It has been 2000 since Leesville advanced past the opening round of the playoffs, but a 9-1 regular season and No. 8 seed has the Wampus Cats, led by seniors (from left) Demetrius Woods, Michael Ford, Devin Moran and Travante Stallworth, thinking about a postseason run. (Will Tubbs)
November 12, 2008
Leesville not concerned about playoffs past
By Will Tubbs
wtubbs@thetowntalk.com
LEESVILLE -- The 2008 regular season was all the Wampus Cats could have hoped for.
A 9-1 record, second straight District 3-4A title and No. 8 power ranking in Class 4A is hard to beat.
Of course, for the Wampus Cats, like any team involved in the playoffs, the regular season is gone and the players at Leesville are hoping to make a run in the postseason.
"We wanted to have a successful season this year and we're in a position to do that," senior quarterback Travante Stallworth, an Auburn commitment, said. "We're all excited about hosting a playoff game and hoping to make it to the Superdome."
The postseason has not been kind to Leesville of late - it's been eight years since the Wampus Cats even made it out of the first round of the playoffs, a fact that Leesville coach Terence Williams said does not concern the team.
"We're just playing Leesville football," Williams said. "They've learned that no game on our schedule is any more or less important than another. They all lead to the same place, which is a state championship. We're treating this like any other week."
The team of the week in round 1 will be St. Michael's of Baton Rouge, a 6-3 team that enters the playoffs as the No. 25 seed and will visit Leesville Friday at 7 p.m.
"From what I know about St. Michael's, they will be a very disciplined team," Williams said. "You watch them on film and you can tell they've been coached. In the film I've watched, they were on the field with some quality teams and they were right in the game."
Ironically, the last time the Wampus Cats hosted a playoff game, they were a No. 8 seed.
That year, in an incident that Williams hopes to avoid repeating, then-coach Kevin Magee and the Wampus Cats took a 28-0 lead into the half only to fall 34-28 to No. 25 Opelousas in the most stinging of the Cats' recent playoff losses.
Senior linebacker Demetrius Woods said he and his teammates were not worried about what took place in the past.
"There's no pressure on us," Woods said. "We just want to play ball and show this community how much work we've done and how much we've improved over the year. We're confident in our ability to win this game and win state."
And for Williams, who gave up a regular-season home game in week 1 for the sake of traveling to West Monroe for a pick-up game in the wake of Hurricane Gustav, there's no better place to start the quest for a state title than at Wampus Cat Stadium.
"I'm definitely happy that we got a home game," Williams, whose Wampus Cats traveled to Vandebilt Catholic in 2007, said. "It takes away a lot of the other distractions. I like to reward this community for all of the support they've given. Earning a home playoff game is one way to repay them. Now everyone will be able to come out and cheer the kids on at our own stadium. It's a good situation."
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