Tackle football has become tradition at St. Joan of Arc
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, November 1, 2000
MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / November 1, 2000
LAPLACE – “…In on the tackle.”That was heard over and over again on the public address system at St.
Charles Catholic’s Thomas Dupuy Stadium Tuesday night.
The Comets playing an early week high school game? Nope. It was CountryDay playing St. Joan of Arc, the only school in the Archdiocese of NewOrleans currently playing contact football on the elementary level.
St. Joan of Arc fielded its first tackle football team in 1963, three yearsafter the school opened. The school has fielded a team continuously since atleast 1974. In the 1970s and 80s, the Vikings had a good rivalry with bothSacred Heart in Norco and St. Peter’s in Reserve. But those teamseventually dropped tackle football in favor of flag football while St. Joan ofArc elected to keep playing the contact version.
“It’s what our kids want,” St. Joan of Arc principal Larry Bourgeois Jr. said.”We’ve asked if they wanted to change to flag football and they vote no every time.”With no other local Catholic schools to play against, St. Joan of Arcschedules games against local recreation teams and schools. The Vikingshave played NOAH, Force, St. John Heat, St. John Titans and ReserveChristian in recent years. They also travel to New Orleans and Baton Rouge,playing such teams as St. George, Arden Cahill and Country Day.The St. Joan of Arc has been a successful one through the years. Last year,the Vikings’ varsity squad went 8-1 while the junior varsity was 6-2. So farthis year, the varsity is 4-2 and the junior varsity is 6-0. The junior varsityremained undefeated after a 14-6 victory over the St. John Heat Tuesday. The varsity played host to Country Day, which came into the game as the undefeated Metro League champions. The Vikings held the Country Dayoffense in check but the Cajuns set up one score with an interception and recovered a fumble in the end zone for another for a 16-0 victory.
“Country Day called it their toughest game of the year,” Bourgeois said.
St. Joan of Arc has about 60 players on its junior varsity and varsity teamscombined. Students in the fifth- and sixth-grade play on the junior varsitywhile the varsity is composed of seventh- and eighth-grade students.
Female students also get involved in the program. Girls in third- fourth- andfifth-grade participate in the pep squad. Sixth- and seventh-graders are onthe dance team and eighth-grade girls make up the cheerleading squad.
The program is made up entirely of parent volunteers, from the coaches to the chain gang and public address announcers at the games. The team’s headcoach is David Ratcliff and he is assisted by Roger Clay, Danny Noel, John Coniglio, Eugene Borne and Mike Goloforo.
Bourgeois said it’s that parental support that makes the program possible and as successful as it is.
“Parental support is the key,” Bourgeois said. “It is definitely parentalsupport that has made all the difference. It’s really a parent-backed thing.”St. Joan of Arc plays its final scheduled game of the 2000 season againstthe St. John Titans at St. Charles Catholic next Sunday. The junior varsityplays at 2 p.m. with the varsity game following.
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