by Wyatt Vaughn, Senior, Holy Cross
This past Tuesday after another great week in Louisiana football, the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation Quarterback Club convened for the weekly luncheon. This weekend’s slate of games begins this Friday with some great High School action. The best game of the week happens this Saturday when undefeated John Curtis takes on Archbishop Rummel. Then on Saturday the Tulane Green Wave continue their quest to get to six wins when they take on the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes. The weekend is capped off by a great NFL matchup as the New Orleans Saints look to extend their winning streak to six when they travel to Minneapolis this Sunday to take on the Minnesota Vikings.
The luncheon started off with the Week Nine Prep Player of the Week, Slidell High School Quarterback Jacob Guidry. Guidry threw for 315 yards through the air and went 16-25 with five touchdowns leading his team to a victory over St. Paul’s. He will be back in action this Friday when he and his team take on Fontainebleau High.
Head Coach Ed Orgeron, SELU vs LSU at Tiger Stadium, September 8th 2018, Tammy Anthony Baker, Photographer
To start off the luncheon was a very prominent figure in Louisiana football, LSU football Head Coach Ed Orgeron. The Tigers are 7-1 on the season after defeating Mississippi State 19-3 last weekend. They are on a bye this week before their most important game of the year, #1 ranked Alabama in Tiger Stadium. Coach Orgeron started his spiel by talking about how blessed he is to be the Coach of the LSU Tigers. He talked a lot about the tremendous respect for the university as he has wanted to be the coach of the Tigers for most of his life. Moving on to the football side of things, he was very proud of the teams win over a top-25 ranked Mississippi State. Although that, he also noticed that there were some big flaws in the offense that they will need to fix before they attempt to take down Alabama. He still has supreme confidence in his team saying, “the Tigers won’t disappoint the state of Louisiana.”
The next speaker up to the podium was Deputy Athletic Director at Tulane, Mónica Lebrón. She started off her monologue by talking about how incredible her experience at Tulane has been, and how much she loves the city of New Orleans. She also talked about how important it was to her career that she got some much needed experience at the University of Georgia. Moving on to Tulane was a big decision in her life and it has been great so far. Mónica is very optimistic about the University and believes that soon they will be back to national dominance. She believes that soon the Green Wave will get back to their winning ways under head coach Willie Fritz.
The third speaker of the afternoon was Carver Head Coach Byron Addison. Addison started by saying he was extremely proud of what they had done this year especially after a heartbreaking loss to start the season after fumbling when trying to kneel the ball. Since then though, his team has won 5 games in a row and are looking like contenders. Speaking on his players, he was very serious about how they are doing academically. He believes that is the most important thing as he wants them all to be able to go to whatever University they would like.
Next up to the mic was John Curtis Head Football Coach J.T. Curtis. His team is currently undefeated and going into a huge game this weekend against a 1-loss Archbishop Rummel team. Coach Curtis was very adamant in his speech about the way the LHSAA playoff system is right now and how badly it needs reform. He believes that the players should have had the opportunity to play all the teams and not just the ones from inside the District. Moving to his team, he was extremely confident in his team saying that he thinks they have played the toughest schedule in the state and are undefeated. He praised Warren Easton and Edna Karr as the two toughest schools they have faced so far. That may change this weekend when they take on Rummel.
To finish the luncheon was former LSU and Saints wide receiver, Devery Henderson. In terms of his career he believes that he was absolutely blessed to be able to play his entire career in the state of Louisiana starting in high school and ending with the New Orleans Saints. Not only did he just play for these teams but he won championships with both teams. In 2003 he won the National Championship with LSU and in 2009 he won the Super Bowl with the Saints, an extremely impressive achievement. Moving on to current times, he really loves the direction of the Saints. He talked a lot about the defense and how they are struggling but he really believes that they will be a solid unit soon. He was also very adamant in saying that Teddy Bridgewater is a great replacement for Drew Brees. He also believes that whoever is the heir to the throne will have it easy with playmakers like Michael Thomas, Alvin Kamara, and Mark Ingram. All in all he loves the direction of Louisiana football in general.
Every week, Chevron and the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation also recognize a male and female Scholar Athlete of the Week, for excellence in the classroom as well as on the fields of athletic competition. Additionally, each recipient will be recognized on field during the 2018 R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, on December 15th. Finally, all winners will be invited to a future Pelicans basketball game where there will be a drawing for one male and one female to receive a $5,000 scholarship. This week’s recipients were:
Katelyn Luebbert, Academy of Our Lady
- 4.07 Grade Point Average
- 30 ACT Score
- 4-year starter and senior captain of the softball team
- National Honor Society Treasurer
- Heath Care Club Executive Board
- Student Union Diversity in Action Treasurer
- Mu Alpha Theta Member
- National English Honor Society
- Volunteer for Miracle League, Graysen’s Anchors, AOL Summer Camp and Terrytown Playground
- Received Enterprise Scholar Athlete of the Week award.
- Wants to attend NYU and study Sports Management
Eli Abramson, Isidore Newman School
- Cumulative GPA: 4.4815
- 33 ACT Score
- Captain of the baseball team
- Member of the football team
- Vice President of the School Executive Committee
- Peer Leader in the Peer Leadership Program
- Volunteer for American Cancer Society Relay for Life, Hollygrove Market, Touro Synagogue.
- Received Class Scholar Award and List Scholar