Matt Standiford has been everything No. 1 LCA needed in a head coach

by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor

Lafayette Christian Academy’s football team quickly turned the page from the 2024 season. The Knights, who were used to starting offseason work after the Christmas break – the result of having played in seven consecutive state championship games – were days removed from a stinging 34-30 state quarterfinal defeat at The Dunham School.

Never had LCA faced such a script as was the case less than a month into last season when the team’s head coach – Zach Lochard – was replaced following an uncharacteristic 1-3 start. The team’s two coordinators – Matt Standiford (offense) and Mitch Craft (defense) were named co-head coaches to help stabilize a team and coaching staff.

The Knights rallied to finish second to Notre Dame in District 6-2A before catching steam in the Division III state playoffs with wins over Beekman Charter and district foe Notre Dame before traveling to Baton Rouge to meet Dunham.

LCA appeared to position itself for a trip to the semifinals and a game with Bunkie when Dunham rallied from a 30-13 deficit in the fourth quarter. All-American quarterback Elijah Haven passed for three touchdowns and Tigers outgained the Knights 131-2 in the pivotal fourth quarter.

“Leaving Dunham, we knew we had left one out there and we felt really good about our semifinal matchup,” Standiford said. “Going through all of that stuff, I’m not sure that we did enough to make it to the state championship. We did not play at our best all the time.

“We lost a Week 7 game (42-28 to Notre Dame) that we shouldn’t have,” Standiford said. “Dunham took it from us. I’m not going to discredit them because they had a remarkable run. By Dec. 1 our kids were working out, and they were hungry and they were determined to never let that happen again.”

The disappointment of the taxing season was still fresh when LCA returned days later for offseason workouts and conditioning. Coaches believed it to be prudent for the returning members to distance themselves from the previous season and develop a clear vision for the upcoming season.

One of the prevailing questions for players was who would be their head coach? LCA had a talented roster returning with 13 returning starters, including three Division I commitments in Braylon Walker and Luke Green of UL, and Braylen Allen who would later change his pledge from Tulane to Oklahoma.

Before the Christmas break, LCA lifted the interim tag and named Standiford its head coach. The 30-year-old Opelousas native had spent three years on the staff of head coach Tommy Badon at his alma mater Westminster Christian before joining the staff at LCA where he was offensive line coach for both Trev Faulk and Hunter Landry.

“God has been so good,” he said. “If you would have told me in five years that I would be the head coach at one of the best programs in the state, I’m not sure I would have believed you.”

LCA has returned to its dominant ways in the first full season under Standiford. The Knights (10-1) took on arguably the state’s most challenging schedules, leading to a No. 1 seed in the Division III state playoffs where they’ll host reigning state champion, No. 9 Catholic-New Iberia (10-2), in Friday’s state quarterfinal at 7 p.m.

“My wife got mad at me after we won some of the early games,” Standiford said. “I said we had to focus on the next one. Then we went into the playoffs after a double bye (caused by a Week 10 forfeit by Lake Arthur), and you could certainly reflect about how incredible this season has been. I’m not saying I wouldn’t have believed you because I knew our team had the talent, the leadership and ability to be here.”

                                                                               

Coaching wasn’t a stretch for Standford who vividly remembers serving as the ballboy for Westminster and riding the team’s bus on away games.

The smell of sweat and vision of fellowship were so prevalent Standiford made up mind as a youngster that he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father Grayson, who coached for 30 years and is currently the athletic director at First Baptist Christian School in Lafayette.

“We were on the bus, and I was 8 or 9 we were talking football,” Standiford said. “That’s always what I wanted to do. I always had this big dream that I would be the head coach at Westminster, and I got a chance to coach there for three years. Trajectories change. I met some different people and ended up being where I’m at now.”

Standiford’s playing career at Westminster benefitted from the arrival of Badon, now the head track and field coach at UL, who believed in a physical veer running style. The Crusaders won 90 games and made the playoffs in 11 of 12 years under Badon, leading to an enjoyable time.

“Having a tough work ethic was engrained in me at a young age,” said Standiford, who continues to go by the nickname ‘chop’, a moniker reduced from ‘porkchop’ in the fourth or fifth grade. “I used to go summer workouts with my dad when I was in the seventh and eighth grade. They won a lot of games with coach Badon. I got to see what winning looked like first-hand and it’s had a huge effect on my career. Seeing the dynamic of the coaching staff and how that works.”

Standiford’s playing career continued at Louisiana College which was coached by Dennis Dunn. The offensive lineman had positioned himself to potentially contribute right away when an injury curtailed his career.

“He wanted to stay on and help us coach,” said Dunn, whose top-seeded North DeSoto team will host eighth-seeded Franklinton in a Division II state non-select quarterfinal at 7 p.m. “I loved him so much as a young man, I said absolutely. We made him a student coach and he absorbed everything, what to do on and off the field and he has such a servant’s heart.

