25 Teams in 25 Days: St. Martin Yellow Jackets
The St. Martin Yellow Jackets are coming off their first winning season since 2019, finishing 7-4 under first-year head coach Woody Cagnolatti. Unfortunately, those improvements weren’t enough to reach the playoffs, but this group of seniors is known for not backing down from a fight. After going 0-10 their freshman year, they’ve experienced the turnaround firsthand — and now they’re looking to take the next step.
“I’m looking forward to getting some wins and playing as a family. We just need to progressively get better from last season. From the past couple of seasons, we’ve gotten better overall, but now it’s time to step up and get to the playoffs,” said Charles Summers.
“I would really love to make the playoffs. It’s not something I’ve gotten to do for football, so that’s one thing I’d really like to do,” said Daxon Hill.
“We have a good process here, and the kids are buying into the process. That’s one of the big things that we’ve seen over the years — them buying into the process of doing things the right way and holding themselves accountable. We’ve got a great coaching staff and a great group of senior leaders, and I’m just a glorified defensive line coach with the ability to call timeouts on Friday nights. We have a player-led team, which is really, really good, and hopefully they can build on that and we’ll have some success this year,” said Head Coach Woody Cagnolatti.
The Yellow Jackets will be a veteran-heavy team this year, returning 10 guys with playing experience on offense and six to seven guys on defense. Coach Cagnolatti describes the bright spots he sees in his lineup, headlined by the guys up front.
“We’ve got a veteran group in a sense that they have a lot of game reps, and that helps with leadership. Experience always helps. They know what it’s like to be in the fire and what it’s like to be in the fight, and they’ve experienced both the ups and the downs. We’re really excited about where our offensive line is. These guys have all played together last year in some fashion, whether we had an injury and somebody had to step up — next-man-up kind of deal — but all five guys up front, including our tight end, have all played together. And that’s huge up front because those guys have to do more communicating than anybody else on the field.
“Defensively, we have some experience coming back in terms of Aaden Jackson. He’s a returning two-year starter at linebacker. We’re also trying to move some guys around and shuffle some guys around to recreate a good defensive line and a good front for us. Seth Crockett is a returning player for us, and he had a really good year last year offensively. He rushed and passed for 1,000 yards apiece and had a lot of touchdowns. He’ll be the first one to tell you he couldn’t do it without his teammates. We love the things he has done, and we’re going to move him around and do some really special things with him this year. He’ll play some defense for us. Dawsen Sullivan is a kid that’s going to come in and play some quarterback for us this year. We love his development, which allows us to do some more things with Crockett, and it’ll be more gelled together,” said Cagnolatti.
“My coaches are just putting me in the right position, and I’m taking in everything he teaches me, so I just want to do the best I can at everything he wants me to do,” said Seth Crockett.
And no matter the position group or number on their jerseys, the Yellow Jackets are committed to playing as one.
“We’re very aggressive, and we like to play as a team. We like to use teamwork. We’re just all fired up, and it’s a brotherhood. We love to go out, compete and win games,” said Seth Crockett.
“I’d say family. We’re one big family here. Everybody gets along, and nobody is enemies with each other,” said Hill.
“We’ve been more locked in as a brotherhood, and we’ve become more of a family and are playing together. We have more intent on being more aggressive and using more power toward what we’re doing instead of just playing,” said Summers.
Now the work is done, and it’s time to see what all that preparation can produce.
“We’re hungry. We don’t get the respect we need, and I feel like we’re going to show people why we need more respect,” said Summers.
“We’ve come a long way together with this senior class, and we’re really excited for these guys to get out there and compete and show what they can do. It’s been a really good offseason, and I know the kids are chomping at the bit to do that, so I’m just really excited for them to get out there and compete,” said Cagnolatti.
St. Martin will kick off the 2026 season this Friday night, August 28, as they welcome Vancleave High School to Joe Barlow Stadium.
