Photograph: J.S. Clark Leadership Academy CEO and Principal Tiffanie Lewis, head football coach Ross Akpan and athletic director Ross Rix formally introduce a football program for the school. (Photograph by Bobby Ardoin.)
BOBBY ARDOIN
Editor/Consulting Writer
J.S. Clark Leadership Academy officials insist they are not introducing football as merely another sport that augments their current athletic menu.
“It’s going to be a change of life football program,” says newly-appointed head coach Ross Akpan.
What plan Akpan and the current school administrators have in mind for football will be more clearly determined later this year when their students begin trying on football equipment.
However what is obvious at this point is Akpan, formerly an assistant at athletically successful Madison Prep, has been hired by Clark to create a football culture that he and the school administration think will help grow the kindergarten-12th grade charter school in Opelousas.
Akpan, who was introduced officially on Thursday afternoon as the J.S. Clark football coach, said he doesn’t think it will be difficult to start a football program as candidates for the sport begin spring workouts in a couple of months.
The school has already captured three Class B state track championships since joining the Louisiana High School Athletic Association in 2017-18, three district titles in boys’ basketball and two Top 28 appearances.
Last month the J.S. Clark girls’ basketball team won the St. Landry Parish Tournament.
“This school already has an athletic tradition. We are going to have people here that will teach the game of football, but we will also be teaching the game of life and expecting our players to have high standards,” Akpan said.
Akpan thinks that initially there are enough athletes currently attending Clark in the middle and high school grades to begin football at a non-varsity level.
The Bulldogs will begin competing against junior varsity programs at other schools this year and afterward transition into a varsity program that allows Clark to participate in Class 1A and Division IV.
“I think there are 25 to 30 kids in the middle school and junior high grades and 40 in the high school that could help us as we begin. We think as we show them what we plan to do with football, it will attract other athletes who want to come here as well. We know we are building (football) from the ground up, but finding players won’t be difficult,” Akpan added during an interview.
Akpan points to St. Landry as a fertile area for athletes and the chance to become part of a new sport will also be attractive, he said.
“This is a talent-rich area and we think the opportunity of providing athletes with a quality education will help get the players here,” Akpan said.
“You could say we are now planting the seed for a nice tree and watching it grow and cultivating it,” Akpan said in the interview.
Clark CEO and president Tiffanie Lewis said the objective is to make the Clark athletic program and football serve a model for other schools.
Lewis said the introduction of football will also help Clark grow student attendance which she estimates is currently around 300.
“We want to be the best in the parish,” Lewis said during the press conference.
There is already a regulation football practice field located behind the school and Akpan said the plan now is to play home games at Donald Gardner Stadium which is currently shared by Opelousas High and Opelousas Catholic.
Clark athletic director and boys’ basketball coach Ross Rix, who played high school and college football, said he doesn’t plan to assume an active role for the development of football.
Lewis admitted that it will take a significant amount of funding to start football at the school, but she isn’t concerned currently about locating the resources that are necessary.
“The funding (for football) is going to be there. People are reaching out to us and it’s going to be an effort where everyone in the community will be getting involved. We already have commitments from community leaders and they will be stepping in to make this possible,” Lewis said.
