By DAVE WOODALL
Slidell sports writer
SLIDELL – Two consecutive playoff appearances in two years at the helm has made Slidell High School football coach Larry Favre a marked man.
With success comes the pressure to maintain that pace and Favre is certainly up for the challenge. In Favre’s first year, he said that he wanted to see how his team handled pressure and how they responded.
They handled it pretty well making the playoffs as a #32 seed eventually losing to #1 seed and eventual Class 5A champion Acadiana.
Last year, with a successful season under his belt, Favre led the 6-5 Tigers into the playoffs again this time as the #23 seed and were matched up with their cross-parish, District 6-5A rival #10 seed Mandeville. In what would turn out to be one of the best games of the season, Slidell made it tough for the Skippers before falling 14-7 in the opening round.
With expectations running high after their recent success, the players and coaching staff are dedicated to continue the improvement.
Favre’s staff is one of the main reasons Slidell is seeing an upsurge in their ranking. Backing up Favre are George Herdliska, Jacques Camhout, Barry Marton, Mike Wills, Matt Zelden, Clark Hershey, Brandon McCollum, Malter Scobel, Cody Walters with Aaron and William Miller as the freshmen coaches.
“Sometimes when you put the gear on you see a little bit of tiredness but we are in great shape,” said Favre. “We’ve worked hard and our kids have committed all summer and you can see the results.”
In the very tough District 6-5A, the competition continues to improve. The team welcomes back junior starting quarterback Wayne Griffin and senior running back Kyron Smith. Perhaps one of the biggest positions to fill on offense is at running back where the team lost Kain Mitchell, who was one of the leading rushers for the Tigers last season.
“We need to push ourselves harder so we can go further into the playoffs,” Slidell tight end Gabe Stapinski said. “In the summer, we are going to be working on speed and strength, which had us beating some teams last year.”
A sense of what is yet to come happened in the opening drive of the spring game against Brother Martin at Pan American Stadium back in May. Griffin threw deep down the middle for a 43-yard completion to Ben Nyatsunga, and later completed the drive with a 12-yard touchdown pass to tight end Stapinski.
On defense, the Tigers have four returning starters with one on offense. James Lee moves from defense to offense, Tyler McManus returns at linebacker, Matt Laferrara is at safety, Zack Acosta at linebacker and Kodi Dangerfield to the defensive line.
Defensive coordinator, Malter Scobel was upbeat in his assessment of his defense.
“We’re getting there,” said Scobel. “We are fast, we are fairly strong but not real big. The kids had a hard summer of training and we are running every day after practice.”
Scobel singled out several players that have stood out in the summer drills.
“Laferrara has been playing the safety position well for us. McManus has been steady at the linebacker position. Darrius Tillman, Nick Jackson and Acosta have done well at linebacker. Rodney Davis at safety, with Jharyd Dixon and Damonte Tobias holding down the corners.”
Scobel summed it up saying, “I’m looking forward to this season. We played our best defense of the season in our loss to Mandeville. We gave up only 98 yards with 47 of those coming on one play. Our kids started learning the defense in June and finally got it in November. We’ve added a few things and the kids have adjusted well. We’ve got some good players that are looking forward to the season.”
Slidell begins the 2015 season with three of the first four games at home, including the opener against Class 5A runner up Destrehan and then McDonogh 35. Seven of 10 Tiger opponents participated in the 2014 postseason.