TDL: Two-A-Days - Oberlin Tigers

Oberlin, LA (KPLC) - The Oberlin Tigers have been one of the teams to beat in District 4-1A over the last five years, as the Tigers are on the hunt for their sixth consecutive winning season.

Although this year, they’ll have to do it with a young roster.

“We had 11 in last year’s senior class that graduated, we’ve got four returning seniors this year,” said head coach Durell Peloquin. “We’ve got a group of young men with a lot of inexperience this year. They’re hungry, they’re humble, but we’ve got a lot of inexperience this year.”

The good news for Oberlin is seniors like lineman Adameon Botley are taking the extra time to mentor the newcomers.

“With me stepping up, I had to step up majorly because there’s a lot of inexperience,” said Botley. “There’s a lot of young kids but they are very talented so, having someone be their big brother, teaches them a lot.”

On offense, Oberlin will continue to run the Wing-T that features a stable of capable backs. While the Tigers are still amid a quarterback competition, the winner will benefit from the only offensive unit with returning starters— the offensive line.

“We’ve run it for the last five seasons, this is year six for us and so our offensive line is going to have to be our strong point early in the season,” said Peloquin. “Our skill guys are going to have to catch up with them.”

“You know that scheme is kind of difficult on us, but I teach my offensive line, give it everything you got until the blow the whistle,” said Botley. “So we have to go out there and practice every day.”

Defensively, the Tigers will stick to their traditional guns running a McNeese Cowboy-inspired 4-2-5 defense that is built for balance.

“Our defense is kind of aggressive and kind of passive,” said Botley. “So my defensive coach, coach Bo, is very intelligent because he played and so he teaches us a lot from a guy that was at the college level.

“I like it,” said defensive end Jordyn Artis. “It’s a very strong and easy defense to learn and I think we are going to execute with it.”

The goal for the Tigers remains the same as always, but they don’t want to look too far ahead.

“The goal of the team is to get better and grow as a team and take it day by day,” said Botley. “That’s all we need to do right now.”

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