TDL: Two-A-Days - Oakdale Warriors

Oakdale, LA (KPLC) - After finishing with a .500 record in 2019, Oakdale felt they were taking steps in the right direction. However, Destin Dieterich said the Warriors were hit harder than most by COVID-19 last season resulting in a 2-4 finish.

“We’ve had some young guys step up but there’s no doubt 2020 put us back a couple of steps,” said Dieterich. “We are hoping we can at least make up one step this year. It’s going to take a little while until we get those numbers back where they need to be.”

The outlook for the Warriors to gain back that lost ground is good considering there will be very little to no changes to the X’s and O’s. Oakdale didn’t lose much in the ground game, as Jammall Warnell and Ced Allison return after both averaged 100 yards a game in 2020.

“We complement each other and he’s like more of the pick and pop dude he can like move and do it all and I’m like the strong fast and I can run and do it all too it’s just he’s better at some of the aspects that I’m not,” said Warnell. “He’s faster and I’m strong and we defeat the purpose of a running back being a one-trick pony.”

While Oakdale will still be a run-first offense, the continued emergence of senior quarterback Dutton Dieterich shouldn’t be overlooked as he expects to be more involved in the run game.

“I’m trying to run the ball more this year. I think my dad has been kind of iffy on my ability to run the ball these past few years, but I’m just trying to gain his trust and show him and show everybody on the team that I can run the ball,” Dutton Dieterich said. “I can throw the ball and I can do pretty much anything.”

“Dutton has made a lot of improvements in the offseason there’s no doubt, but he’s got a year under his belt,” said Destin Dieterich. “We’ve been able to extend his vocabulary if you will, his football IQ has increased, so we are expecting him to do some things he couldn’t do last year.”

Flipping sides of the ball, while Oakdale lost its defensive coordinator, but Dieterich will now take on those responsibilities as well.

“Our defense is pretty similar to what it was last year but the main difference is we have so many young guys coming in and the whole defense is relearning what we already had to learn last year,” said linebacker Dallas Daniels. “The scheme hasn’t changed that much but it’s like we put in a new scheme because of all the youth.”

The Warrior Defense will be led by 2-time all-district defensive lineman Dallas Daniels who makes the switch to Linebacker.

“We wouldn’t have done it if we didn’t think he could and we wouldn’t have done it if we had other options but I like taking defensive ends and bringing them up to linebacker,” said Destin Dieterich. ”It’s something we have been a part of for many many years and we are expecting some good things out of him.”

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