Cards ready to fly with DuBois

 

By Van Wade

The Orange Leader

 

BRIDGE CITY — When the Bridge City Cardinals hit the field for their opener in Kirbyville this Friday, there will be plenty of experienced faces and a new “old” face running the program.

The Cardinals are looking forward to breaking in the “Dwayne DuBois Era” and so is Coach DuBois, who is returning to his alma mater to help lead Bridge City back to the postseason.

DuBois, takes over the program after leading Hardin-Jefferson to a 19-7 record and a trip to the third round of the playoffs the last two seasons. Before that, DuBois was the offensive coordinator at Vidor and the Pirates made the playoffs in 2009, 2011 and 2012.

After making the postseason four straight years (2009-2012), the Cardinals have went 4-16 overall and 2-10 in district play the last two seasons.

“It feels really good to be back here,” said DuBois. “I’m really excited about getting this thing going. The kids showed up with a whole lot of enthusiasm and as coaches, we love that.”

DuBois inherits a young team but one that got valuable experience last year as the Cardinals played a ton of sophomores and juniors a year ago.

The Cardinals will be moving away from the spread-like offense they’ve been in over the last several years as DuBois will bring his offensive philosophy to the Cardinals, which is Slot-T formations and Wing-T formations. It’s an offense that paid high dividends at both Vidor and Hardin-Jefferson.

“I think the kids are excited about the offense but there is new techniques for all of them to learn,” said DuBois. “It’s all about getting accustomed to it and it’s all about getting a bunch of reps in. That’s what these early weeks are for.”

Leaqding the Cardinal offense will be DuBois’ son Camden DuBopis, who brings a wealth of experience to the position after starting at H-J the last two seasons.

“We’ve got a lot of faith in Camden because he’s been in this offense as far back as seventh grade,” said DuBois. “He’s like a second coach back there and he reads everything well. He’s really helping the guys figure it all out.

The Cardinals will be stacked in the backfield.

Colt Poole, Hunter Denton, Patrick Morris and Riley Harris will see time at running back with Derrick Dearing and Cayce Draper seeing time at fullback.

“We’ve got some kids that can tote the ball and we’re looking forward to getting a good look at all of them, we feel we have nice depth there,” said DuBois.

The Cardinals are blessed to have all five offensive linemen returning as well in center Nick Menard, guards Alex Lara and Zayne Trahan along with tackles Chase Bonea and Joseph Adams.

“It’s great to have those guys back,” said DuBois. “They know what it is all about and they may be the biggest line I’ve ever been able to coach. Now they’re having to adjust to the Slot-T. It’s a whole different scheme. Instead of the two-point stance they were used too and pass blocking a lot, now they’re in a four-point stance, getting ready to fire off the ball.”

The Cardinals’ receiving group will consist of the likes of Zane Booth, Griffin Ricks and Brady McBee.

Defensively, the Cardinals are switching to a 4-2-5 scheme.

In the defensive line trenches will be ends Booth and Sampson Stembridge and the tackles will likely be Seth Green and David Sourdellia with Stetson Wilson seeing plenty of time too.

Dearing should spearhead a stout linebacker group that will also include Poole, Draper, Blake Dichiara and Kade Wheat.

The secondary has experience as well in Bryon Trahan and Zach Honeyvutt along with Harris and Denton.

“We’ve got nine kids back with experience on defense,” said DuBois. “That’s a big plus.”

The Cardinals are looking forward to what’s ahead as this year’s squad looks to be the one to help turn the program back into an upswing.

“We’ve got kids that leaned a lot last year about playing varsity football, many of them sophomores,” said DuBois. “That really helps this new staff coming in. They also have been busy soaking in a lot of new schemes. It’s been all about getting adjusted and getting a bunch of reps in and that’s what these early weeks are all about.”