Football Preview: Glover looks to stabilize Grace King

In the last 18 years, Grace King has had nine head football coaches.

Hopefully, that trend is finally going to change.

Brian Glover enters his second year as the head coach of the Fighting Irish.

In year one, Glover laid the foundation to try to build from the ground up.

His team did not win a game, going 0-8 but basics were established.

“Last year was pretty difficult in taking over in the middle of the pandemic shutdown and most of the time was really trying to get to know the kids and understand what we have,” Glover said. “It was a new coach, a new system and participation was low. It was a weird, tough situation. Last year was about setting the foundation for what we are trying to do. We have a long-term plan to turn this program around.”

The Fighting Irish must replace all district right tackle Shasmo Desalle and a pair of good players in safety Shilar Reid, now at Army, and a good punter in Ayham Aldash.

There are good players returning.

The quarterback is junior Tyler Pascua (5-10, 175), a third-year starter.

“It is his second year in the offense and he has picked it up very well and is much more comfortable with his reads,” Glover said. “I expect a big year from him.”

At running back, senior Maiyan Barnes (5-10, 185) is the top back, as he comes off of a knee injury last year which kept him from playing.

“It is the first year for Barnes playing running back,” Glover said. “He has natural skills with the ball in his hands. He’s a tough runner and he is learning the position well.

On offense, that includes senior wide receiver/running back Steven Knight (5-10, 188) and senior center Kevin Chung (6-1, 273) and his brother, junior Evangelos Chung (5-10, 180), who is the left guard.

“Steven Knight returns with the most experience,” Glover said. “Other than him, it is a whole new group. He is a good route runner and he has good ball skills. He has good hands. We have three new starters up front who have worked hard as a unit. They are really a cohesive unit and are working well together.”

Up front on defense, there are two defensive ends who should be good in senior Sidney Andrews (5-10, 266) and junior Davon Knight (5-9, 250).

“Both played last year on the offensive line,” Glover said. “That was out of necessity but they are true defensive linemen so they are at the natural position.”

The two outside linebackers are returning starters in junior Diego Molina (6-4, 200) and senior Xavier Reaves (5-10, 204).

“Both are experienced players whom we can trust,” Glover said.

On defense, that includes Barnes at safety, along with junior safety Eric Nicholas (6-0, 183). Senior Jeremiah Bouie (5-11, 160) is a top returning corner.

“Nicholas is one of our top players while Bouie is experienced and is very good in coverage,” Glover said.

The schedule opens on the road at Glen Oaks Sept. 3, followed by a date in Metairie against Haynes Academy. The final non-district game is at Kenner Discovery.

“I’m familiar with Glen Oaks from when I coached at Thrive Academy,” Glover said. “We like the environment we are going to play in there. They are pretty athletic. We’re looking forward to facing Haynes. Ben Powell does a good job. I faced him when he was at Cohen. We played Kenner Discovery in a scrimmage last year and it was tight competition. Coach P.J. Sprunk is doing a great job.”

District 8-5A play opens with a pair of home games against Chalmette and Riverdale. The Irish take on East Jefferson before hosting Higgins. A trip to Hoss Memtsas Stadium to face West Jefferson is next, followed by a home game against defending district champion John Ehret. The season closes on Nov. 4 against Bonnabel.

“I know that John Ehret is the class of the league this year,” Glover said. “We expect them to be on top but I think that the league is very competitive from top to bottom. On any given day, any of the district schools can beat the other. I’m looking forward to competing in a good league with great coaches.”

Glover sees the light at the end of the tunnel.

“I’m very optimistic this year,” Glover said. “I feel we’re better now than we were at this point last year. With us, it’s about staying healthy because we have some guys that can play but we don’t have a lot of depth. If we can stay healthy, we should be able to win a couple of games this year and that would mean a lot for these kids. They have worked very hard at improving.”

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