Taste of History: Haynes Academy faces Shaw after school’s first playoff win
by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
After six seasons of helping launch one football program, coach PJ Sprunk has helped another program, located 15 miles away in Jefferson Parish, take a significant step forward.
Not only did Haynes Academy for Advanced Studies overcome a 0-3 start, but the Yellow Jackets won the school’s first state playoff game in 17 years with a 41-0 victory over Abramson last week.
“It’s a blessing to still be going right now,” Sprunk said. “Our kids are embracing the challenge, so we’re excited.”
No. 10 Haynes Academy (7-4) faces the task of meeting one of the state’s proudest programs and most successful coaches when the Jackets travel to No. 7 Archbishop Shaw (6-4) in Friday’s 7 p.m. Division II select state regional. The Eagles, the reigning state champions, are guided by legendary coach Hank Tierney, the state’s fourth-winningest coach with a record of 337-132 in 38 seasons.
“Coach Tierney’s one of the best to ever do it,” Sprunk said. “Shaw has a great football program. They were state champions last year. Our kids are excited about the challenge. I’m excited about the challenge. At the end of the day, if you want to be one of those top-tier teams in Louisiana, you’ve got to start playing with the top-tier teams in Louisiana.”
Sprunk spent a total of seven years getting the program at Kenner Discovery, also in Jefferson Parish, up and running in 2018. He directed the Swamp Owls to a 28-27 record with a best showing of 7-4 and an appearance in the Division II select playoffs in 2022.
Haynes Academy found a need for a new coach when Ben Powell left after five seasons to become head coach at Country Day in Metairie. The Jackets achieved a 9-0 regular season last year, received an opening-round bye, and lost to Istrouma, 42-16, in the regional round.
“It was tough to leave Kenner Discovery,” Sprunk said. “It was a place where we started the program. I had a lot of love for those kids. Facilities-wise, they had moved into a former 5A school (Grace King); they had redone the weight room, which is now college-level.
“They had a middle school program, athletic budget, and booster club,” Sprunk said. “There was a lot to really love about it. We played them before and had mutual respect for them. Coach Powell did a great job getting this started in the last couple of years. One of their former coaches called and asked if I would be interested. I looked into it, and it’s been a great move. It’s a great school with great kids and administration. I couldn’t be happier.”
Haynes Academy is regarded among the nation’s top 50 schools by U.S. News & World Report, and that same outlet also ranks the school, with an average ACT score of 30, No. 1 in the state.
After years of fielding middle school teams, the school fielded a varsity football team in 2008 without much statewide notice.
Haynes’ volleyball team turned the outside focus toward athletics with a Division III state championship in 2024 and another trip to the state tournament last week.
Powell’s undefeated regular season in ’24 was another step toward respectability for the program that finally broke through with their first playoff win last week.
“We’ve kind of held that chip on our shoulder all year long,” Sprunk said of a lack of notoriety outside of New Orleans. “We know that our school’s known for academics and not necessarily athletics. We tell people all the time, and the ones that want to listen, we feel we’re a good athletic program.
“Our kids don’t listen to that outside stuff,” Sprunk said. “They know how good they are, and they work hard and they love to prove people wrong. We prepare the best we can every week, and we let the cards fall where they may. We feel going into a game that if we’re prepared enough, we’ll be fine.”
Sprunk found Haynes with the kind of foundation he could build upon. The Jackets had a total of 17 starters back from a team that lost once the previous season.
“Any time you’ve got guys with valuable varsity minutes, it’s huge for you,” Sprunk said. “We wanted to build a family culture. I had a meeting with every player and discussed some things they wanted to keep around and some things they wanted to build upon. One of the biggest things I noticed here is that there wasn’t a whole lot of tradition necessarily, which is common with new schools. We kind of wanted to put our own tradition in place.”
To facilitate the process, Sprunk took his team more than an hour away to Poplarville, Miss. – home of Pearl River Community College – for a four-day camp where coaches and players focused more on each other instead of outside distractions.
They were detached from the instant updates from their cell phones and televisions – leaving the Yellow Jackets to focus on football and developing a family fabric.
“It was pretty much team bonding, a lot of work, which brought us together,” Sprunk said. “One of the great things about this program is you’ll see a freshman and senior hanging out in the hallway. We wanted to build that family atmosphere. I feel when you build that they’ll play harder.
“We had to instill some culture-type things we wanted to bring in and make our own,” Sprunk said. “What we did inherit was a group of hard-working kids that had that leave-it-all-out-there attitude. You had that to work with, and that’s always a plus.”
