Teurlings Not Letting 3-0 Record and High Class 4A Rating Distract From District Play
by: William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
Teurlings Catholic football coach Dane Charpentier wants everyone to maintain perspective.
His team improved to 3-0 following its fourth straight victory last Friday, a 21-10 win over arch-rival Notre Dame, catapulting the Rebels to No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in this week’s Class 4A poll released by the Louisiana Sportswriters Association and GeauxPreps.com.
Charpentier applauded his team’s performance but was quick to tap the brakes on his team’s leap from No. 4 last week heading into Friday’s District 4-4A opener at No. 4 Westgate. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. in New Iberia.
“I guess it’s a reward,” Charpentier said of the No. 1 ranking. “We don’t talk about it to the kids. There was a famous coach (former LSU and Alabama coach Nick Saban) who once coined the phrase: ‘rat poison’. Once you start thinking you’re there, human nature tells you that you may stop working to get there.
“We’re certainly not there,” Charpentier said. “It’s three games which we’re fortunate to enough to start off 3-0 because it’s three very tough opponents. We’re proud of the way our kids have competed so far. We didn’t set out to just win three games. It’s a small sample size and we feel very good about where we’re at, but we’re definitely not where we want to go yet. I’ll pay attention to it when week 10 ends.”
Teurlings opened its season for the second straight year with a victory over Opelousas, defeating the reigning Class 4A non-select state champions and preseason No. 1 ranked team, 21-14.
The Rebels have followed that opening act with a 48-21 home victory over Class 5A’s Sam Houston and last week against Notre Dame.
“The main thing is we’ve played without turning the football over,” said Charpentier, 69-38 overall in his career and 58-30 at Teurlings, which has reached the Division II select state semifinals the past two years. “We’ve played good defense. All three of those teams we’ve held them below their average. I feel we’ve played good complimentary football as far as not turning the football over and giving the other teams long fields as often as we can.”
Upward Surge on the Ground
Teurlings began the season unranked, climbed to No. 8 after the win over Opelousas, and made the leap to No. 4 following its triumph over Sam Houston.
With three of the state’s top teams in 4A, this week’s rankings exhibit a clear-cut message about the difficulty of the district with two-time reigning Division II select state champion St. Thomas More (1-2) ranked second behind Teurlings and Westgate (2-0) fourth. The Cougars were previously ranked No. 1 but have encountered consecutive losses to Catholic-Baton Rouge (2-1) and Acadiana (2-1) who are among the top 4 teams in Class 5A.
“Westgate has a tremendous amount of speed on the field,” Charpentier said. “They will challenge you on defense. They’re going to get up in your face and physically, you’re going to have to beat somebody to get a yard. It’s a big challenge for us. These guys have the size and the speed that we haven’t seen yet from the top to bottom.”
Teurlings has relied on its massive offensive line led by Tulane commitment Gresham Perry to pave the way for a ground game that’s averaged 42 carries and 239.67 yards per outing.
Perry, a tackle, is joined by his younger brother Drake, a junior guard, senior center Peyton Davis, senior guard Jace Serrette, and junior tackle Thomas Cramer. Senior guard Gavin Girard gives the Rebels a sixth offensive man in certain formations, while Braden Brooks is a senior tight end, a position that will also include senior Jack Purser, a starter at outside linebacker.
“You try to find ways to win ballgames,” said Charpentier, a former quarterback at Teurlings. “If you make your so-called identity more important than winning ballgames, then I think that can be a problem. This (running the football) hasn’t been our identity most years. I don’t have a problem doing what we have to, to win a game. We have a talented group of offensive linemen, we have size there. We have a talented group of backs. We’re still making big plays in the passing game. We’re just not going to sit there and throw it 30 times to say we did.”
Senior Doug Viltz has been the team’s leading rusher, continuing a career trajectory set over the latter half of his sophomore season. He’s carried 64 times for 405 yards (130 yards per game) and five touchdowns.
Viltz’s final season began with a 28-carry, 108-yard performance and two of his team’s three rushing TDs in the win over Opelousas. A week later against Sam Houston, a game Teurlings led 29-0 in the first half, Viltz went to another level with 230 yards and two scores, a two-point conversion on 22 attempts.
He electrified the home crowd during the Sam Houston game, taking a handoff over the right side and cutting back toward the middle of the field, outracing the defense for an 83-yard score and a 36-14 lead in the fourth quarter.
Junior running back Cason Evans, whose season was cut short in 2023 by an ACL injury, has rushed 18 times for 138 yards and three TDs.
Led by Viltz’s 107-yard effort in the season opener against Opelousas, the Rebels negotiated wet and rainy conditions for 198 yards and three TDs on 47 attempts. Evans added 51 yards on six attempts.
“He’s been special,” Charpentier said of Viltz. “He’s a kid that really came on at the end of his sophomore year and then had a great junior year. He’s a kid that a lot of our guys look to for leadership. He just plays his heart out every opportunity he gets. He exemplifies what high school football is all about. Just a huge heart and a competitor. He doesn’t have any fear in his eyes. A lot of our guys that respond to that.”
Junior Alex Munoz has been in a battle for the team’s starting quarterback position with A.J. Price to replace three-year starter Preston Welch, a Nicholls State signee.
Munoz’s dual-threat ability has meshed well with the Rebels’ offense, ranking third on the team with 131 yards and a TD on 26 attempts. The son of 25-year coaching veteran Jorge Munoz, a former offensive analyst on the LSU 2019 national championship team and current tight ends coach at UL-Lafayette, contributed a key 31-yard run on fourth-and-eight that led to Evans’ 14-yard score to extend a 14-10 lead in the fourth quarter against Notre Dame.
Munoz also passed for a 69-yard TD to Cade Cother and a 14-3 lead in the third quarter.
“He’s emerged as more of a dual-threat type quarterback,” Charpentier said. “He’s able to put a little more pressure on the defense. We saw that against Notre Dame and he was able to make some big plays with his legs. Any defensive coordinator will tell you that’s really tough to defend. I’m really proud of the way he’s developed. He’s the quintessential coach’s kid and asks a lot of questions about the game.”
Rebels Have been Stout Defensively
Teurlings’ defense of coordinator Bart Vitte has also played a significant role in the team’s start. The Rebels shut out Opelousas for three quarters and limited Sam Houston to 21 points, a week after the Broncos piled up nearly 700 total yards – led by running back Drew Bailey’s 310 yards and six TDs – with a 56-41 win over Leesville. Against the Rebels, Bailey gained 107 yards and scored twice.
The Rebels, who returned four starters, have allowed 15 points and 257.6 yards per game, recording nine tackles for losses, two sacks, forcing two fumbles, and two interceptions.
Senior free safety Kaleb Daniels is the team’s leading tackler with 30 followed by junior linebacker Jaxon Broussard (28 tackles, 1 TFL), junior defensive lineman Andrew Fruge (23 tackles, sack, TFL), senior cornerback Noah Darby (20 tackles, interception), Purser (14 tackles) and senior Reid Broussard (12 tackles. 3 TFLs).
Daniels led the team with seven tackles over the past two weeks, while Fruge had 5 ½ tackles and a sack last week with cornerback Kaden Davis adding two tackles.
“Our kids are familiar with Westgate,” Charpentier said. “If they don’t get your attention, then nobody can. This is not a week where we worry about our kids overlooking an opponent. Westgate speaks for itself and puts a ton of kids into college programs and for good reason. It’s about the messaging to the kids. We don’t talk about standings or polls. It serves no purpose for us. It’s all fun.”