Jack, Temple helped lead the Mamou to district titles

What is better than one district championship?
How about two district titles.
That is what happened this past season at Mamou High School, as both the boy’s and girl’s teams brought home the hardware to the land of the Demons.
Leading the way for both teams were the Evangeline Parish Coaches of the Year, Demon head coach John Jack and Lady Demon head coach Mark Temple.
For Jack, this season was a rewarding on, considering that his squad had not won a title in a number of years.
“It was nice to get that district championship this season,” said Jack. “I was really proud of what we accomplished, especially since we were so young. We were a very different ball club at the beginning of the season than we were at the end. We really matured during the course of the year.”
Mamou ended up with an overall record of 16-15 and was 9-1 in district competition. Jack believes those early season losses prevented his team from being ranked higher in the playoffs.
“Scheduling plays a big role in high school athletics,” said Jack. “Early season losses is huge in terms of how you end up being ranked at the end of the year. I think if we could have gone back and played some of those early games later in the year, it would have been a different outcome.”
Jack will continue to improve on his team in the offseason, getting them ready for another year.
“We are going to condition this summer and attend some camps,” Jack said. “Hopefully this season will motivate the retuning players to want to improve next year.”
Temple and his Lady Demon squad lit up the score board this season en route to a 25-9 season and a perfect record in District 4-2A. On top of that, Mamou was one step away from the Top 28, bowing out of the playoffs in the quarterfinals.
“We accomplished a number things this past season,” stated Temple. “First of all we beat Ville Platte for the first time in six years. We won the district title, something that has not happened in 19 years. And, we made it to the quarterfinals. We had a mission at the start of the season and I think we fulfilled the majority of that mission.”
Temple knew that he had a special team early on in the season.
“When we lost to Barbe, who was number one at the time, it was a good game,” said Temple. “I told our players that they are not that much better than us. I knew that if we could be one of those elite teams, it would show them that we are a good team. Then we beat Ville Platte and Walker and from that point on it was like a light switch was turned on.”
Still with all of the success of his team this year, Temple knows that there are some things that will have to be worked on in the offseason to make another run deep in the playoffs.
“We have to get physically stronger this summer,” commented Temple. “We are also going to have to learn to play faster. It will be important for us to develop a big player in the middle. We are going to work really hard this summer and go out and play in some team camps to get us ready.”