Haynes was also going to look somewhat different under Sprunk, transitioning from a single-wing offense led by 2,000-plus-yard rusher “Locklen Chaverie) to more of a pro-style attack that would incorporate more of a passing game than last season.
“The experience coming back kind of helped with the game speed,” Sprunk said. “It was huge for us.”
Senior Trent Helwig moved from running back to quarterback, and junior Brady Cribby stepped into Claverie’s vacant running back spot.
“He’s been a great player for us, he’s a very good high school quarterback,” Sprunk said of Helwig. “We knew Cribby was special. We had a couple of good running backs and receivers, and we wanted to get the ball to them in space.”
Cribby has produced more than 2,000 all-purpose yards and 25 total touchdowns, including a team-high 1,940 yards rushing. Helwig has also rushed for over 1,000 yards with 1,112 and 12 TDs and passed for 490 yards and eight scores.
The Jackets are averaging 37.7 points, having scored 40-plus points four times which included their playoff win.
Sprunk maintained a sense of familiarity on defense with a 4-2-5 alignment, a unit capable of applying pressure and adjusting to different coverages.
Junior captain Carter Sternberger, who holds a 4.6 GPA and a 27 ACT score, immediately jumped off the film when Sprunk took the job and began watching film. He’s the holder of the school’s record with 115 tackles this season, and teams with fellow captain Matt Bonura as two of that group’s leaders.
“He’s a guy that you want on your team,” Sprunk said of Sternberger. “If you looked up the definition of football player, you’ll see his (Bonura’s) picture in there. He’s a great kid and another captain for us. He’s also our starting one, one of the few two-way players we have. He’s also a captain for the basketball and baseball teams. He’s just an exceptional kid that you love to coach.”
Sprunk’s first year with Haynes was bumpy out of the gate. The Jackets lost their first three games, two of them by a total of nine points, before finally taking off toward a District 9-3A championship.
Haynes lost the services of Helwig at halftime of its opener with Country Day and lost by a touchdown. A Week 2 matchup with Class 5A Riverdale didn’t go well in a 42-0 defeat, and a Week 3 trip to St. John of Plaquemine went back and forth until the Eagles held on for a 36-34 victory.
The Jackets’ first three opponents went on to a combined 21-11 record, and each made the playoffs with Country Day facing Calvary Baptist in Friday’s Division III state regionals.
“We knew we were a good team when that 0-3 start happened, we just didn’t get it done,” Sprunk said. “There’s no excuses. We had some things that we had to fix. Our kids never wavered. They knew what the goal was and how good we could be. All the credit goes to them for their hard work and dedication. We came out and improved every week and finally started clicking on both sides of the ball three weeks ago.”
Haynes reeled off four straight wins before a 28-24 setback to Young Audiences Charter, an independent school that will play for district honors next year. A 4-0 showing in district play included a 47-35 win over Patrick Taylor on Oct. 30 and a 55-18 victory over Jefferson Rise Charter, setting the stage for the team’s home playoff with Abramson.
“There was a lot of emotion going into the game,” Sprunk said of the Abramson game. “With the chance to win your first playoff game in history, you want the kids to be up for it, but you also want to continue that emotion until the game starts. Sometimes you can be overly emotional, but we love it. Our kids really care about our program.”
Haynes’ date with history turned anticlimactic, scoring twice in the first six minutes of the game to lead 14-0.
Helwig accounted for both touchdowns, scoring on a 4-yard run, and after Sebastian Gonzales’ interception, he threw a 19-yard TD to Cribby, and the Jackets added a two-point conversion.
“It couldn’t have started out any better for us,” Sprunk said. “Abramson’s a very athletic team. We knew we had kind of jump on them early. We didn’t necessarily want to get into a track meet with them. It worked out really well. Our kids played phenomenally. Defensively, we’ve been right there all year long, and we had our best defensive effort last Friday.”
An 8-yard run from Cribby, coupled with a two-point pass from Helwig, made it 22-0 by halftime.
Cribby’s third touchdown, a 1-yard run in the third quarter, was set up by a blocked punt, and Haynes produced another turnover with a fumble recovery. Helwig passed for his second touchdown on an 8-yard effort to Bonura.
“At this point and beyond, anybody you play in the playoffs is going to be a good football team,” Sprunk said. “That’s no different with Shaw. I know they lost a few guys, but they’re still a very good team, and they’re playing well right now. Nobody’s backing down. Everyone’s super excited. They’re ready to rock.
“Every team’s trying to make their high school experience a great one, and you want to win a state championship,” Sprunk said. “The first state playoff win and the district championship were great, but I think our goal as a program is a state championship. When you start your offseason program, then your spring, you set out to be a state champion. You don’t set out to be average. That’s always been our goal.”