Union Parish shows character as it avoids dubious distinction

NEW ORLEANS – When asked during the closing press conference after the LHSAA Division III non-select championship game if he thought about being the first coach to lose four straight LHSAA Prep Classics, Union Parish coach Joe Spatafora had the perfect answer.

“(Heck) no, that’s a record," he said. "Who else gets here four times in a row? If that’s the one I’ll have to own, then (to heck) with it, I’ll own it.”

Luckily for Spatafora, he gets to avoid that dubious distinction as Jy’marion Island scored a touchdown and a two-point conversion with 11 seconds left to lead the Farmers to a 36-35 victory Friday over St. James.

Union Parish defeats St. James: Live score, Louisiana high school football state championship recap 

As a result, Spatafora makes some much happier history by joining in the fraternity of coaches with multiple titles.

“As I said all year, when you return them hogs up front, that pays dividends,” Spatafora said. “You saw that at the end of the day as we continued to see through the playoffs.”

That experienced line paved the way for Island all season as he finished the season with 2,496 yards and 25 touchdowns in his only season taking over the reins for former mainstay and Louisiana career rushing leader Trey Holly.

Holly, currently a freshman at LSU, was on the sidelines cheering his former teammates, as Island finished with 178 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Farmers to that elusive title.

“He believed in me himself,” Island said of Holly’s praise for him. “He texted me the whole offseason and sent me TikTok videos saying to go back and do it.

"Every game day, he texted me and it was just special knowing that he believed in me and that I could fill his shoes. That just drove me the whole season.”

Spatafora added, “For him to back up Trey, who ran for 2,700 yards once and 2,600 yards a couple of times, that’s big. That tells me the mindset that young man and this team has.”

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Few would have expected Union Parish (10-4) to make it, especially after regular-season losses to Airline, Captain Shreve, Sterlington and Wossman.

But that did not deter them as the Farmers took down No. 5 Bogalusa in the quarterfinals and No. 1 Jena in the semifinals to return to this stage.

“These guys never stopped fighting,” Spatafora said. “When they got down, they always fought and that shows you a true sign of character.”

However, Union Parish is not the only school relishing on this year’s championship.

Beginning with the semifinals, where the Farmers defeated Jena to return to the LHSAA Prep Classic, they enlisted the band of District 1-3A rival Carroll to play for them since they do not have a band.

After Union’s 24-16 win over the Giants, the Bulldog band learned Monday that it would be heading to New Orleans to make a return performance for their newly founded alliance.

“Ms. Desaree (Player) does a tremendous job with those young ladies and men,” Spatafora said. “I love a band and I always have. We have a championship team, why not have a championship band with us?

"Those guys were great and they had just as much fun as we did. They wanted to be there the last two weeks just as much as we wanted them there.”

Union Parish photo by Brett Duke, New Orleans Times-Picayune 

-- LaMar Gafford | @SBLiveLA