Durell Peloquin Jr. of the Oberlin Tigers coaches his way to being the first ever Allen Parish Football Coach of the Year
“It’s an outstanding accomplishment,” he said. “Our team did a great job this year buying into the program, and the awards we receive after the fact show, through hard work and dedication, anything is possible. It’s an honor and a privilege to be considered for Coach of the Year.”
This past season had been Coach Peloquin Jr.’s 29th overall as a coach, and he spent seven-and-a-half of those years in Oberlin over two stints. He owes himself getting into coaching to his father, the late Durell Peloquin Sr.
“My dad was my mentor and my idol,” expressed Coach Peloquin Jr. “I idolized him, and I thought the world of him. I wish he was still around today to follow not only what I did but his grandson (Levi) did this season. I consider it quite an accomplishment what we did and had to go through to get here.”
Before the 2018 season started, Coach Peloquin Jr. set the same goal for his team that he does every year- to win a district championship.
“That’s one of the number one goals we set as a team year in and year out,” he said. “Even though we don’t receive any power points for being district champions, that’s still quite an accomplishment to say that you won the district championship.”
The season started with a Week 1 win at Mamou by a score of 22-0 on a Thursday night. Coach Peloquin Jr.’s squad then rattled off five wins in a row to take a 6-0 record into a game on the road against St. Edmund’s.
St. Ed’s won the game 35-6 and, with the win, won the district championship.
Since then Oberlin lost 41-22 at home to Basile and won a game against South Cameron because of a forfeiture to set up a Week 10 game against Elton on the road.
“I’d say the game against Elton stuck out for me for the simple reason that last year Elton had beaten us by over 40 points,” said Coach Peloquin Jr.
Oberlin ended the regular season with a 55-8 win against the Indians of Elton.
“We kind of redeemed ourselves for where the shoe was on the different foot,” Coach Peloquin Jr. added. “We ended up having a great game, and I thought that game gave us momentum going into the first round of the playoffs.”
Coach Peloquin Jr.’s Tigers rode that momentum to a 60-0 first round win against Northwood-Lena and a thrilling come from behind win at home against Jonesboro-Hodge 23-22. The season ended a week later; however, as Oberlin went on the road to face the top seeded Oak Grove Tigers and lost 14-8.
“The highlight of our season was having to the opportunity to play in the quarterfinal game,” said the Oberlin head coach. “We were fortunate to make it that far.”
He continued, “It’s an outstanding experience anytime you get to practice on Thanksgiving week. It was an outstanding opportunity for our kids. It reflected the support of our school, our community, and our program. Hard work does pay off in the long run.”
Looking forward to next season, Coach Peloquin Jr.’s top goal is the same as it has been every year before. He expressed, “Our goal on a year-to-year basis is being district champion. It means a lot because there’s not many teams who can say they’re district champions.”
“In addition to that,” he continued, “I consider anything we reap after that to be lagniappe like an opportunity to go back to the quarterfinals, an opportunity to carry it a step further to the semi-finals, or an opportunity to go to New Orleans to play for the state championship.”
The goal to win the district championship will take a different route this season with St. Ed’s switching districts and South Cameron moving down to Class C. To replace those teams will be East Beauregard and Gueydan.
For Coach Peloquin Jr., to have a successful season “you have to have a lot of hard work, but you have to have a little bit of luck too.”
He added, “It just doesn’t happen over night. We always strive to get the opportunity to play for the state championship, but you got to get hot at the right time.”
Besides hard work and luck, it takes everybody being on their toes on any Friday or Thursday night for a team to be also be successful. As Coach Peloquin Jr. said, “This year we faced Oakdale on Fair Week on a Thursday night. We had all kinds of adversity with the fair. We go to Oakdale, and the lights went out on us. You have to be able to face adversity and build on it.”
After a successful season and being named Coach of the Year, Coach Peloquin Jr. owes all of it to the people who have made it possible.
“There are a lot of people I’d like to thank for this opportunity because without the administrators and the assistant coaches none of this would be possible,” he said. “I can’t say enough about the school and the administration and our assistant coaches because it’s not just about me. It takes a total team effort, and it trickles down to the student trainers we have. It takes a lot to run a quality football program.”
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