Louisiana Football: 2017 Season Preview of the C.E. Byrd Yellow Jackets

Written by Charlie Beuttel

Twitter: @charlie_cds3

 

Yellow Jackets 2017 Overview

The Yellow Jackets of C.E. Byrd High School have a long and rich history of high school football dating back to 1925. Over the near century of gridiron action, a great tradition has been built with unforgettable moments including winning seven state championships, the last one being in 1949, finishing state runner-up six times, last one being in 2013, and winning 22 district titles, the last one in 2015. Despite the history of banners and football highlights, 2016 was a season that Yellow Jacket fans might want to soon forget.

Byrd opened the season on a five-game losing streak while averaging just 8.8 points a game in that span as they were plagued with injuries. However, the Yellow Jackets refused to give up on their season as they rattled off four straight wins in the month of October including beating Airline 36-34 in triple overtime on Oct. 28. In their last regular season game, Byrd was throttled by Evangel Christian Academy 52-0. Luckily, the Yellow Jackets still managed to become the 10th seed in the District I state playoffs. Unfortunately, their playoff run was short lived as St. Augustine knocked them out in the first round, 27-15, to finish the season 4-7. This was the first time since 2010 that the Yellow Jackets had finished with a losing record.

With a young team gaining some experience, and Byrd hoping to avoid the injury bug, the Yellow Jackets are working hard to shake off the memories of a rough 2016 season with the goal to compete for a district title in 2017.

Offense

Byrd runs a multiple option offense that was run-heavy out of their various formations in 2016. Last season the Yellow Jackets ran for an incredible 191.2 yards a game scoring 20 of their 22 total touchdowns on the ground. On average, they scored 17.5 points a game with a young offensive unit. The backfield is stacked with talent as four out of the five top rushers on the 2016 roster return along with two other backs, Jalen Thomas and Sammy Miletello, who were injured in the early parts of the season. Senior running back Javien Wilson led the Yellow Jackets last season in rushing yards (601) and rushing touchdowns (6), and will once again be a big focal point in the offense.

Junior quarterback Carson Dunn also returns after getting some good experience. In 2016, he ran for 126 yards and three touchdowns and threw for 297 yards and two more scores. The Byrd offense is fun to watch because you never know who is going to get a carry and these rushers are ready to sting opposing defenses.

Defense

In 2016, the Yellow Jackets gave up on average 28.4 points a game. However, they only gave 146 rushing yards and 181.8 passing yards per contest. Byrd will have a young defense this year as they only return three starters from last year’s squad. One returning linebacker who will make a big splash this year is junior Luke Slabaugh. Slabaugh had 38 total tackles including two for a loss and two sacks during his sophomore season. The Yellow Jacket secondary is anchored by senior cornerback D-Tariea Grant who had 28 total tackles, one interception and one fumble recovery in 2016.

Yellow Jackets 2017 Schedule

8/31/2017 vs. Calvary Baptist Academy

9/9/2017 vs. Moss Point (MS) at Independence Stadium – Battle on the Border

9/15/2017 at Sulphur

9/22/2017 at Haughton

9/28/2017 vs. Captain Shreve

10/5/2017 at Southwood

10/13/2017 vs. Parkway

10/20/2017 at Evangel Christian Academy

10/26/2017 vs. Airline

11/3/2017 open date

Schedule Breakdown

Byrd will open the new campaign on Aug. 31 against a tough Calvary Baptist team who beat them 34-14 last season. Then the Yellow Jackets will participate in the annual Battle on the Border event held at Independence Stadium in Shreveport taking on the Tigers from Moss Point, Mississippi, who finished 5-6 last year. In Week 3, Byrd will travel to Sulphur and battle the Tornadoes. This will be the first meeting between the two schools since 1965.

On Sept. 22, the Yellow Jackets will open district play on the road at Haughton. The next week Byrd will face their arch nemesis Captain Shreve. This rivalry goes back decades and Byrd will look for revenge after coming up on the losing end last year. For Week 6, Byrd will take on Southwood, who they beat 42-7 last season. The annual homecoming game for the Yellow Jackets will be on Oct. 13 as they host the talented Parkway Panthers.

The final road test of the season will be on Oct. 20 when Byrd travels across town to play the Division I state champions Evangel Christian Academy. A matchup with the Airline Vikings on Oct. 26 will be interesting to see after their triple overtime thriller from a year ago. As of this writing, Byrd is still looking for a Week 10 opponent for Nov. 3.

Byrd has an interesting schedule full of talented and experienced teams, but with the experience the Yellow Jackets gained last year they should once again be in contention atop District 1-5A.

Photo credit: The Shreveport Times; Byrd QB Carson Dunn throws a pass against Evangel Christian Academy