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Ascension Episcopal quarterback Jake Vascocu throws a pass in the second quarter as the Gators take on Central Catholic on Friday night 11/4/16. JOHN ROWLAND/FOR THE ADVERTISER (Photo: John Rowland)

When asked about the Ascension Episcopal Blue Gator's run to the Division IV state title game, coach Matt Desormeaux has a pretty blunt answer.

"Whatever we did last summer wasn't enough," Desormeaux said.

"We're trying to work harder and get better. We are not satisfied," he continued.

It is that drive for greatness that has propelled Ascension Episcopal to higher and higher plateaus in recent seasons as Desormeaux and his brother, Mike who now coaches with the Ragin' Cajuns, have been in charge of the program.

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And despite moving up a classification to Class 2A and facing some tough district competition in Catholic-NI and Loreauville, Desormeaux still wants to reach higher.

The Blue Gators did lose some big-time playmakers on the offensive side of the ball in 6-foot-5 receiver Ronald LeBlanc and supreme athlete Zach Ronquillo, but Desormeaux was confident the offense wouldn't suffer too much.

"We're losing a little bit of that big-play capability with those guys on the edge," Desormeaux said. "But I think the running game has a chance to be just as good as last year, if not better.

"We only lost one lineman and we have a pretty good idea of what we're going to be doing to replace him."

Running behind that line will be Leo Franques, who is one of the top running backs returning in the area in terms of yardage from last season.

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Senior quarterback Jake Vascocu stepped in and performed well for the departed Jake Arceneaux last season, but will have to make better decisions with the ball this year with LeBlanc and Ronquillo gone, Desormeaux said.

"He had a high completion rating, but those guys bailed him out some," Desormeaux said. "He made some bad decisions at times... He knows going into this season we have some pretty good receivers but he knows he'll have to make some better decisions."

Receiver Seth Kerstetter and tight end Jack Leoni, who will also play a big role in the running game with his blocking and along the defensive line, will be Vascocu's two top returning targets.

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Because of the baseball team's run to the Division IV state title, the Blue Gators elected to not participate in spring practice something a lot of smaller schools do because of multi-sport athletes and they will get extra days in the fall before the season.

Desormeaux said the biggest drawback to not having spring practice was the lack of pad work, but the Blue Gators would go through their typical summer schedule now.

"Our guys will be pretty crisp once they get to the fall camp and should know pretty much the whole playbook by then," Desormeaux said. "We just need to sharpen up on the mental aspect of the game and that way in the fall, we can sharpen up on the physical aspect."

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Ascension Episcopal not satisfied by last season's success - The Daily Advertiser