Holy Savior Menard Central High School - Talon Yearbook (Alexandria, LA)

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HIGHLIGHTS As the 1973 season approached, Coach Billy Horn's Eagles were faced with perhaps the toughest schedule in the 3-AAA district. Taking this into consideration, the Cenla sports writers picked the Eagles to be the spoilers of the district. lt was true that the Eagles had size and speed, but depth was a vital ingredient that was missing. On September 3rd, the Eagles would be put to their first test. They faced a tough cross-town rival, the A. S. H. Trojans. The Eagles proved themselves to be fierce competitors by defeating the Trojans 8- 7 on a thrilling extra point pass from Wayne Mathews to Greg Gravel with 3 seconds left. The Eagles drop- ped their season opener to another cross-town rival, the Bolton Bears. An injury to quarterback Wayne Mathews in that game proved to be an important factor in the two upcoming games, both against district rivals. We were set back by the jena Giants and Leesville, but pounced back on the Tioga Indians, defeating them 12-0. After losing to the Trojans, the Eagles traveled to Demon Stadium, home of the Natchitoches Chiefs. The Chiefs were ranked first in the district and second in the state and were highly favored to win. Late in the first quarter, a fake punt turned into a touchdown by Greg Gravel and the Eagles left the stadium after holding the Chiefs to only 104 yards total offense for the game. Superb defense by freshman Eric Sau- cier, juniors Dee Methvin and Gene Matassa, seniors Chuck Wale, David Walker, and Mike Byrnes, proved to make the difference. The physically exhausted Eagles then dropped their next two games to Winnfield and Peabody, but took out their anxieties on the Oakdale Warriors. The Eagles rolled up 389 yards total offense and ran up 39 points to their opponents' 6. ln the final game of the year, against the Pineville River Rats, the aggressive blocking of Lee Simmons and Robert jones made way for Wayne Carlino and Eric Sau- cier who rushed for 163 yards and 107 yards respectively. A last minute pass to the district's leading receiver Ronnie Laborde, gave the Eagles 6 points and a 20-16 victory over the Rats. Wayne Mathews was placed on the first squad all-district football team and was chosen as the district's most valuable back. Ronnie Laborde accompanied him at first string all district tight end. Wayne Carlino, Greg Gravel, Paul Hebert, Chuck Wale, and Mike Burnes were chosen on the district's second team and Dee Methvin and Eric Saucier received honorable mentions. The Eagles are looking forward to a prosperous year next year in district 2-AA. They will have 18 lettermen returning with excessive strength in both offense and defense.

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Winning is not everything it is the onbf thing. Winning is a habit, but unfortunatebf so is losing. Vince Lombardi superjocks

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:w if . ' fz f f 1 no e 62... Bottom Row: D. Songy, L.1oseph,l. Texada, M. Songy, M. Lazerone, M. Villard. Second Row: S. Miller, l. Mathews, L. Perez, G. Petrus, l. Des- cant, L, Simmons, D. Reed, B. Mathews, E. Cotton. Third Row: S. Provosty, 1. Villard, L. Difulco, 1. Price, G. Gravel, E. Saucier, D. Laborde, W. Mathews, M. Byrnes, G. Matassa, Fourth Row: M. Adcock, W. Carlino, G. LaHood, P. Hebert, G. McMahon, R. jones, P. Kelley, R. Laborde, P. Moore, D. Walker. 103