As teammates at East St. John High School, Glenn Goudia and Garland Robertson dreamed of winning a football state championship.

They worked hard, practiced hard and played hard. They were pretty good, too.

Garland was among only a handful of players to make the varsity squad as a freshman.

The trouble was, the Wildcats just never were good enough to get very far in the playoffs. Garland graduated in 1998, Glenn in 1996 with their dreams of getting to the Superdome unfulfilled.

Glenn settled in Lutcher with his wife Kyniesha, Garland with his girlfriend Rochelle in LaPlace. They got jobs at the local plants.

They became fathers to sons around the same time.

Keion Goudia and Garland Robertson Jr. were never teammates, but grew up to be pretty good football players. Instead of following their fathers’ paths to East St. John, Keion went to Lutcher and Garland went to Riverside Academy. Both played defense, though.

As an eighth grader, Keion was making a tackle during a game when he heard a pop in his knee. At first the doctors told him it was just a sprain, but weeks of therapy didn’t help. 

Kyniesha finally took him to a second doctor, who discovered Keion had torn the ACL and meniscus in his left knee. He was out for the year, but the doctors told him they could fix it and he would be good as new. They were right.

“He played on the ninth grade team and he even played a little varsity,” Kyniesha said.

He was ready for his sophomore season, to show what he could do. On the first day in pads, Keion heard another pop in his knee.

The other knee.

As the Lutcher Bulldogs made their run to the Class 3A state championship in 2015, Keion was only on the sideline.

“He was devastated,” Kyniesha said. “I think he cried every game. He was there in the Superdome when they won it, but it wasn’t the same because he didn’t get to play.”

Keion didn’t know if he’d ever play again.

That same year, Riverside Academy made its incredible run to the Division III championship, where they lost to Notre Dame.

Garland didn’t get to play in his team’s final either. On Halloween night, in a game against Country Day, Garland was playing safety when he took a hit and stayed down longer than usual. A few moments later he came to the sideline complaining of a stiff neck.

At first, doctors thought it was just a sprain. Later, they determined he had fractured the C5 vertebrae.

Then they told him he would never play football again.

But Garland and Keion have something in common besides their dads. Both were determined to prove their doctors wrong.

Both persevered.

When Lutcher successfully defended its title in December, Keion Goudia was there, in uniform, on the field.

And when Riverside won its first LHSAA state championship by beating St. Charles Catholic, Garland Robertson Jr. was there, in uniform, on the field.

The dads (and moms) admit there have been times of fear for their children, but both say they are thankful.

“It would have been hard to tell him he can’t play,” Garland Sr. said. “This is what he loves to do.”

Then, there was the reward.

“It’s like a fairy tale ending the way it all played out,” Glenn said. “To think of everything these kids went through, for the season to end like that, it’s great.”

Lori Lyons is sports editor at L’OBSERVATEUR. She can be reached at 985-652-9545 or lori.lyons@lobservateur.com.