“It just became a passion for him and a calling,” Dunn said. “Some coaches coach for the profession, others coach because of the calling and there’s a call of God on Matt Standiford’s heart to impact young men. I’m so proud of him and the job that he’s doing. It doesn’t surprise me one bit that he’s having the success that he’s having.”

Standiford was attentive in staff meetings, learning the blocking schemes to quarterback play and Dunn’s up-tempo offensive approach. He stood next to Dunn during games where he was a valuable resource.

“Matt was a student of the game,” Dunn said. “He had the ‘it’ factor. When he became a coach, he learned the game. He learned every position. He’s very sharp. Not only was he very academically sharp, but he’s football smart and sees things that maybe others don’t see. I entrusted him with a lot of responsibilities as a student. He was our signaler and was right by me for a few of those years.”

Standiford worked throughout his undergraduate days and also served as a graduate assistant.

Louisiana College enjoyed unprecedented times under Dunn, architect of Evangel’s dynasty with nine state championships. He guided the Wildcats to 65 wins in 11 seasons and led the program to their first national ranking in 2011 and a year later, they took part in the Division III playoffs.

Dunn said Staniford witnessed LC’s sideline management, play calling and strategy.

“He would say things to me you would say would be one step ahead,” Dunn said. “He would say, ‘they’re doing this in the secondary. Their safeties are doing this’. He could just see it conceptually happening and be one step ahead and was poised, and had good suggestions that would work.”

Standiford credited both Dunn and Ben McLaughlin, LC’s current head coach, for his development.

“I learned under their tree,” he said. “I learned a lot about offense and offensive line play.”

                                                                               

LCA had been in transition since Landry announced his resignation to take over neighboring Lafayette Renaissance Charter, which was fielding a football program for the first time.

Standiford was named LCA’s interim coach, gaining valuable experience of leading the Knights through offseason and more importantly, completing the schedule for the 2024 and 2025 seasons.

“I wanted to make sure kids had 10 opportunities in the regular season and a chance to make the playoffs,” Staniford said.

LCA already had agreements to play Carencro and Westgate, plus its District 6-2A competition. That left the delicate balance of finding four more opponents for non-district play to fit into the remainder of the schedule.

Standiford looked toward the famed Catholic League in New Orleans for a game with Archbishop Rummel and also locked up a date with Archbishop Shaw in Marrero.

Standiford went to great lengths to secure a series with Central, agreeing to travel both years or lose the opportunity to face the Wildcats and have an open date on the schedule. He also looked at filling an opening with either Haynesville or Evangel, choosing the latter after the two schools had played in 2020-21.

“I knew that we were going to have a talented group coming back regardless of who was going to be the head coach,” said Standiford. “They were going to have a good team to put forth a good effort against some of these talented schools.”

LCA hired Lochard from Breaux Bridge High, and the Knights won one of its first four games, dropping consecutive games to Westgate (39-28) and Shaw (31-8), the latter which went on to win the Division II select state championship.

Lochard was relieved of his duties the remainder of the coaching staff was summoned to the boys’ basketball locker room for a meeting. Pastor Jay Miller, who had met with school superintendent Devin Lantier and athletic director Barry Baldwin, told Standford and Craft that if they were agreeable, they would serve as the team’s co-head coaches.

“We looked at each other and knew that’s what we needed to do,” Standiford said of Craft, who played at Southern Mississippi. “We had to make sure everyone was on board. We had three or four coaches that had come on board with the previous coach. They stayed in the fight with us.”

LCA was tasked with an undefeated Central team that would go on to win the Division I non-select state championship. The Knights were competitive, though, closing to within 24-16 in the third quarter behind quarterback Jaylen Walker’s 243 yards passing before the Wildcats prevailed, 31-22.

“That game really molded us,” Standiford said. “The kids were bought in at that point, regardless of the record. The kids knew we could still do something special, and it says a lot about them and their character. They never wanted to be the group that let anybody down and that showed in their effort.

“They saw the trust coach Kraft and I had in one another,” Standiford said. “We handled each side of the ball, and the assistants did a remarkable job during that time. They could see trust. We let them know that they were not going through this alone and that we were with them. We let them know that as much as they were hurting, we were hurting, too. Once they realized we were all in this together, they took that to heart and that helped them a great deal.”

With the start of district play, LCA split its next games with Lafayette Renaissance and Notre Dame. They handled the two remaining league games in between before a 56-42 road loss to Evangel.

The Knights, a ninth seed, were in the rare position of playing a first-round playoff game with Beekman before traveling to Notre Dame and reversing a 14-point defeat five weeks before into a 35-28 regional win. That was followed game at where 10 minutes and a determined group of Tigers stood between them and a trip to the semifinals.

