Clark Anxious To Start
BOBBY ARDOIN
St. Landry Now.com Editor
It seems as though the J.S. Clark Leadership Academy football program has been operating on a treadmill for the last four years..
Now after clearing all the qualifications required by the Louisiana High School Athletic Association, the Bulldogs are prepared this season to initiate a full varsity and district schedule.
The years of cultivating football at a school that has won state championships in two different sports has helped provide Clark with an athletic foundation that head coach Jestin Kelly thinks might be solid enough to successfully launch football along with a new school site that opens Aug. 17.
To prepare for this season Clark played a nine-game schedule last year with five of those games against other varsity opponents.
What’s Ahead
The Bulldogs will compete in a Class 1A district that includes two teams that reached the Division IV Select playoffs and another that was a semifinalist.
Kelly, in his second season at Clark, said his players are eager to start playing league games and a non-district schedule.
Some of the players are seniors who have already put in four years of football without participating in an official LHSAA game.
“It’s going to be a challenge, but the kids and the school are looking forward to this. We were 8-1 last year and I think the kids realized they can play and that has served as the motivation.
“All that we do from now on – the statistics and everything else is going to matter. We played some good teams and one of them — Live Oak — is in 5-A. I think that gave us some confidence as well as experience,” said Kelly.
A Team Snapshot
Clark has a good roster diversity.
The Bulldogs have seven seniors, six juniors and a greater number of lower classmen.
“Right now we are sophomore heavy, so you could say we are a young team,” Kelly adds.
One player to watch, Kelly says, is linebacker D’Marcus Gloston (5-10, 190), who can play a number of positions.
Gloston and defensive back Jayden Wilson are the heart of the defense,Kelly says,’
One of the most versatile players on the team however is Austin Simon, a three-sport athlete who uses his 190-pound frame to play running back or several positions in the secondary, said Kelly.
There is adequate Class 1A size on the offensive and defensive lines.
Denver Andrus (270), Jamar Doucet (260) and De’Andre Riggs (210) will occupy key spots in the trenches on both sides of the ball.
