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'Roch' Charpentier is the commander of VC's offense.

VC's Charpentier is commander Eagles' 'Fast and Furious Offense'

By Rosco Harrington
Under the direction of third-year offensive coordinator Richard “Roch” Charpentier, the Vermilion Catholic Eagles average 40 points a game in 2013.
Twice the Eagles have scored 55 points or more. Five times they have scored in the 40s. The least the Eagles scored is 20 and that was against Catholic High, the first game of the year.
Leading the explosive offense is senior year quarterback Brennan Gallet, who has thrown for 2,707 yards and 34 TDs.
Michael Campbell has rushed for 1,700 yards and scored 30 touchdowns.
On the receiving end, Connor Menard has 67 receptions for 1,133 yards and 15 TDs. Next to him is Emile Trahan (35 catches, 741 yards, 8 TDs). Trahan is also 55 out of 60 in kicking extra points for the Eagles.
Charpentier is the director of the show.. He can be found frantically signaling plays in to the offense on the VC sideline. “As fast as possible” is how the Eagles play. As soon as the ball is signaled ready, they want to snap it.
Charpentier’s football roots are deep. He’s named after a coaching legend. He played quarterback for his father Sonny at Teurlings Catholic in Lafayette, and then played at Northwestern State in Natchitoches. He even admits his mother, Mary, has more football knowledge than most people. He took what he learned from all these people and has continued to develop the offense since becoming a coach.
“I’m named after Richard “Roch” McCloskey, who was my dad’s high school coach. He was like a father figure to him. At one time he was the winningest coach is Louisiana high school history. Because he was such a big influence in his life, my dad decided to pass the name to me.”
Charpentier doesn’t have a catchy name for his offense like the NFL’s “Run and Shoot” of the late ‘80s or Steve Spurrier’s famous “Fun and Gun” offense that ruled college football in the ‘90s.
“It’s just our version of the spread,” he said. “We use a lot of different formations to create mismatches. The name of the game is to get the ball into the hands of your athletes in open space. We try to put the kids in the best position to succeed.”
He believes the offense must be able to run and pass in order to keep the defense guessing and that all starts with the offensive line.
“Every bit of every play starts up front,” he explained. “If those guys can’t block, you can’t run any kind of offense. Our line has been tremendous all season executing their schemes, techniques and pass protecting.”
“When we line up, we want to see what the defense is trying to take away,” he continued. “If they commit to stopping the run, we throw the ball. If they try to take away the pass, we run it. Whatever they do, we try to do the opposite because it gives us the advantage.”
The amount of experience his players have in his system also makes a huge difference to Charpentier.
“Many of the guys have been here all three years that I’ve been here,” he said. “These guys know the offense very well. If the play we have called doesn’t matchup with the defense, they’ll turn to the sideline for adjustments.”
Another key element to the Eagles’ offense is the Eagles’ defense. They are very good at getting off the field, no matter the down and distance. The more times the offense has the ball, the more chances it has to score.
“Coach Kuhns is great with the defense,” Charpentier said. “Even if we turn the ball over, we are confident our defense will get the stop and get us the ball back.”
“Teams have tried to run the ball to control the clock and keep it away from our offense,” he continued. “But because of the strength of our defense, they haven’t been successful.”
Charpentier is taking life one day at a time and enjoying his experience at VC. With such a young, bright offense mind, there’s no doubt he has a great future ahead of him.
“I’m just enjoying life right now,” he said. “I’m not thinking past week 15 of VC football. We’re looking forward to playing on a great surface and indoors. We’re going to do what we do, add a few wrinkles and stress execution.”

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