“The expectation is state championship or bust,” Standiford said. “It upset a lot of people.”                                                                               

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For the second straight offseason LCA faced uncertainty. The Knights were without a head coach once again until the school elevated Standiford to that position before the Christmas break.

He never looked at the eight-game stretch he and Craft were faced with as an audition for the head coach’s job.

“I try not to think about what’s going to be the final outcome, who are they going to hire as head coach?”, he said. “Are they going to stick with us or go in a different direction? I just thought if we do what we’re supposed to do, and we compete at a high level, they’re going to make the decision they feel is best for the program and the school and I would have been supportive.”

Dunn, who coached both of Miller’s sons at Louisiana College, endorsed Standiford.

“You have a special breed of person where he has passion and exhibits character,” he said. “Pastor Jay is a friend of mind and when they were looking for a coach, I told him your head coach is probably there already. I told him Matt could handle it and I’m glad Jay took my advice because obviously it’s paid off.”

No one understood the expectations of LCA’s program better than Standiford. During his time coaching at Westminster, the Knights won the first of four straight state championships in 2017 – either in Division III or IV. In a move to compete in Division II or Class 4A schools despite 2A enrollment, they added a pair of state runner-up finishes to St. Thomas More for a stretch of three straight second-place finishes.

“I knew what came with the territory,” he said. “There’s no settling for mediocrity. We just had to get past last year.”

LCA exhibited a strong work ethic during spring practice, a period that provided Standiford an opportunity to build depth. He was without 15 players that played baseball and five of the team’s six athletes were on the track team, giving a six-member senior class ample time to become leaders.

The Knights also developed chemistry off of the field, attending sporting events of other classmates on campus. They sat through a 32-degree soccer match, contested by both the boys and girls, and later went to a basketball game where the Lady Knights were in the infancy stages of putting together another state championship team.

“We tried to get the kids to realize that it’s bigger than football,” Standiford said. “It’s the heartbeat of the school. When football goes well, it’s easier for the other sports to get momentum and do well. There were a lot of things that fueled them.”

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LCA didn’t completely avoid adversity early on when standout left tackle Caleb Campbell suffered a broken leg in the team’s jamboree.

That forced a bit of mixing and matching within the team’s offensive line with junior Lane Broussard moving from left guard to left tackle and a rotation between sophomores Cullen Suntag and Mason Talbot at left guard.

Senior center Austin Domingues, a former linebacker and long snapper, expressed a desire to move to offense and help.

“When you have kids like that who are willing to do whatever to be successful, it really helps your team go and he’s done a great job for us at center,” Standiford said of Domingues.

LCA won its first two games by a total of four points with victories over Class 5A teams Archbishop Rummel (27-26) and Carencro (41-38).

The Knights developed a theme that played out through the regular season with four one-score triumphs – a decidedly different result over 2024. They also returned the favor with three wins over teams (Rummel, Notre Dame and Evangel) that had defeated them, establishing a power rating so high in Division III, they could have dropped their final three games and still retained the top spot.

“That’s incredible,” Standiford said. “Last year we were the nine seed, didn’t get a bye and with three games left, we’re guaranteed the one seed. It was more motivation.”

The lone bump in the road was a Week 4 visit to Shaw where LCA encountered matchups in consecutive weeks with reigning state champions Shaw (Division II select) and Central (Division I non-select). The Knights committed a season-high seven turnovers, including six interceptions from Walker, in a 31-13 defeat to the Eagles, but a breakout performance from sophomore running back Caiden Bellard, and a strong effort from Walker, resulted in a 55-48 road victory.

Bellard rushed for 174 yards and four touchdowns, and Walker accounted for 279 yards and three touchdowns in the win.

LCA reeled off six wins to close the regular season.

The Knights moved up to No. 1 in the Class 2A poll with a dramatic 24-22 victory on Oct. 30 over visiting Evangel and junior quarterback Peyton ‘Pop’ Houston, an LSU commitment. The Eagles, who visit Karr in a Division I select quarterfinal, averaged 55 points entering into the game.

Walker rushed for 237 yards and three touchdowns, and it was a 24-yard field goal from Jude Fairchild that broke a 21-all tie with seven minutes in the third quarter.

But it was Craft’s defense that limited Evangel to a season low in points and to 308 total yards. They saved their best last with for a game-changing play.

“I looked at coach Craft in the fourth quarter,” Standiford said. “He wanted to know if we were going to score again. I said no, we were going to have to stop them. It’s just having that trust to get the job done and the kids went out and executed.”

