still kind of young, relying on certain people rather than the team,” said Devine, who noted Mader was injured and knocked from the game with 20 minutes left with an elbow injury. “It’s one thing I chose not to bring up and they’ve really not brought it up, but I know it’s in the back of our mind that kind of keeps us motivated. Anything can happen. Just because a number’s next to our name doesn’t mean we’re going to get to the next round.”

This year’s team is clearly motivated to eclipse the third round of the playoffs.

“So far, we’ve been pretty fortunate with some good results,” Devine said. “Our personnel, it’s the best I’ve had in this program, probably one of the better rosters the schools have ever seen. We’ve been fortunate to get enough kids interested in what we were doing in the past couple years.”

Teurlings has outscored its opposition 40-4 led by Mader’s 13 goals and 11 assists. Junior Carson Dwyer has seven goals and two assists, Junior Luke Brown, a second-team all-state selection last year, has six goals, sophomore Eden Schlabach has five goals, and senior Logan Boudreaux has six assists.

Boudreaux and Breaux were both all-district last season, while senior Gunner Hebert, junior Seth Cheramie, and junior Brandon Prados earned second-team honors.

The 6-foot-4 Rushing, a William Carey commitment, has been a force in goal for the Rebels with nine shutouts and four goals allowed.

The Rebels surround Rushing by center backs sophomore Luke Viator and Hebert and rely on a rotation of Cheramie, Prados, junior Andrew Viator, and sophomore Eden Schwander at the outside backs.

“In my opinion, he’s probably the best goalkeeper in the state in all divisions,” Devine said. “He’s the full package. He was a pitcher at Teurlings until last year. He can distribute the ball with his arm and feet. He communicates well, holds himself accountable, and really loves to get better. It’s everything you want from a keeper.”

Devine said the play of Luke Viator has made a seamless transition at center back in place of the team’s lone senior from a year ago – three-time all-state defender Peyton Jones.

Teurlings has dealt with the adversity brought on by a season-ending knee injury to senior Hale Nelson in the first month of the season.

“He’s the epitome of what we want as a player in our program,” Devine said. “Usually, he’s the first off the bench if he’s not starting and was kind of the next man up. It was devastating as coaches because he always set the tone. He broke down the huddle and led the prayer. A really great kid.”

Teurlings’ season has been filled with plenty of milestones thus far.

The Rebels, who are 9-0 against Division I competition, have taken down D1 state powers St. Paul’s and Catholic-Baton Rouge by identical 2-1 scores in a three-week span of December.

Teurlings took a 1-0 lead in the first half in both matches,

The home-standing Wolves tied the match 1-1 going into halftime when Mader found Breaux who made a nice run and finished with the game-winning goal with approximately eight minutes remaining. 

The Rebels showed the capability of putting some distance between themselves and Catholic with an early barrage of shots before settling for a 2-0 lead. The Bears responded approximately with 10 minutes left with a goal but couldn’t come all the way back.

“It was a tale of two halves,” Devine said against Catholic. “We were the better team in the first half, and they were the better team in the second half. We had two breakaways, one that hit the post and another one where we missed the frame.”

Teurlings, which had a 3-0 showing in Pineville’s tournament, swept through its EIL Showcase, which was also hosted by LA Krewe Rush, with three shutout victories last weekend.

The Rebels scored in the first two minutes of a 1-0 win over Byrd and converted a late penalty kick for a 1-0 win over Captain Shreve – improving their mark to 5-0 in matches decided by a goal.

They concluded play with a 5-0 triumph over Division IV Country Day.

“It was a weekend of learning for us,” Devine said. “A weekend where we can’t go through the motions and expect results.”

That remains an area Devine would like to see his team improve with the start of district play, coupled with remaining non-district road matches against St. Thomas More (Jan. 15) and Lafayette High (Jan. 27).

“I see how excited they are against Catholic Baton Rouge, St. Paul’s, and Baton Rouge Magnet,” he said. “You don’t always see that excitement, that preparation, the adrenaline and that’s what we’re trying to get through to them. We see a group motivated to get results against these big names and these local games are going to be tougher if you don’t approach them the same way.

“Our focus is on David Thibodeaux right now,” he said. “We know who’s on our schedule. They’ve (players) had our schedule since the summer.  We talked about worrying about your performance. What can you do to impact today? David Thibodeaux is the next game and that’s the one we always focus and harp on.”