VILLE PLATTE – After a year has gone by, and two coaches have gone through, the Trojans of Sacred Heart High School have set their sights on a new skipper to guide them back to the playoffs and hopefully to become a new power in Class 1A football.

Matthew Fontenot resigned last December after a 6-5 finish.

His replacement Roderick Williams handed in his resignation in July without coaching a game at Sacred Heart.

Doug Guillory was recently hired to be the head coach at Pine Priairie, but will instead roam the Sacred Heart sidelines this fall in his home town of Ville Platte.

“There are a lot of good things and good people here,” Guillory commented.

“The kids are so eager to learn and the coaching staff has gelled so well together. I am so excited to be here. The kids are making this so fun. They work hard, they want to learn.”

Guillory’s wealth of knowledge of the game is unsurpassed.

He has over 26 years of football experience behind him.

As a head coach he has called the shots 13 times, including a 2005 appearance in the state championship at Opelousas Catholic when the Vikings faced Evangel in Shreveport.

Guillory has guided teams to the playoffs numerous times and he expects to do the same at Sacred Heart.

“The coaches here have showed they can work together and that’s been right from the start,” Guillory stated.

“We are adding coach Stephen Manuel and Coach James Shiver to our staff.

This year Coach Robert Soileau says he wants to learn and get involved in football. That makes me excited.”

The Trojans scored points in 2011 and showed a lot of promise, but defensively they had a tendency to struggle here and there.

Guillory says his focus on defense and the love of the game will change things.

“I am not sure where players are going to play yet because it’s still early,” he remarked. “I can tell you this; I love defense. It’s my strong point and I stress it a lot. These kids are strong and fast and want to learn. I can work with that.”

Trojan fans can expect to see some little wrinkles on offense, but patience will be their best virtue. Guillory loves to change things up on offense in order to keep opponents off-balance and out-gunned.

“We will do it all on offense,” Guillory smirked. “There is not one certain set for us. We line up in different ways in order to make the opponent think we’re doing one thing, but then we do something else.”

The Trojans should be very competitive in 2012 with the likes of Nick Firmin, Drew David and Bevan Dupre returning to the team.

Sacred Heart will travel to Oberlin in the opening week of the season.