VC’s Derouen earns Offensive MVP

The Vermilion Catholic Screamin’ Eagles football team had a potent offense this season, and one of the most important players on that team was Tyler Derouen.
Derouen made plays left and right this year, racking up over 1800 yards of total offense to earn the Offensive MVP of the Parish. The first thing he did was thank his teammates.
“I could have never gotten this award without my teammates,” he said. “Every individual award is just a testament to their hard work and dedication to the team.
“This award is probably the individual award that I’m most proud of in my career. Just thinking back to when I was a freshman or even in eighth grade, I never in my life imagined me getting this. I’ve put in more work in the last year than I ever thought possible, so it feels really fulfilling to get this.”
Derouen made the District 7-1A All-District team as an athlete because restricting him to one position would not do his impact on a football game any justice. He was the leading receiver and rusher on the team, and he also played quarterback at times throughout the year.
He was a focal point of a VC offense that averaged over 30 points per game and finished the regular season with a 9-1 record, winning 11 games in a row before losing in the quarterfinals of the Division IV select playoffs.
“Tyler Derouen brought a little bit of everything to our team. That’s what makes him valuable,” said offensive coordinator Roch Charpentier. “He has unbelievable receiving stats and pretty good rushing stats according to the amount of carries he got.
“He’s just very versatile and no matter what you ask him to do, he’s going to get it done.”
Heading into the season, there was doubt about whether VC would be able to contend again after losing 15 starters from an undefeated championship team.
The Eagles started a new quarterback and were blown out in week 1 of the season by Catholic High of New Iberia.
After that loss, the team began to find themselves and win games, but one of the best games of the year, according to Derouen, was the matchup against district rival Lafayette Christian Academy.
“My best game of the year was week four against Lafayette Christian,” he said. “I had 149 yards, three touchdowns and a passing touchdown. The thing that made that game special was how badly we beat them and they were predicted to win the district. It was the first game me and Hunter (Frith) really clicked.”
Derouen and the team saw huge success this season, but he said he had to be better.
“My season overall as an individual was pretty good, but I felt like I had to be even better,” he said. “From a team standpoint I was very happy with what we accomplished. No one thought we could win 10 games and get a number 1 seed but we did it anyway.”
Joining Derouen on the All-Parish offense is teammate Hunter Frith (3,005 yards passing and 31 touchdowns), Kaplan’s Julius Johnson (1,075 yards and 12 touchdowns), Erath’s Elijah Mitchell (1,058 and 10 touchdowns).
The receiving corps consists of VC’s Emile Trahan (785 yards and 10 touchdowns), Erath’s Ross Granger (678 yards and nine touchdowns), North Vermilion’s Dade Dieterich (312 yards and one touchdown) and North Vermilion’s Seth Patin.
The offensive line consists of Delcambre’s Judd Trahan, Vermilion Catholic’s Paul Veazey and Alex Clark, Kaplan’s Jerrick Romero and Erath’s Zack Campos.
The tightend is Erath’s Jaylen Sinegal (92 yards and two touchdowns).
The kicking specialist was North Vermilion’s Seth Patin.