By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

A season ago, West St. John set the tone for a special football season during the summer.

The Rams’ performance in 7-on-7 passing competition proved to be exceptional, the team winning or placing highly in a number of high profile tournaments.

This season, a similar opportunity presents itself.

The Rams are competing in a 7-on-7 league each Wednesday and are slated to participate in a number of tournaments through the middle of next month.

“It most definitely added to the confidence our guys carried themselves with,” said West St. John football coach Robert Valdez. “We love to compete and win, whether it’s in horseshoes, marbles or seven on seven.”

The weekly league involves West St. John, Karr, McMain, Miller McCoy and L.B. Landry, and takes place each Wednesday night at Behrman Stadium. It began early this month and extends through July 11.

West St. John (Class 1A) and Karr (Class 4A) each finished their seasons as state runner-up in 2011, playing their final game in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. McMain finished as a quarterfinalist in Class 3A.

“Coach (Jabbar) Juluke and I are former teammates,” said Valdez, referring to the two’s time at Southern. “We’re really trying to use it as a good way for our kids to get their schooling in the offense in. Get some reps against good competition. And as coaches, it lets us know some of the things we need to know about our personnel.”

West St. John competed at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette in a tournament last week. The Rams finished their run in the semifinal round, where they fell 24-16 to Manuel, a defending 5A state champion in Texas.

The Rams won seven games en route to the semifinals.

“We did extremely well,” said Valdez. “The kids looked good and were able to accomplish some nice things out there.”

Today, the team will compete in the New Orleans Saints annual regional 7-on-7 at the team’s practice facility in Metairie. The winning team will represent the Saints in Indianapolis at the 7-on-7 national championships.

On June 30, the Rams will compete in the annual Jaguars 7-on-7 tournament at Southern University. Then, on July 14, they wrap up their 7-on-7 play by competing LSU’s annual tournament.

“The more you play, the better you get,” said Valdez. “You get to see more schools, more schemes, more talent. The more exposed your guys are to that, the more prepared they are for the fall. Not just offensively, but your defensive guys as well.”

That is especially true for a West St. John team that, although fairly experienced in terms of games played, is young nonetheless. Running back Kylum Favorite is the team’s only senior skill position player. Quarterback Austin Howard has over 20 starts already entering his junior year, but will be throwing to an entirely new receiving corps.

A trio of players to watch are Chris Shavers, who played basketball only a year ago, Devante Mitchell and Laterance Mitchell.

Shavers made a big impact in the team’s spring game last month. Devante Mitchell is 6-foot-4 and, as Valdez said, is the tallest receiver he’s ever coached. Mitchell, he said, has showed tremendous work ethic and improvement.

Howard, he said, is continuing to mature. And defensive backs Kylum Adams and Justin Bethancourt have looked good as well, he said.

Best of all, the rash of injuries hamstrung the Rams during the spring have subsided — making a repeat performance of last summer more of a possibility.

“We’re pretty healthy as of now,” he said. “That’s always your hope as a coach.”

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