RIVER RIDGE, La. — The cupboard is far from bare at John Curtis in the months following the Patriots’ Division I select state championship, their 28th in program history.
This fall, John Curtis is expected to return a majority of starters and several weapons from their state title team. That includes wide receiver Michael Turner, maybe the top one-two punch in the Catholic League in running backs Marlon Prout and Jason Gabriel. Curtis also returns quarterback Dagan Bruno, who was named Most Outstanding Player in the Patriots’ state championship win over Brother Martin.
“All I know is just to compete. You know, some things aren’t always going to go your way, but the main thing you do is just give effort and give everything to your teammates and coaches. Everybody here puts in so much work, you just want to do it for them,” says John Curtis quarterback Dagan Bruno.
“He’s a highly competitive young man. Very bright, 4.0 student, and he studies the game. So, he has a real edge because of those two assets and we look for him to continue to improve,” says John Curtis head football coach J.T. Curtis.
Reporter: “How much of the success of this offense really is based on the quarterback position?”
“Tremendous amount. We put a lot of responsibility on him. Jeff (Curtis) calls the play, but we don’t know who is going to get the ball. He’s going to read the defense and we do that about 75 percent of the time. So, it’s very important that he has the discipline and the understanding of the offense in order to execute it effectively,” answered Curtis.
Last year John Curtis won a total of 12 games and only lost 2. The first to Division I non-select power Zachary and the second to Edna Karr for the Catholic League championship.
Today’s spring game marks the conclusion of the Patriots’ spring camp with head coach J.T. Curtis wanting his team to maintain that edge that returned the program to the state championship spotlight and one they’ll need for a successful title defense in 2023.
“It’s not automatic. Just because you have players back doesn’t mean you’re going to have or perform the same way you’ve played in the past. So, we press it hard in spring. I thought we’ve done a pretty good job to this point. We’ve got to continue through the summer to maintain that edge that will give us an opportunity to accomplish our goal,” says Curtis.
