Brother Martin Crusaders

By Lee Brecheen

Head Coach: Mark Bonis (14th season)

2022 Record: 9-6 (State Runner-Up)

2022 Class & District: Class 5A (District 9)

2022 Playoffs: Defeated Woodlawn (Baton Rouge) 45-20 1st Round, Defeated St. Augustine 27-24 in 2nd Round, Defeated Northwood (Shreveport) 28-14 in Quarterfinals, Defeated Carencro 55-24 in Semifinals, Lost to John Curtis Christian 23-0 in Division I (Select) Playoffs

Brother Martin RB Jordan West

If any school is due to win it all, it’s Brother Martin High School. They have come so close in the last seven years. The coaching staff does a great job putting these kids in a position to win. Head coach Mark Bonis has won 106 games in 13 years at the school, which is second all-time behind the legendary Bob Conlin. The last time the Crusaders won its first and only state title was in 1971. However, the Crusaders have only been to the state championship only two times after that in 1989 and 2022.

“We as a program have been to at least the Semis-Finals 6 of the last 7 years. The mindset I'm intrigued about this year. Excited to see what we can do in 2023.”

Brother Martin OL Jaxon Ducre

The offense will rotate quite a few players for the 2023 season. The Skill spots have a lot of potential with a deep group at WR/TE for the team. WR Camden Buras, who will also play some FS for the team and Brodie Dumontier (4.5 speed), both return with experience in 2022 with a combined 16 catches between them. The rest of the WR group will be Peyton Michael, Rex Leblanc, Rowan Lipscomb, TE/FB Nic Paulin (5-11, 210), senior TE/FB Bennett Balser (6-0, 205), TE Landon Craig (6-3, 240), TE Jonathan Siggio, TE Spencer Stringer and WR Royal Easton. The run game returns experience with three-year starter Jordan West (5-8, 170,4.5 speed) who had 420 yards & five touchdowns in 2022). The run game also returns powerful RB Sidney Harris who had 437 yards & three touchdowns in 2022 and young player Julian Cutter.

As of recent times, Brother Martin has had one of the best offensive line units not only in the new-orleans area but in the state of Louisiana as a whole. The Crusaders return three-year starter Jaxon Ducre (6-2, 275), who I think is one of the best in the state. The rest of the OL which can go 8 deep in rotation consists of senior Balprett Parmar (5-11, 285), OL Caleb Smith (6-3, 300), OL Madden Diaz (6-1, 268), senior OL Reese Rabb (6-1, 242), senior OL Brian Vlosich (5-8, 200), senior John Berrigan (5-10, 255) and senior OL Conlin Murphy (5-10, 275).

Brother Martin LB/SS Jeremy Turner

The quarterback position has options for the 2023 season. There’s talented Seth Dazet 6-2 174 who is the lead QB to start as he had seven starts with five of them being in the playoffs and did a nice job. He was also the starter in the state title game too. You also have a talented player in Hudson Field as well as Donny Lawrence (6-1, 185) and senior Silas McLeish (6-2, 183) who both are athletic quarterbacks. Any of these four can lead this team to a championship game again. You might even see two of these four kids get on the field at another position to help the team win at some point.

The defense will be very young as the Crusaders will have to replace a large part of the defensive line, linebackers and secondary from a year ago. The four key players back to lean on for leadership until everyone else gets more time will be players like DT Nathan Malek, LB Jadon Webber, FS Camden Buras & CB/FS Kaeden Goodman. The defense also returns key players like DT Chase Chesser, three-year starter LB/SS Jeremy Turner (5-10, 187) who is a big-time hitter, senior DT Gabriel Duran (5-11, 275), MLB Caleb Natividad (5-8, 205), LB William McKevitt (5-10, 205) who is one of the leaders, DT/DE Cole Fisette (5-10, 230), three-year starter senior LB Marco Flores (5-10, 215) who is a tough kid, senior OLB Konner Milligan (5-10, 182), OLB/SS Jeremiah Vigee 6-0 172 SR, CB Conner Hance (5-10, 160), DE Caleb Williams (5-11, 218) and some younger players will play for the first time in 2023.

Brother Martin LB Will McKevitt

The special teams unit will have a new starter in talented kicker/punter Grayson Smith. The return game is in good hands with senior Jordan West and Konner Milligan. West will cover punt returns while Milligan will cover kickoff returns.

Brother Martin will have one of the toughest non-district schedules in the state. The Crusaders will travel all across the state as they will play three of its non-district games on the road against St. Paul’s (Covington), St. Thomas More (Lafayette) and Ouachita (Monroe). The Crusaders’ only non-district home contest will be its first one of the year against Madison Prep on August 31st.

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