Dynasty is just one way to describe the LCA football program.
The Knights are entering their fourth-straight state title game appearance with the opportunity to win their fourth-straight championship.
“It would be a special moment for myself, for the kids, for LCA, to do something that has rarely been done in Louisiana state football history,” Knights head coach Jacarde Carter says. “That would be big time for us.”
“Football is really important to all of us around here,” Knights senior defensive back Anthony Richard says. “The family aspect is even better, so it’s just very exciting to do that with your brothers for four years.”
“We’ve been doing this since freshman year, so that’s really all we’ve learned to do and how to do it,” Knights senior wide receiver Payton Janise says. “So, it’s really special.”
Despite only losing once during the regular season to Acadiana, the Knights were a fifth seed heading into the Division III playoffs.
Getting the opportunity to four-peat was earned through two tough wins on the road against No. 4 Episcopal and No. 1 Newman.
“We went on the road,” Carter says. “Episcopal was pretty darn good. Newman was the number one seed obviously for a reason. We are battle-tested and it showed.”
“Whenever winners get into a certain situation, the winners are gonna win,” Richard says. “It just shows how strong that we really are and how motivated and bonded of a team we are when we play together.”
The Knights credit that close bond for consistent success offensively and defensively.
“We wanna play for the guy next to us,” Richard says. “When I say it’s a family, it really is. It’s a team full of brothers, and we always wanna go out there and give 100 percent for the man next to us.”
“Just the relationships between us and the bond that we have with each other and what goes on off the field besides what’s on the field is what’s key,” Janise says.
Another key to the Knights success..is the number one safety in America and LSU signee Sage Ryan.
Ryan left the Episcopal game with a hamstring injury and didn’t play against Newman, but Knights head coach Jacarde Carter says he is day-to-day with a chance to play against the Comets.
“He’s day-to-day, getting rehab, getting therapy,” Carter says. “All of that stuff is going really good. He’s practicing.”
Monday night will be a rematch of last season’s title game, and Carter expects to see a pretty similar St. Charles team to what the Knights faced in 2019.
“They don’t look much different from last year’s team,” Carter says. “They’re sound on offense defense and special teams. They really thrive on having great defense and great special teams. We’ve gotta sharpen up. Last year, we kinda thought we were doing pretty good on special teams. But we realize we might have to get a little better on these units because they’re pretty good.”
The Division III title game is on Monday at 3 p.m. at Turpin Stadium.
