By LORI LYONS, Journal Sports
Going into Friday night’s first round Select Division IV playoff game Friday night, St. Mary’s coach Kedrin Seastrunk saw two possible scenarios playing out on the football field at Kentwood.
“I knew we were going to get one where the lights and the stage was going to be too big, or I was going to get one where it was going to be a dogfight,” Seastrunk said. “I actually told them that. And, from the first play, I could kind of tell where it was going.”
Unfortunately for the coach and St. Mary’s fandom, the former came to be, ending the Tigers’ season with a 56-6 loss to the No. 12 seed Kangaroos. St. Mary’s, which entered the bracket as the No. 21 seed, finished its season 5-6.
Things unraveled early for the Tigers as Kentwood recovered and returned a fumble for a touchdown on the very first play. St. Mary’s went on to turn the ball over on its first four possessions, all leading to touchdowns for Kentwood. The Kangaroos had a 32-0 lead at the end of the first quarter and led 48-0 at the half.
JP Thibodaux scored the Tigers’ lone touchdown on a 4-yard run in the second half during running time.
“We didn’t play the way we could at all,” Seastrunk said. “These are the growing pains that you just kind of swallow. The stage was just too big. Now, if we had played our best, could we have won? I don’t know. That was a good team. They had a little bit more juice than we did.”
Shortly after the loss, Seastrunk had to dash off to a ministry conference in Birmingham, Ala. That gave him a lot of time to reflect on the game and his first season as a head coach.
“One thing I really had to understand is, you always have to have a plan for the worst,” he said. “Sometimes you look for things to fall in place that you feel like they should (fall into place) and they don’t. Always having that plan allows you to minimize on your disappointments. We had some injuries some things that hurt us.”
But Seastrunk also saw many positives over the past few months – like putting together a full staff on the fly, finishing 5-5 with a very tough schedule, and seeing his players grow as players and as young men.
“I saw growth, I saw improvement and it’s promising,” Seastrunk said. “I saw things that I could build on.”
Contact Lori at sportslyons@gmail.com
