Team-First Attitude

In an age, and a sport, where stars are encouraged to seek the spotlight, the Abbeville High Wildcats are doing things their own way.
The Wildcats are off to a 6-2 record on the season and are one of two remaining unbeaten teams in District 5-3A with a 2-0 league mark.
The secret to their success? Putting the team above individual accolades.
The Wildcats have five ballcarriers with more than 140 yards, and their leading rusher has just over 600 yards on the season. Halfbacks Edmar Simon III, Justin Montgomery and Ta’Zavian Andrews are of similar size and build, each bringing their own skill set to the game. Quarterback De’Zavien Maze and bruising fullback Zaylun Williams have had only 41 carries between them, but each contributes when called upon.
And it doesn’t matter to any of them who is getting the ball on a particular play, or who has the most carries or yards in a game.
“It speaks to the pillars and the things we stake this program on, and the number one thing is unselfishness,” head coach Roderick Moy said. “Any of these guys, any of these four backs, if I stood them back there and gave them the ball 30 times, could be, and could possibly put up Blake Saddler numbers, for lack of a better term, but they know they’re needed elsewhere.
“Those guys help us a good deal on special teams. Trey is our starting cornerback. Zaylun is on the defensive line for us and handles all our kicking responsibilities. We split that up so we can be the best team we can possibly be, and to those guys’ credit, they handle it very unselfishly. In any other program they could probably go back there and dot the I and carry the ball 25 times and get all the accolades they want.”
Saddler set an Abbeville High team record in 2021, rushing for 2,127 yards and more than 20 TDs in helping the Wildcats reach the quarterfinals.
Abbeville’s top five rushers could approach that total this season. The five have combined for more than 1,700 yards and 20 touchdowns through eight games.
“Coach Moy makes sure we’re all on the same page, and we’ve all got our minds on the team, the team, the team,” Andrews said. “Everything is about the team. When people start branching off and doing their own thing, that’s when we start making mistakes and we start breaking up. We’ve seen it for ourselves, every time we stay together and we play as a whole, as a team, we win and we succeed. So we just try to stay on that path. We know we’re brothers, and nothing can break a brotherhood if we just stay together.”
“We’re very unselfish,” Williams said. “It doesn’t matter how many carries each one of us has, we’re just going to root each other on.”
Simon, a junior, leads the Wildcats with 601 yards and nine touchdowns on 62 carries. Montgomery, a sophomore, has 76 rushes for 528 yards and four TDs. Andrews, a senior, has carried 41 times for 252 yards and a TD. Williams, a senior who helps anchor the defensive line, has rushed for 178 yards and four touchdowns on 22 runs. And Maze, a sophomore, has 19 carries for 144 yards and a touchdown, while throwing for 181 yards and two touchdowns.
All without a peep about getting more carries.
“It speaks to the people they are,” Moy said. “We don’t have any complaints. They want to do the best they can. Without a true fullback, because Zaylun is very limited with the time he can give us, those guys go back there at a hundred fifty pounds and block for each other. That’s the thing that I really appreciate the most, not only are they unselfish and don’t complain about their carries, they go help each other. One time we’re going this way and I’ve got to lead for you, and vice versa.
“They’re all doing it as a team, and they’re happy to see each other succeed, which speaks to the type of people they are. That’s what speaks to me the most.”
Montgomery said it’s a matter of knowing that each one of the backs has similar talent and they carry the same energy.
“We all have enough talent to share the ball, so we don’t get jealous or anything,” he said.
The runners all get excited when a teammate is having success, he said.
“It’s like we’re taking turns,” Montgomery said.
“Just being able to share the ball with the other guys is very amazing,” Williams said. “We’re really unselfish. It really doesn’t matter how many yards the other guy’s got, because we know what we can do to help the team out.”
Maze said he’s happy to see the team succeeding after losing a lot of talented players from last year’s team, which returned to the playoffs for the second straight year. Abbeville, which plays at St. Martinville (2-6 overall, 1-2 district) on Friday in a district game, is No. 15 in the latest LHSAA Division II non-select power rankings and could earn a home playoff game by moving up just a hair in the next two weeks. The top 14 teams play at home in the first round of the non-select playoffs, which feature 28 teams per division.
“The seniors are doing pretty well, and it’s good to have a bunch of people that we can depend on to carry the ball, and be able to run the rock, instead of just depending on one person,” Maze said, adding he’s bolstered by the team’s support in only his second year playing quarterback. “It’s nice for them to be able to trust me.”
Simon said that having players with different talents gives the Wildcats options each game.
“We have a lot of guys that can do a lot of different things,” he said. “We all have different talents. Knowing that this guy can come in and do the same thing that this guy can do, nobody really has a problem with sharing the ball.”
It’s all about doing things for the team, Simon added.
“It’s just about being patient and not being selfish, doing it for the team and wanting to win games,” he said. “We all have one goal. First it’s district, and then every team wants to win the state championship.”
St. Martinville has a lot of talent, though the record doesn’t show it, he said. Kaplan beat the Tigers last week by running the ball, carrying 63 times for 380 yards. Abbeville took notice of that.
“As you can see with what Kaplan did, they ran the ball and kept the (St. Martinville) offense off the field,” Simon said. “I feel like if we can do the same thing, we can get the win.”
“Just keeping them on the sidelines offensively” is the key, Williams agreed.
And it starts up front for the Wildcats, Simon noted.
“Those guys are amazing,” he said. “Just like Coach Moy says, any time we need something we can always count on our offensive line to get it for us.”
“It makes a huge difference (having the offensive line playing well), because all they’ve got to do is make a small gap for any one of us, and we’re gone,” Williams said.
Andrews said having a bevy of backs who can carry the ball helps keep everyone fresh and makes the run game potent throughout the game.
“At times you’ll be in the game for 10 minutes straight or something like that, and you need a breather, and if you don’t have anybody else that can run the ball like you or as good as you, then you’re not really going to get out of the game,” he said. “But we’ve got so many guys that have speed and power, anybody can play anywhere, and that’s the versatility of this team.”
Staying disciplined and not turning the ball over will be the keys to winning on Friday, Andrews said.
“We need to keep our heads up and go in there with a focused mind, and just go in there and play focused,” Montgomery said.