School was in full swing, Romell Anthony was gone, and I was locked in preparing for another football season with the St. John Rough Riders. By now, I had built a strong name for myself on the football field — strong enough that one day, a varsity player from East St. John, Courtney Clark “Heck Zeck”, shouted at me from a bus window, promising to “kill me” when I got to high school. I had no idea he was one of my brother’s close friends!

With Ro off at John Curtis, I stepped up and decided to became a section leader for the snare drum line during parade season. But baseball season was creeping up fast, and so was the weight of new decisions. I was seriously considering transferring schools after 8th grade — though I kept that thought to myself.

Baseball practices were tense. I fought for my spot at third base against Richard Martin “Tricky Dick), even willing to become a catcher just to stay in the starting lineup. This was my last shot to play with my boys for the LaPlace A’s and make the FORD All-Stars one final time. Every practice mattered. Every moment counted. It even brought me close to fighting my own friend, Anderson Armond because I felt those guys had it easier. I didn’t and I was ready to do whatever was necessary — that’s how much it meant to me.

Coach Terry Charles noticed the intensity and made sure everyone understood how serious this season was going to be.

Things heated up when the Garyville Pirates and Reserve Phils merged into one powerhouse team to challenge us, bringing guys like Chris Nicholas , Calvin Lee (Flip Flop), Terreke Grover
, Nick Mitchell , Todd Daniel Brown , and Damon Perrilloux along with some others, got together under Coaches Wilfred Mitchell, Guess Brown, and Ervin Nicholas.(If I am not mistaken). Edgard had joined the league too, making for a full, tough season.

But we still did it. We fought through and defended our title as League Champs.

When it came time for All-Star selections, I was honored to be chosen once again. But the stakes were higher now — with crazier things happening in our community, even simple house parties turned risky with guns being fired in the air. We knew we had to protect Romell especially — he was taller, quieter, at a new school, and our best player. Nothing could happen to him if we were going to defend our Dizzy Dean State Title.

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Next episode (Episode 14):
We battle through scrimmages, tournaments in Metairie and Avondale, and push for one final championship run!

TheJourney #LaPlaceAs #FordAllStars #ChildhoodMemories #RoughRiders #Brotherhood #FaithAndFocus

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