News 25’s 25 Teams in 25 Days: St. Stanislaus Rock-a-Chaws

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (WXXV) — The St. Stanislaus football program obviously doesn’t have any players left on the roster from the 2014 and ’15 South State champion teams, but the Rock-a-Chaws do have a new head coach from the glory days, first-time HC Tim Lala.

“The things that you remember the most, for me, are one, just how special this place is, and the people,” said Lala. “Having been here before, I’ve got a couple little brothers of guys that I’ve coached before, little cousins of guys that I’ve coached before.”

“When I heard his name was on the thing, I was like, whoa, that would be kind of cool,” said St. Stanislaus senior offensive/defensive lineman Jacob Bradford. “He coached Jordan and he’ll coach me.”

“I was excited because he also coached my brother,” said St. Stanislaus senior middle linebacker/offensive lineman Spencer Cornell. “My brother was talking him up. He was saying how good of a coach he was. He liked him a lot, so I was just excited.”

Roots run deep at St. Stanislaus where Lala – who spent the last three years as an assistant at Pascagoula – returns to the place that it all started in 2014, as the defensive coordinator for a Rock-a-Chaws team that won the 4A South State championship, led by Mississippi’s all-time leading passer and former LSU quarterback Myles Brennan, who went back to state in 2015 as well.

“We’re getting a little bit further removed from that. Myles, 2016 was his last season here, and so really just getting back to those roots is something we’re really having to ingrain in them, and me just having a small part in that way back when, trying to get back to some of the culture things that we had going on back then, and really just learning how to win again,” said Lala.

The Rocks already took a big step in that direction last season with an overall mark of 7-5 and 3-1 in Region 8-3A.

After starting 1-3, everything changed in a home win over crosstown rival Bay High, returning the Crab Trap to the field house off Bookter Street for the ninth time in 10 years.

“I mean I feel like Bay High was a game that showed us we could actually win, cause we were down late in that game and our defense held up, and we realized, man, we can really do this,” said Cornell. “We’ve just got to buy in.”

“We started going at it and once we won the Crab Trap back, it really did put in our minds that we can beat anyone we want really, and that’s what we did,” said Bradford. “We just went on that winning streak.”

Five wins in a row for the Rocks, finally snapped in a five-point home loss to Jefferson Davis County in a winner-take-all match for the district title.

They responded with a 31-point home playoff win over Port Gibson, their first postseason victory since 2017.

The end of the road came in the second round by way of a nine-point road loss to eventual 3A state champion Raleigh.

“We all feel it,” said Cornell. “We know we could’ve wont that game.”

“Once we were up, we were like, dang, we just did that to Raleigh, who has beaten just about everyone, and so I think at halftime we started – we didn’t come out as fiery as we did the first quarter, because the first quarter we wanted to just beat the best team,” said Bradford.

“That’s the message is that you’re capable, right?,” said Lala. “Getting over that hump and teaching them how to come out of those games is a big part of what we’re trying to do.”

SSC certainly has the talent coming back to see the other side of the scoreboard in those pressure cooker moments, starting on offense where the Rocks feature a crop of mostly new weapons, upon the graduation of former News 25 Student-Athlete of the Week Chandler Chapman, who broke the school’s single-season rushing record as a senior.

Ethan Galloway returns as the leading receiver, alongside Levi Green, with other backfield touches looming for Henry Nunmaker and Isaiah Haynes.

And then a high-octane, game-breaker under center in the form of Ian Gael Gonzalez Rioz, hailing from Mexico City, Mexico.

“Dynamite,” said Lala. “Dynamite guy, dynamite energy, always has a smile on his face, works his tail off too. Again, sets the standard for the intensity for what we’re looking for in practice.”

“Whenever I’m blitzing at him and I get back there, it’s not always a sack just because you get back there,” said Cornell.

“I’ve tried to tackle him multiple times and I still can’t tackle him,” said Bradford. “I’ve got multiple shots at tackling him, and I just can’t tackle him. He’s like he’s playing Madden. He’s a little joystick.”

Cornell and Bradford, the latter being a 3-Star Louisiana Tech commit, return as the top two tacklers and sack artists from last year.

“During the game, he has my back,” said Bradford. “I have his back. For tackles, sometimes I’ll clog a hole so he’ll get a sack. He’ll clog a hole so I’ll get a sack.”

“The offensive line is so worried about him they know they can’t block him with one person, so I’m not getting two offensive lineman coming at me,” said Cornell. “They have to take two on him, so I get a clean read every time.”

Other key contributors on defense are Andrew Whitney and baseball standout Chesley Rhodes.

Finally, the Rocks feature another top recruit on special teams in 5-Star junior kicker Evan Noel, who already has offers from Ole Miss and Arkansas.

“He’s one of the best I’ve ever been around just like raw talent wise,” said Lala. “I mean in terms of leg talent, he’s got everything you could ask for.”

Overall, Stanislaus is returning about four starters on both sides of the ball and 14 seniors, who are all in on Coach Lala’s six core values – family, integrity, investment, excellence, passion and grit, serving as the Rocks’ recipe for what they hope is their first state championship run since 2009.

“Why those are the six is being here at a Catholic school, ultimately all those fall under the things that I believe God wants us to do, and so ultimately, we aim to glorify Him everyday at practice, the way we play the game,” said Lala.

“Every team thinks they’re going to be better than the last team, and that’s what we want, so we do think about,” said Bradford. “Oh, how’d Myles Brennan’s year do? Who’d they have? Why were they good? And we think why we’re good. We really see state in the future. We see it actually happening.”

The Rocks kick off the new season at home against Forrest County AHS on August 25, following Friday’s home jamboree against D’Iberville starting at 6 p.m. for varsity with JV to follow.