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Wolves Football 2025
A conversation with new head coach Chris Powell.
LORANGER, LA—With the departure of longtime Coach Sam Messina from Loranger High to return to his alma mater to be the head football coach at Independence High, offensive coordinator Chris Powell has been elevated to head coach of the Wolves. Powell comes well prepared having taken the long road to becoming the head man. He worked seven years under Messina before being tapped for the head job. Powell is from San Antonio, Texas where he played football, basketball, baseball, and tossed the shot put and discus for the track team.
“My dad was a head coach and athletic director and my mom was a tennis and track coach and assistant basketball coach so I come from education and coaching backgrounds,” explained Powell. “My dad coached at Saint Stanislaus and then to Bay High in Texas and eventually was the principal before he retired. I am an only child so I spent a lot of time with my dad and his coaching friends in the locker room and field house around when they were drawing up plays, and I was always interested in it.”
Powell attended Kansas Wesleyan University for two years and then transferred to Southeastern University when Coach Hal Mummy was hired to restart the football program. He later worked as an offensive line coach and a defensive coach under John White at Saint Thomas Aquinas in Hammond before stepping away from coaching for three years
“I stepped away from football for three years and was selling cars but I realized how much I missed the game,” said Powell. “I was still watching film and would go to Friday night football games in the area. When the opportunity came to coach at Loranger, I was not expecting to start off as a coordinator but the person hired to do so ended up taking a job at another school so Coach Messina took a chance on me.”
“Being from Texas, I always say that Loranger adopted me,” continued Powell. “I love the community. It gives me that same feeling you hear about Texas prep football—where a small town will shut down on Friday nights to watch high school football. There is always great support here.
Loranger plays in one of the tougher 4A Districts finishing 2-2 and 5-5 overall last season. League foes Lakeshore and Franklinton when deep in the playoffs with Lakeshore reaching the quarterfinals and Franklinton winning state runner-up honors. It was not any easier in pre-district with non-district opponents Sumner, Kentwood and Welsh all reaching the quarterfinals.
“This year’s group reminds me a lot of the 2019 team,” said Powell. The reason I say that is there are a few amazing athletes in a few spots that can change the game. But pound per pound at every position each one does their job, is playing for the person next to them, and working out as hard as possible. They are accounting for every little detail that goes into the game. They are not just worried about where is the ball going and to who. They are truly trying to build a team.”
“Moving up to 4A play in recent years gave us a big hiccup to where it shocked the system,” continued Powell. “Teams at the 3A level had a lot of guys playing both ways like us so when you get to the fourth quarter it is pretty even. Whereas you go to 4A you play a lot of teams in our case the Lakeshores, the Franklintons that have guys going one way and they are good at what they do and they are not having to play dual roles as much. And, the coaches in our league are very good so you are facing great players that are coached well.”
Loranger had two score leads on Sumner and Kentwood last season but could not finish coming up short in both contests. “I feel like this program is close to getting over the hump,” said Powell. “We are going to put a front seven out there that pound per pound are as strong as anyone we will go against. We will have more speed and experience as a group and more discipline.”
Powell expects his charges to not have to play the ironman role this season having more depth. “For us this season right now I do not see any of our players that will have to go both ways all the time,” he said. “Of course you are going to have some situations where you are going to put an offensive lineman on defense perhaps to help stop a key goal-line play, but for a whole game I do not see anyone having to do that.”
“When we had Sumner and Kentwood against the ropes early last year we mistake after mistake that got us in a hole and we could not get out,” said Powell. “I feel like this team has worked extremely hard at holding each other more accountable during practices, weightlifting, and conditioning.”
While comments about team building can be cliché and just coach speak, Powell explains that team building is really about servant-hood. “We have a few guys on our team that may have an opportunity to play at the next level, but what is great is that these really talented guys are willing to step up and do whatever the team needs in any given situation,” continued Powell. “Whether it is seniors making sure the freshman have Gatorade or sweeping the locker room floor, or making sure a teammate has a ride to or from practice, egos are set aside and guys at every level serve each other. We have leaders that never skip a workout or cut it short. Accountability and serving at every level is key.”
Loranger has enjoyed success on offense over the past several seasons, but getting off the field on defense has been a challenge at times. “Our defense over the past few years has been a mixture of picking your poison,” said Powell. “A lot of our better athletes coming in were in the younger group. For example, you have a young guy that is fast and athletic in the secondary but not as knowledgeable about the position so it may be better to go with an older more physically developed upperclassman who understands the defense but who is not as athletic. The younger and the older player both offer advantages and disadvantages.”
