Forced to be road warriors LCCP, Hamilton make do without home stadium

Published 12:28 pm Thursday, September 4, 2025 By Rodrick Anderson Lake Charles College Prep and Hamilton Christian enter the high school football season ranked in the Louisiana Sports Writers Association preseason top 10 polls.

However, both teams face the significant challenge of playing every game this season away from home.

The Trailblazers, ranked No.

7 in Class 3A, and the Warriors, No.

10 in Class 1A, typically play at Cougar Stadium, which is undergoing major renovations by Ward 3 Recreation.

The upgrades will keep the stadium closed all season, forcing both teams to play all games at various stadiums a combined total of at least 15 locations.

The Warriors have three home games scheduled.

The first one is today, when they host DeQuincy at the Tigers home field, G.

Dalton Faircloth Stadium.

The game was originally scheduled to be played at Lake Arthurs Jack Doland Memorial Stadium, but poor field conditions forced the change.

They will play their other two home games Oct.

16 and 23 at Lafayette Christian Academy against Elton and Oberlin, respectively.

LCCP secured Welshs Dutton Wall Stadium for its home game today against Class 4A power Westgate.

It will use McNeese States stadium to host Opelousas on Sept.

19 and Jennings on Oct.

10.

Head coach Erick Franklin said there is the possibility their home game against Westlake on Oct.

24 at the Rams home field, and he wasnt sure where they would play Catholic-New Iberia on Oct.

3.

While Hamilton head coach Dexter Washington knows it will be a burden on the fans to travel so much, he said he isnt worried about the Warriors too much.

Last year they went 3-1 in regular-season road games.

The Warriors basketball team went 11-3 on the road and won their first state championship in March.

The burden is going to be on our fans traveling different places, Washington said.

But we are prepared wherever we go to play.

We always excel on the road in all sports.

We dont have that local contingent where we are looking in the stands.

We always take the challenge of playing in other peoples places.

Playing on the road is not going to be our problem.

It is a problem for the fans to get where they want to go.

We are prepared for it.

That lone loss was to the Tigers, 32-13, but the Warriors went on a nine-game win streak after that.

DeQuincy lost 1,500-yard running back Wyatt Lavergne to graduation, but replaced him with his younger brother, Ty Lavergne, a national champion bull rider.

They lost a lot of kids, but they are scary, Washington said of DeQuincy.

Kids from a rural area are just different.

They are hard-nosed kids.

I watched him (Ty Lavergne) on film; we better know where he is at all times.

Teams like to focus on Warriors quarterback Javon Vital, who scored 47 total touchdowns last year, but they have other weapons to watch, including Chris Rideau, Noah Menard and Kaleb Bigwood.

Javon Vital is a big part of Hamilton Christian, Washington said.

There are a lot of pieces to the puzzle that make Hamilton Christian go.

If you focus on one thing, the other thing can bite you.

LCCP is looking for its first win in the series with Westgate.

The Tigers are 4-0 against LCCP, including a 31-20 win last season.

Last year, junior wide receiver Ayden Carter enjoyed a career game against Westgate with 195 yards and a touchdown on nine catches, while junior quarterback Dylan Vital completed 10 of 17 passes for 245 yards.

Merryville has opened the last three seasons with a win over North Central, and the Panthers look to make it four in a row today.

They beat North Central on the road 50-6 last year and started the season 3-1.

Grand Lake will host East Beauregard and its double-wing offense, powered by Dakota Strother.

The Hornets held the Trojans under 200 yards of total offense to win 28-9 last year and have won the last four games in the series.

Westlake was used to winning big on the road last year in the regular season, going 4-1 and winning by an average of 23.5 points.

They travel to Rosepine, a team they beat by 44 points last year, led by a three-touchdown effort by senior running back Braylon Garrick..

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