The electric Houston scrambled on third down from LCA’s 15-yard line, working his way inside the 5 when Standiford said it was Green and Draylon August who converged to hit Houston, whose fumble was recovered by Damien Batiste in the end zone for a touchback with 26 seconds to go.

“I would have wanted the ball in the hand of my quarterback in that situation,” Standiford said. “Our two dudes just happen to make a play at the right time. When they say football’s a game of inches, it truly is. It was so close. If the referee would have said he reached the ball over the goal line, I wouldn’t have argued.

“That one game epitomizes our team,” Standiford said. “We started off hot, up 21-7 at one point, and had a chance to put them away and didn’t. Like good teams do, they came back and made it a game, and our kids are so resilient. It doesn’t surprise me one bit we won a game like that because we had done it all year. To win those games, it’s not about a perfect play call, it’s not about a perfect situation, it’s about the kids getting after it and finding a way to win. You could write a book about how crazy it’s been.”

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Two weeks removed from game competition didn’t deter LCA’s momentum.

The Knights built a 29-0 halftime lead over Parkview Baptist on their way to a 50-10 regional victory last Friday.

Walker, who amassed 390 total yards, passed for season highs in yardage (331) and touchdowns (6) with three of those going to Allen. Bellard added 120 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries and receivers August and Jace Babineaux, and tight end Wyatt Whitney, all caught touchdown passes.

Sophomore defensive end Joseph Adams led the defense with 12 tackles, three tackles for loss and a sack, and Jayden Arceneaux and Jaimason Marzell each added 10 tackles.

“Everything runs through the quarterback on offense,” Standiford said. “We’re not going to drop back and throw 70 times a game. We’re going to try and run the ball. Having a quarterback that’s a dual threat makes it a lot easier, and we have four really good receivers.”

Standiford said he gave the offensive coordinator’s duties this year to Tuskani Figaro, but LCA’s weekly offensive game plan has been a collaborative effort that’s included input from running backs coach Tyrell Fenroy, offensive line coach Will Chance and receivers coach Jared Davis.

“My goal was to end up passing the baton to him,” Standiford said of Figaro, the son of former NFL linebacker and Lafayette High head coach Cedric Figaro. “I’m the one calling the plays, but there’s a lot of influence from a lot of people. It doesn’t matter to me who calls the plays. We had a group text Monday on things to do against Catholic-New Iberia. We were on the same page, ready to go when we met.”

The trigger on LCA’s offense that averages 37 points and 354 total yards per game has been Walker, a defensive back pledge to UL. He’s averaged 228 total yards a game, a combination of 1,635 passing yards with seven interceptions and 26 touchdowns to go with 870 yards and nine TDs on 114 carries.

Bellard burst onto the scene in his first season to start, leading LCA in rushing and obtaining 1,000 yards after the eighth week of the season. He’s averaged 121 yards a game with 1,212 yards and 15 TDs on 187 attempts.

“Bellard has been tremendous,” Standiford said. “He’s one, if not the best, running backs in the entire state. I don’t care about classification. He’s faced some lofty competition. I’m proud of how he works and demands greatness from himself.”

Allen (35-613, 11 TDs) tops a talented wide receiver corps followed by August (27-373, 4 TDs), Babineaux (21-295, 7 TDs) and Kaden Ledet (21-270, 2 TDs).

LCA’s defense had to deal with its own bit of misfortune early in the season, losing two starting cornerbacks to season-ending injuries from a secondary that had more question marks than answers. Juniors Damien Batiste (47 tackles) and Kerrance Vallot (36 tackles), who face a formidable receiving corps in practice on a daily basis, helped shore up that area.

“We thought we may be in a bind,” Standiford said.

The Knights defense, which has yielded 10 points in their last six games, has had balanced production with Green contributing 83 tackles, two sacks with two defensive scores, and junior outside linebacker Kaleb Simon with 82 tackles and 12 TFLs.

Marzell, a senior linebacker, has 76 tackles with 14 TFLs, four sacks, two fumble recoveries and two blocked punts. Nearly half of sophomore defensive end Joseph Adams’ tackles (56) have behind the line of scrimmage with 20 that include eight sacks, and Arceneaux, a senior defensive end/outside linebacker, has 61 tackles with 31.5 TFLs and a team-high nine sacks.

The Knights have developed a niche for causing chaos with negative plays, registering 126 TFLs, 36 sacks, 35 QB hurries, recovering 10 fumbles and eight interceptions (team high 3 from August).

“You look at the last 365 days and if you’re like me, it’s been a whirlwind,” Standiford said.

Dunn believes Standiford could be LCA’s coach for the long haul.

“Matt loves that place,” he said. “He loves the Christian education model because he grew up in it. He’s a man of God. He desperately wanted to see that place continue to be successful. I think he was the guy because of the way he treasures Lafayette Christian Academy.”