Football Preview: Morgan City looks to Wells, young defenders to better results

The 2020 football season for the Morgan City Tigers was a very rough one.

Head coach Chris Stroud and his squad will look to move their program forward in 2021.

The Tigers scheduled eight regular season games last year but only ended up playing six due to COVID-19 complications. In those six games, Morgan City found little success on either side of the ball in a winless season. The Tigers were outscored by their opponents 357-27, which is a stat that the Tigers hope to never come close to repeating again. This upcoming season is an opportunity for Morgan City to rebound and build the culture of their program.

“We have better players, stronger and more experienced, still missing pieces of the puzzle and very little depth with only 35 to 40 players in 4A football,” said Stroud, who is cautiously optimistic about how the Tigers will fare in competition this year.

Morgan City will have a lot of youth seeing a significant amount of playing time. The Tigers will only have three seniors on this year’s roster – defensive end Jonathan Peron (6’2”, 240), offensive guard Alberto Lisanda (5’10”, 275) and versatile playmaker Charlie Wells (6’1”, 175).

Stroud has high hopes for Wells going into this year.

“QB-slash-receiver, he’s a 4.5 guy and we will put the ball in his hands…if he can stay healthy, he’ll will be a late recruit for someone.”

Wells will have to carry much of the workload on offense for the Tigers and rely on his open-field abilities to create big plays.

Jaquan Gray (5’10, 164) and Jayvyn Raymond (5’10”, 150) will work as the running back committee for Morgan City. On the outside, a big pass-catching big target, Logan Linston (6’2”, 200), will be an option to which Morgan city hopes to push the ball down field.

The cornerstone of the offensive line will be Ian Carmichael (6’6”, 290), only a sophomore who shows tremendous promise.

On defense, the tandem of Hilton Hilbert IV (6’3”, 230) and Anibal Quinones (5’10”, 210) look to wreak havoc in the trenches as returning juniors who paced the team in tackles last year. These two are not the typical guys that are put on the line to eat blocks and free up their linebackers as they will look to get into the backfield.

Morgan City begins the year on the road at Berwick in a battle of non-district foes in what could be a massive game for the Tigers because it will set the tone for the rest of the year and serve as an indicator of how much they have improved since last year.

Next, the Tigers will have four straight home games beginning with a matchup with Jeanerette. The following three weeks they will face Covenant Cristian Academy, Kenner Discovery Health Science Academy and Patterson.
Week six will be the Tigers’ first district matchup as they face South Lafourche. This game was not played last season due to the pandemic, so it has been nearly two years since the last chapter of this rivalry.

The following Friday brings a road trip to face the Assumption Mustangs, who beat them last season in blowout fashion 44-0. Morgan City will then return home the next week to face another district opponent in A.J. Ellender, who also shutout the Tigers last year 61-0.

Week nine has the Tigers traveling to Bourgto take on Terrebonne before the final regular season game on their home turf when Vandebilt Catholic comes to town.

“The first five games are good challenges, hoping to compete…. if we get through those healthy, then we will face a tough, balanced districts with lots of returning all-district players.” Stroud explained. He is aware of what lies ahead for his team, setting up the schedule with an eye toward steady improvement over the long term.

“Ideal goal…we talk about winning the day, one week at a time, being competitive to have chance to win a game in the fourth quarter,” Stroud stressed.

It is no secret that recent history has been a disappointment for the Morgan City Tigers, but the commitment to climb to greater heights is still strong for a program hungry for success.

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