By BRET H. MCCORMICK, Journal Sports
Thomas Bachman raised the standard for what Alexandria Senior High football could achieve when he led the Trojans within one play of the 2020 Class 5A state championship.
Now the eighth-year head coach is hoping to guide the Trojans on another magical postseason run.
Since falling to Acadiana 35-34 in the 2020 5A title game, ASH has just one playoff win. The Trojans were upset by Parkway in the first round in 2021 and lost to Byrd in the second round last season.
But the 13th-seeded Trojans feel they have what it takes to put together another Cinderella story in 2023.
Many of this year’s 20 seniors were freshmen during that state runner-up finish. Some, however, such as quarterback Ty Feaster, receiver EJ Scott and cornerback Amyrion “MyMy” Mingo, joined the team later.
“Our senior class now were all freshmen, and they got to experience that,” said Mingo, an all-district receiver at Marksville as a freshman before transferring to ASH in 2021. “That’s an experience they all want to get back to again, and that’s an experience I want to experience for the first time. That’s always a goal when you play high-school football is to play in the championship.”
ASH (6-4) opens the postseason at 7 tonight against No. 20 Bonnabel (4-6), and while Bachman has cautioned his team against taking any opponent lightly, the Trojans have dreamed about what could possibly await them in the weeks to come.
The winner of tonight’s game will travel to face No. 4 Brother Martin, last year’s Division I Select runner-up. A win there could mean a possible home quarterfinal against No. 5 Edna Karr and an eventual semifinal showdown with No. 1 Holy Cross or No. 8 Acadiana.
“Of course we want to handle this first because we can’t go nowhere if we don’t handle Week 1,” Mingo said. “But after this, Brother Martin, that’s a good team. That’s a matchup we want to play – a matchup where it’s going to be intense, where there’s gonna be a whole lot of plays made, an exciting game. That’s one of them games that you’re ready for as a competitor.
“Karr, they’re nationally ranked, but they’re a team just like we’re a team. We’re gonna go out there and compete until the final whistle blows, and hopefully we’re gonna come out on top.”
ASH didn’t get off to the start it wanted with lopsided road losses to Carencro and St. Thomas More, but those tough early opponents sharpened the Trojans, who nearly knocked off Ruston, the No. 1 seed in Division I Non-Select, and West Monroe in District 2-5A action.
Feaster, who transferred from Class 1A Glenbrook Academy when his father David became the offensive coordinator at Louisiana Christian, has shown continued growth as he adjusted to playing on a bigger stage.
The senior has completed 60 percent of his passes for 1,783 yards and 24 touchdowns, even though the team’s top two returning targets (Mingo and fellow senior Jaylin Johnson) are now starting at cornerback for the Trojans’ defense.
In their place Scott has emerged as Feaster’s most reliable target. Scott has caught 42 passes, 16 more than any other receiver, and leads the team with 613 receiving yards and eight receiving touchdowns.
Scott began his career at Menard before transferring to ASH as a sophomore, sitting out a year and catching just five passes in an injury-riddled junior year.
After an intense offseason, he has proven to be a three-way threat in the passing game as a deep weapon, in the screen game and with an ability to move the chains. Scott has proven to be so adept at running stop routes at the sticks that he’s earned the nickname EJ “Stop Route” Scott.
Scott said the chemistry he’s developed with Feaster has come through hundreds and hundreds of reps before, during and after practice.
“When he first got here … we really had some doubts,” Scott said of Feaster. “We didn’t know if he was gonna be the guy. We didn’t know how he was gonna come in being from a (smaller) school.”
Those doubts are long gone as Feaster has improved week in and week out as he’s gotten more comfortable running the Trojans’ offense.
“I think there’s a confidence, and it’s grown with each and every week,” Bachman said.
As explosive and dangerous as ASH has been offensively, it took losing two top weapons to help shore up the team’s biggest weakness in the defensive secondary.
“I think it’s made us a better football team with them over there at corner,” Bachman said.
“The team needs me to play defense so I had to step up and go play defense,” Mingo said. “I’m just here to do whatever the team needs me to do for us to win.”
The Trojans’ offense could sacrifice their top two returning receivers because of the bevy of weapons at their disposal such as junior receiver Darius Washington (26-392, 2 TDs) and junior tight end Tanner Townsend (9-152, 6 TDs).
Still, with the arrival of “do-or-die time,” as Bachman put it, expect to see Mingo and Johnson getting more snaps on offense.
“I will be on the field,” Mingo said.
The Trojans have learned a lot from the adversity they faced this season – starting 0-2, falling just short in a comeback attempt at Ruston and letting a victory against West Monroe slip out of their grasp.
Mingo said the Trojans would love to have earned a higher seed and a first-round bye this week, but their losses helped them discover their identity and made them hungry for this playoff run.
“Nobody wants to lose as a competitor,” Mingo said. “You’re angry for a while. You’re disappointed. But then you realize, you see what we did wrong and you gotta fix it so you don’t do it wrong going further. There’s no more next week. This is it.”