“Going back and looking at last year’s films one of the things that really hurt was after forcing a third and long and then giving up the big play on third down and allowing the offense to extend their drive,” continued Powell. “We did not wrap up on a tackle or make the right read as far as a defensive back and letting someone be wide open to get a first down. Linebacker-wise we had strength to stop the run but we were so downhill on the one play when the counter play came there was nobody home to take away that counter.”
With experience and more physical development Powell expects his defensive front and his line backing corps to be much improved and has already seen results in the seven-on-seven drills in defending the passing game. “This year we have worked with our linebacker to get them really good at cover three, and we saw the improvement even in seven-on-seven this summer,” he explained. “We played some teams like Dunham and Central that throw the ball a lot and are offensive juggernauts and this helped our linebackers know exactly where to drop to and our cornerbacks are not giving up huge plays. We are keeping receivers in front of us and not letting guys just run down the field.”
“I will add,” said Powell. “While we are focused on ourselves getting better, it must be said that all the teams in our district had some struggles on defense. It is really a result of the offensive talent being so good. You did not have those single-digit wins. Teams were combining together to score fifty and sixty points or more sometimes.”
On offense the Wolves will bring a dynamic ground game with the likes of Rylan James and a solid line but Powell is not limiting his offense to the run. “With the graduation of Colton Morris, a four-year starter for us at quarterback, we are still going to be about 90% of what we were last year,” he explained. “(Cooper) Flanagan is ready to step in at quarterback for us and he brings a lot of experience having played receiver and worked on defense. He understands both running routes and what defenders are trying to do. If Morris is not here last year Cooper could have easily been our starting QB. With the run game behind him he is going to be able to manage the game and take some chances and put the ball where it needs to get to. We have a good opportunity to be an even more open offense than we have been the last couple of years.”
Powell also explained that when defenses try to stop the running game it can actually put more pressure on the pass. “Teams would put eight and nine in the box to stop the run and they were of course sending one or two more guys that you cannot block, and if you do not have solid receiver with speed and good route running ability your quarterback is quickly under pressure trying to pass,” he added.”
On his relationship with his senior signal caller Powell added, “Even before Flanagan became our full-time quarterback he already had a great mind and vision for the game. When he communicated with me as a coordinator he would have solid input. He is the youngest of four brothers and has a great feel for the game. There are things that come natural to him that you would have to coach into most everyone else. His stepping into quarterback role has never been about him not being able to do the job it is just that we had another great player in Morris.”
“Certainly the guys that came before have laid a foundation for our offense, and I feel like we can be more explosive. It is not that we will score fifty points a game it just means that we do not have to be grind and pound every play and can get some quick shots down the field.”
Special teams will take on a bigger emphasis this season and Loranger will have options that many teams often do not have. They have two quality kickers with one being the quarterback so executing a fake or having a choice of angles on field goals with having both left and a right footer kicker, and they are both seniors. “My goal is to use special teams as a weapon on both defense and offense,” said Powell. “We are fortunate to have two kickers with stronger legs and experience with one of them being our quarterback.”
Along with talent that works hard, Powell sees this year’s team as having strong leadership and it coming from a group that fans might not always think of first. While Powell sees some leaders emerging from every grade level, he is excited about his senior linemen that have taken on a key role. The football expression that “it all starts up front” is true for the 2025 Wolves.
“When a lot of your leaders that are linemen it is a group that is more about the work than just talking about it,” said Powell. “They are in the grind all the time doing the dirty work. They are already into going to work and not getting all the credit or none at all. So when senior linemen are your leaders like (Pete) Trapen, (Asher) Hatfield, and (Braedyn) Stevens for example it makes it easier for the coaches because the leaders are not expected to get all the limelight all the time and the leaders know it is about the team and not them individually. It shows the younger guys a great example of how we do this.”
Powell added “When I played back in the day in Texas the rules were different and coaches were not allowed to be around the players in the summer so a playbook and schedule was handed out and it was up to the players to do their assigned weight work and drills without a coach around. So a team could go only as far as the leadership on a team would take the group because there was no coach around to blow a whistle and conduct the workouts. It really did force seniors to step up and lead.”
Time will tell if this year’s Loranger Wolves can improve over last season’s record and make more noise in league competition; but like Coach Powell who took the long road to become the head man, this year’s Wolves have been on their own journey growing up and doing the work to try reach their goals.
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