Major Player Now: Unbeaten Terrebonne riding wave of momentum going to Destrehan
by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
The improved results inside Terrebonne High’s football stadium have been the biggest part of the change outside of it.
The sights, sounds, and smell of tailgating are now a prevalent feature, along with long lines that sometimes wrap around the stadium’s exterior, anxiously awaiting the opening of the gates to see the Tigers play.
“We’ve never had this in a long time,” Terrebonne’s fourth-year coach, Tyler Lewis. “It’s exciting. The pep rallies are alive. It’s just good. It’s good to win to help build a culture, and that’s what winning does. It makes people believe in the school. Everybody’s excited. They see the work the guys are putting in, and they’re telling them to keep going.”
Terrebonne parlayed a share of its first district championship in 14 years last season into another fast start this season. The Tigers (4-0, 1-0), who opened District 8-5A play last week with a convincing 52-38 win over Hahnville, travel to Destrehan (2-2, 1-0) on Friday with an opportunity to gain the upper hand in the league’s race.
“We have a shot to win it outright this year,” said Lewis, 22-14 in his fourth season. “The kids want to be state champions. We’ve never won a state title here (state runner-up in 1983). The goal is New Orleans. It takes a lot. I’ve been there before. It’s a long process. You have to stay humble and hungry, and healthy in order for us to get there.
“If they keep playing the ball they’ve been playing, they’ve got an opportunity of getting there,” Lewis said. “Ultimately, our goal since Day 1 is to have an organized and disciplined program that competes for championships, and that’s what we’re doing right now.”
Terrebonne, which is off to its best start in seven years, features a college-like offensive line, not only in size but ability, with three players already committed to playing in college and a defense led by another next-level player.
The Tigers average 225 of their 390 yards per game on the ground with senior Quincy Adams at the heart of the team’s ground game. Fellow senior, quarterback Owen Oliver, has been a steady hand and provided leadership for a team that’s won their last eight straight regular-season games – highlighted by a Week 5 win over Destrehan (30-21), the third ever in school history in 2024.
Senior defensive end Julian Coleman, an Arkansas-Monticello commitment, has been the catalyst of Terrebonne’s defense that kept Ellender and St. James to under 10 points in Week 2 and 3 victories.
“The kids are working hard,” Lewis said. “All I ask is for them to be 1% better than they were the day before and at the end of the week be 1-0. We don’t worry about what’s next. We take it one day, one week at a time, and they’ve been doing that pretty well.
When Terrebonne needed a replacement for head coach Gary Hill, the Tigers hired Lewis, who won state championships at his alma mater, West St. John, as a player (2005) and assistant coach (2017).
Lewis had also been an assistant for two years under Hill before going on to expand his knowledge of the game by coaching with Laury Dupont at West St. John and Robert Valdez, now of St. Augustine, and LaVonta Davis of St. James – a group of coaches who all impacted him.
Lewis left Terrebonne after two seasons with Hill to coach at West St. John for two years, including the Rams’ state title year, joining Valdez’ staff at St. James for two years as recruiting coordinator and safeties coach.
“I was under a lot of great coaches from being a player at West St. John with coach Dupont and coach Valdez, and to coaching with coach Valdez at St. James, who is a mentor of mine,” Lewis said. “You’ve got to find a way of doing things and a way of not doing things. I’ve kind of put from all of the coaches I’ve been under, put it together and made it our own here at Terrebonne. I guess you could say it’s been quite successful.”
Terrebonne had been in the state quarterfinals in 2018, losing 31-14 to Destrehan, and was 11-2. The Tigers were back in the playoffs the next two seasons, including the COVID season, with first-round exits and wound up with losing records before Hurricane Ida’s impact on a 1-6 campaign in 2021.
The Tigers were 3-7 in Lewis’s first season before flipping that record to 7-3 in Year 2, followed by last year’s 8-3 mark that ended on a sour note with a 20-17 upset loss to Chalmette.
“We set the foundation of discipline and pride,” Lewis said. “We revamped what the program looked like inside and out, from academics to athletics to the style of play. The kids bought in early; the parents bought in early. We never asked our kids to be perfect, we asked them to be Terrebonne perfect, and that’s just giving 110% every day inside the classroom, in the weight room and on the field, and also in the community.
“They have a chip on their shoulder,” Lewis said of last year’s final game with Chalmette. “That’s not how they wanted the season to end. They know they could have been better. My offensive line felt like it didn’t deliver for us. Just across the board, we didn’t play well defensively. We had a tough offseason. The kids want to be a Top 10 program, and that’s what they’re working toward. They want to give the fans exactly what they need.
Terrebonne followed a familiar blueprint to this year’s 4-0 start, with the lead of a trio of senior linemen helping create a dominant running game to go with the pinpoint passing of Oliver.
“Those are some great kids that work very hard,” Lewis said.
