WEST MONROE PAIR EARNS CLASS 5A HONORSAlthough West Monroe finished second in the Class 5A state championship game, it swept the top two player awards on the LSWA all-state team.
Quarterback
Paul Turner was named the Outstanding Offensive Player, while lineman teammate
Chuck Hunter won the Outstanding Defensive Player award.
St. Thomas More (Lafayette) coach Jim Hightower was chosen as Coach of the Year.
Turner, another LSU commitment, threw for 1,245 yards and 12 touchdowns. He also rushed for 916 yards and 17 touchdowns despite missing two games with an injury.
St. Thomas More was the only team to beat eventual state champion Acadiana (Scott) on the field. The Cougars defeated the Rams in the fifth week of the season, 42-17, only to lose to them in the state semifinals, 31-0, to finish with a 13-1 record.
Acadiana was forced to forfeit four games for having used an ineligible reserve player. The Rams put four players on the all-state team.
BECKHAM STILL WEIGHS OPTIONSWhile LSU has reaped more than its share of state commitments, the Tigers are among those waiting to hear what highly prized Isidore Newman (New Orleans) wide receiver
Odell Beckham will decide.
After receiving 22 scholarship offers, Beckham has narrowed his choices to LSU and Miami but doesn't seem in a hurry to make a decision before national signing day Feb. 2. Beckham will play Jan. 8 in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio, where many recruits announce their college choices.
"I feel like once you make your commitment, you should be fully committed to that school," Beckham, a Class 2A All-State selection, told the Times-Picayune of New Orleans. "That's why I am taking my time. I didn't want to rush into anything, then find out later that maybe I didn't want to go there."
Beckham is Newman's first 1,000-yard receiver since Cooper Manning in 1991. Manning is the older brother of NFL quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning. Beckham's father, Odell Beckham Sr., was a running back for LSU and his mother, Heather Van Norman, was an LSU track athlete and later coached at Tulane.
IT'S A FAMILY AFFAIR AT CALVARYFormer Evangel Christian Academy (Shreveport) state championship coach John Bachman Sr. has been hired to take over at city rival
Calvary Baptist Academy (Shreveport) in what promises to be a family affair.
After one year on Bastrop's staff, Bachman replaces Bo Meeks, who left to become head coach at Airline (Shreveport).
Bachman will be joined by sons Thomas, who left Bastrop with his father and will become offensive coordinator, and John Jr. and Jason, who already where on the Calvary staff.
In three years at Evangel, John Bachman Sr. led the Eagles to the 2009 Class 2A state championship, and berths in the 2008 state finals and 2007 semifinals. He left Evangel with a 37-6 record.
