By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

LAPLACE – Hahnville has long been one of the state’s most consistently strong teams under coach Lou Valdin. Last season, his Tigers also proved among its most resilient.
The team began the season winless in pre-district play at 0-4 before catching fire, winning its final five regular season games to sweep District 8-5A. Hahnville advanced to the regional round of the state playoffs before bowing out to Barbe in a 31-28 heartbreaker.
The Tigers enter this season hoping to build upon its late season surge. Valdin, however, said that his job will be to look back on that first month of the 2012 season in hopes of preventing a similar slow start.
“You always try to look back at the things you did wrong so you don’t repeat those mistakes,” said Valdin.
The Tigers were spurred on late last season by the emergence of Sergio Medina at tailback. Medina began last season as the team’s middle linebacker but moved to the offensive side of the ball for district play and beyond. That was all it took for Medina to finish with 1,035 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns.
But the then-senior has graduated. Lynn Simmons, who began last season as the Tigers’ starter, takes the lead role for a team that Valdin said will again attempt to base its offense upon its rushing attack.
“We like what Lynn Simmons brings. He’s a good young back,” said Valdin. “The thing with high school football is that every year, you’ve gotta reload. Medina, he was the total package. He was big and fast. For us, we’ve got some big guys and some fast guys, so what you’ll likely see is us lean on a combination of guys.’
“We want to run the football. That’s the priority.”
Their ambition to do so should be aided by a big, veteran offensive line that Valdin believes could be the strength of the team at this stage. Hunter Perrin, Adrian Young and Landon Kinler are each returning starters to a line that gelled as the season went on last year.
“We had two of our senior starters injured early last season and replaced by two sophomores,” said Valdin. “Most of the line is back this year. Our line can be a real strong point for us. We’re counting on it.”
Rickey Preston returns as the team’s top pass catcher. He’ll likely be hauling in passes from quarterback Dylan Keller, who is the favorite to succeed the departed Easton Melancon at the position.
Keller is one of the team’s best athletes and should offer multiple dimensions as the team’s passer.
“He’s much more athletic than the quarterbacks we’ve had in the past,” said Valdin. “He can run and he’s very fast. We feel like we can definitely take advantage of some of the things he can do … putting him in the shotgun, running option out of the two back set, things like that.”
On the other side of the ball, the Tigers typically wield a formidable stop unit.
The secondary is its most experienced unit, with Jamal Smith and Larry Boyd each returning as starters to lead the way.
“Those are two-year starters that we feel very confident in,” said Valdin. “Around them, we’ve got some good young guys … some very, very talented young guys.”
Rickey Davis is the lone starter on the defensive line returning, while Tynel Robinson and Daquante Taylor return at linebacker.
“We need (Davis) to be really good,” said Valdin.
But the player that might have the most underrated impact on the team’s defensive performance, Valdin noted, is kicker Craig Ford. The 6-foot-3 senior will punt for the first time this season as well as serve as place kicker.
“Our best defender might well be our kicker,” said Valdin. “He’s outstanding. He can do our defense a big favor and make the other guys go a long way to get their points.”
Hahnville will open the season Sept. 6 against Salmen to highlight its predistrict schedule. Once the Tigers reach district play, they’ll see a new slate of foes, including H.L. Bourgeois, South Lafourche and Terrebonne, to go along with the team’s rivalries with East St. John and Destrehan.
Destrehan, Valdin said, appears to be the biggest threat to the Tigers’ chances of repeating as district champs.
“They’re supposed to be loaded,” said Valdin. “They’ve got a lot of good players coming back. East St. John’s gonna be tough again. South Lafourche was the dominant team in their district last year. It should be very competitive.”