Offensive tackle O’Ryan Mosley is a 6-foot-4, 315-pound senior who has committed to North Texas and has started since he was a freshman. He’s started alongside guard Chris Stewart, a 6-2, 275-pounder, who has pledged to Southern, and tackle Tadan Bingham, a 6-4, 290-pound senior, is a former defensive lineman that’s committed to Louisiana Tech.
The Tigers also have junior center Waylon Lirette (6-2, 280) and sophomore Wyatt Bonvillian (6-0, 275) as starters on the line.
“The offensive line is a true testament to the whole program,” Lewis said of the offensive line’s guidance, a group coached by Nick Guidry. “They’ve been making sure everyone across the board stays in line. It’s a credit to those guys. Without them a lot of things are not possible for us here.”
After Oliver opened with a season-high 283 yards and a touchdown in a 24-13 victory over Riverside Academy, the Tigers have made quite a living on the ground in their spread attack with successive showings of 291, 297, and 299 yards.
Adams, nicknamed Bear, is the state’s fourth leading rusher with 64 carries for 805 yards – 12.5 yards per carry – and 12 TDs. He also leads the Tigers in scoring with 78 points.
Oliver has completed nearly 70% of his passes (39 of 56) for 666 yards to rank among the state’s top 20 in that category with three TDs. Senior Alvin Celestine tops the Tigers with 14 catches for 275 yards and a TD; junior Terrance Diggs has 12 grabs for 116 yards and 2 TDs, and sophomore A’khiree Parker has 10 receptions for 160 yards.
“He has been a complete leader for us,” Lewis said of Oliver. “He’s been patient when we’ve been predominantly run. When it was time to call his number last week, he delivered for us. We expect him to continue doing that and be that complete team player for us.”
The defense, a base four-man front capable of showing multiple looks, revolves around the play of Coleman, a 6-2, 310-pounder with 12 tackles and two tackles for loss with a sack.
“He’s the strength of the defense and requires a double team,” Lewis said. “He’s allowed our linebackers to play free, which is awesome.
Junior first-year starter Ricardo Robinson (11 tackles) has added an additional challenge for opposing teams to deal with at 335 pounds.
Because of the play of Coleman and Robinson, who can occupy blockers at the point of attack, Terrebonne benefited on the second level of their defense with standout play from linebackers Mason Coleman (team-high 44 tackles, 2 TFLs), the younger brother of Julian, and the production of senior Branson Bonvillian (37 tackles, 2 TFLs).
The Tigers have also gotten superb play from their defensive ends in sophomore Kolvin James (26 tackles) and junior Ethan Bergeron, Jr. (8 tackles), who each have a pair of sacks, and defensive backs Chris Delestre (25 tackles) and Kevin Bass 29 tackles), a senior and junior, respectively.
Moreover, junior placekicker Brennan McCormick has given the team a consistent threat with 20 of 20 extra points and 2 of 3 field goals for 26 points.
For the second straight season, Terrebonne defeated St. James, a team ranked No. 1 in Class 3A and the state runner-up to Sterlington in last year’s Division III non-select state title game.
Adams rushed for 278 yards and three touchdowns, enabling Terrebonne to build on a 14-8 halftime lead and put the game away with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns. Junior Sahj Ruffin, who totaled 36 yards on seven carries, tacked on the team’s final touchdown.
Bonvillian led the defensive effort with 13 tackles, Mason Coleman added 11 tackles, Kolvin had three of his team’s eight tackles behind the line, and Chase Stewart added an interception.
“It was big,” Lewis said. “St. James is a great team. We decided we were going to own the fourth quarter. We were going to lean on them and win the game in the trenches. That’s where it’s been for us.”
Adams and Oliver were a dynamic 1-2 punch that triggered a season-high 52-point avalanche.
Adams led an unrelenting ground game with a season-high 293 of the team’s 417 rushing yards and four touchdowns, and Oliver was the perfect complement – passing for a season’s best 281 yards and three TDs – helping Terrebonne take a 35-24 lead at halftime.
Celestine and Diggs each had five receptions for 153 and 43 yards, respectively, with Diggs catching 2 TDs and Celestine adding one.
Mason Coleman recorded double-digit tackles once again with 14, and Bass added 12.
Not only is Terrebonne faced with the prospect of meeting Hahnville and Destrehan, the league’s standard bearers, in consecutive weeks, but following a non-district home game with Class 4A’s No. 7 St. Charles Catholic (4-0), the Tigers host H.L. Bourgeois (3-0) and travel to Thibodaux (4-0, 1-0).
“We’ve got to come back and do this all over again; we have to do it on the road,” Lewis said. “We know what kind of team we have, but it’s going to really show the determination and grit of this program if we can go on the road and defeat a great team like Destrehan. It’s not easy to go back-to-back weeks and get the results you want. Our kids have worried about being 1% better than they were the day before and taking Fridays and going 1-0.”