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The story of Carencro High Football (1966-2015) is a tale of two halves. For most of the first 24 years, the Bears had very little success. In fact, no Carencro head coach had an overall winning record until the elevation of Mac Barousse to head coach in 1990 in year 25. In the previous 24 years, the Bears enjoyed only five winning seasons and four playoff games in three different seasons--and two of the winning seasons and two of the playoff games were in the first four years under Coach Roy Veazey. The Bears' overall winning record was .287 in the first 24 years, going 68-169-4. Things changed when Barousse was elevated to the head coach position in the summer of 1990. In the next 26 years, the Bears enjoyed 21 winning seasons, 14 trips to the playoffs, and 3 appearances in the AAAAA Championship game, including a state title in 1992. The Bears went 208-97, for a winning .682 mark. Even more amazing, the Bears went 32-22 (.593) in the playoffs, a time when you play against the best in the state.
The Origin on CroBear Football
The beginning of the modern era of football at CHS began thanks to a young Carencro Social Studies teacher.
Prior to 1966, Carencro High had played some football in Class B; it is not clear exactly when, but apparently football was dropped in the 50s. The process to add football to CHS began in the 1961-62 school year in the Civics class of Miss Carole Fuselier. In a lesson on the 1st Amendment, the discussion on the right to petition and the desire of the freshmen in that class to have a football team led the students of the class to put together a petition to add football to Carencro High. Miss Fuselier advised the students on each step of the process, and with support from parents and other students, the petition made its way to Principal Paul Broussard. When the petition was denied (probably for monetary reasons), the students and parents took the petition to the Lafayette Parish School Board. By the 192-63 school year, the Board approved the community's desire for a football team. Unfortunately, it wasn't until after that freshman class of 62 graduated that their petition finally reached fruition.
JV Preparation Year
The CroBear football began in the fall of 1965 when the Bears fielded a football team to play the Junior Varsity (or JV) teams of schools in the area. Roy Veazey was the head coach, and Emile Fourcade was the lone assistant coach. This '65 team went 7-1-2, beating the Lafayette High JV team 24-0, the Port Barre JVs 57-0, Cecilia 37-13, Lafayette High's JVs 14-8, and Port Barre's Junior Varsity (again) 54-7 for a 5-0 start to the season. They then tied Northside's JVs 7-7, lost to Frankin's JVs 24-27, and tied the Opelousas JV team 0-0. The Bears ended up the season by beating the Junior Varsity teams of Cathedral-Carmel 13-7 and Opelousas 19-6 ("Carencro Ventures Into Varsity Competition With Bright Hopes", Lafayette Advertiser, September 9, 1966, p. 22).
First Year
In 1966, the Bears started their official season of varsity, LHSAA-sanctioned, 11-man football. The starters in that inaugural season were: Jerry Boudreaux and Peter Menard at end, Tommy Dodge and Steve Hogg at tackle, Gary Hogg and Mike Lajaunie at guard, and Glenn Brasseaux at center. Mike Mire, Jeff Tisdale, John Boudreaux, and Danny Bernard were in the backfield. Other players with experience from the previous JV schedule year were Vaughn Benoit, Danny Leger, Otis Dugas, Kenneth David, Jimmy Latour, Wilson Domingue, Larry Carriere, and Mike Arceneaux ("Carencro Ventures Into Varsity Competition With Bright Hopes", Lafayette Advertiser, September 9, 1966, p. 22).
The Bears' first year was very promising, as they went 6-4. Two disappointing years—2-8 and 1-6-2—followed, but in the 1969 season, the Bears played in their very first playoff game, winning a 12-12 home game by virtue of gaining the most 1st downs but losing to Class A powerhouse E.D. White the next week.
The Losing Years
However, two winning years and two playoff games in the first four years was not predictive of the Bear's football fortunes as they went 54-147-1 (.269) over the next 20 years. The CroBears' football misfortunes hit two different low points when they went 1-30-2 over four seasons (1970-1974), including a 0-28 streak, and a run of 23 straight losses from 1978-1981, including two winless seasons. The Bears managed only three more winning seasons and three additional playoff games before the 1990 season.
The Barousse Years
Everything changed in the 1990 season when Mac Barousse took over the CroBear program. Barousse matched the previous 24 year high with an 8-2 regular season record and a playoff game in his first year. Unlike before, the Bears kept winning. Before Barousse stepped down after the 2004 season to watch his son play quarterback for the Lafayette Lions, the CroBears experienced 15 straight winning seasons and 15 straight trips to the playoffs. This run included seven season with 10 wins or more, 24 playoff victories, a run to the semi-finals in 1997, to the SuperDome in 1996, and a 14-1 state championship season in 1992.
Continued Success
Carencro football continued the success of Barousse in the next 11 years with a 66-54 mark and five playoff seasons. In an unfortunate turn of events, disagreements with school administration in the 2009 season (the second year after Barousse returned to the head coach position) led to the resignation of Barousse and Kirk Crochet, both members of the LHSAA Coaches Hall of Fame. The program was temporarily thrown for a loop, but the hiring of Brent Indest turned things around, culminating in a 13-2 year that ended in the championship game in the SuperDome in 2011. The CroBear program was led for the last three years of the 1st 50 years by long-time Carencro assistant Rip Eveland.
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