Be the Standard: Caldwell Parish continues to build off youth and grit

COLUMBIA, La. ( KTVE/KARD ) — In his first year as head coach at Caldwell Parish, Cleo Head led the Spartans to a 6-6 record.

Heading into year number two—he looks to make even more progress.

That starts with setting the standard—one that has been described with a single word all offseason—best.

“It’s kind of like our theme we are trying to work towards. When we come into the weight room and we come out to the field and practice, our soul job is each and every day, each and every rep, each and every play as best as you possibly can do,” Head said. “The kids have really responded with it. We’ve had some of the best turnout we’ve had during the summer as far as attendance rates and it showed as far as our maxes and our speed is going up, so I am happy where we sit right now.”

Cleo Head and Caldwell Parish Spartans are looking to take another step in reaching their full potential.

For this group—championships have always been the end goal—but that starts winning the ships not directly involved with football.

“You always talk about that because the kids have to have an ultimate goal to look at,” said Head. “One of the things we are trying to have them understand is, yeah, we want to win the championships, but we have to win the other ships along the way. We have to win the friendship, we have to win the mentorship, and of course we have to win leadership within ourselves and after we win those things, then the championships will come.”

Just as many teams, the Spartans will face challenges heading into the 2024 season.

Their biggest challenge will be experience.

The Spartans will field a young team this season—and will need to focus on filling big shoes from a year ago—especially in the skill group.

But—Head says he has seen great things from the young guys and they have accepted the challenge and are taking it one step at a time.

“We’re young. We lost a lot of guys last year,” Head said. “I think we graduated like 15 seniors last year, but the kids we lost were key positions. We lost a quarterback who has been the starter for four years, a center who has been there for like four years, running back and receiver, so we are very young at the skill position and so that’s what we have to teach the kids. We talk about day by day, but it’s play by play. You play that one play and as soon as it’s over with, good, bad or whatever happens, you have to flush it and you have to be ready to go again. Like one of the coaches I worked with before said, one play can’t lead to two, can’t lead to three, can’t lead to a punt, so we have to focus on one play at a time and let the other stuff go and just keep working.”

Offensively—the Spartans will feature two new ball carriers in the backfield.

Two young men who have shown they can do big things on Friday nights—especially running behind the experience they do present up front on the offensive line.

“We have two guys that are coming in,” Head said. We are looking to run the ball and both of them have tons of potential for us to be very successful. They are two different style backs. One is more of a power back, and one is more of a scat back. He’s the one who could break it each and every time which fits into the scheme that we are trying to get with our guys as far as smash mouth. We are about to line up because we are returning a lot of our offensive line. That’s what we have to lean on right now going into the season. Lean on those guys and just kind of roll from there.”

That offensive line will also play a big part in the success from a new quarterback.

It is a position that carries a lot of responsibility.

But Head says with the returners up front along with a ton of talent in the skill group—some of that pressure can be relieved.

“He’s got to feel safe in the pocket,” Head said. “He’s got to trust that they are going to get the blocks made across the front that we need and then we’ve got some receivers on the outside who are going to be able to do some special things for us. Just relying on those guys not to make the big throw, not to make the homerun throws each and every time. Just get the ball out there in space to our playmakers and let them make a play.”

The Spartans will be young on the defensive side of the ball as well.

But it is a young group who comes in with a different mentality.

A group who is all about business—ready to hit the field and get the job done.

Head says the big thing for this side of the ball is to simply play fast.

“When you are on the field, you are going fast as you can possibly go,” Head said. “Speed makes up for a lot of missed plays, so that’s kind of our deal is we want to be able to line up quick, we want to be able to play fast, try to take the thinking out of it and just react. As long as we can line up like we are supposed to line up to the different formations and then just play, just react to what you see and play.”

Now—it’s finally go time.

“This week we really started to talk about our scrimmage and where we are going into the future and you could actually see a smile on their face because they knew, finally, we are going to get to hit someone new, which is a good thing.”