Private high school rules Louisiana football

The Associated Press

SHREVEPORT, La. -- The football stadium rises into the hot, north Louisiana sky, towering above Evangel Christian Academy.

Founded in 1989 to combine religion and academics, the little school has become a potent symbol of big-time high school football.

Evangel has had only two losing seasons -- the first two. Since then, the school has rarely lost and has won eight state championships. It was 13-1 last year, clinching the championship with a 35-4 victory over powerful West Monroe.

"It's awesome to play football here," said Jacob Hester, a senior running back, who has committed to Texas. "It's almost like being in college. We get bigger crowds than some colleges."

But the tight-knit community that centers around hard-line faith and high-powered football has taken a big hit. Quarterback coach John Booty, the father of three of the school's biggest football stars and its leading fund-raiser, was fired this spring.

The move split the church and may have crippled the football team as well. Many of the church members have left to follow Booty to his home-based ministry. One of the coach's sons, who was expected to be the starting quarterback for the Eagles this year, left the school. Booty's younger son, a possible future quarterback, will also leave, Booty said.

"A lot of people are hurt," said Nancy Hester, Jacob's mother. "I'm hopeful that with time, that will heal."

Football-crazy Evangel regularly packs its 7,000-seat stadium. The games are broadcast live. Players announce their college commitments during church services.

"We played them in 2001 in Independence Stadium, and there were 40,000 people there," said Don Shows, coach at West Monroe, a public school that, like Evangel, has strong fan support and a string of winning records.

There have always been whispers that Evangel recruits players, giving the best free rides; that it breaks rules or cheats to build its superb record.

"We investigated them seven or eight years ago," said Tommy Henry, head of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association. "Someone charged them with giving illegal financial aid to a player. The charges were totally unfounded. We found absolutely nothing wrong."

Since then, there's been griping, but no sign of wrongdoing, Henry said.

But the school also has an advantage that coaches at the state's public schools resent, Shows said.

"When you're a private school and the good players want to go there, it's an advantage," Shows said. "The public schools aren't on the same level. You let me pick all the best players within a 50- to 100-mile radius and people wouldn't want to play me either."

Strong feelings about Evangel are common throughout Louisiana.

"We're like the Dallas Cowboys or Notre Dame," said football coach Dennis Dunn. "You either love us, or you hate us."

Booty's firing remains a mystery, even to his friends. Parents say they have been given no explanation and no one is talking.

Evangel chancellor Denny Duron would only say the firing was a "ministry matter."

"If that's what Denny says, that's fine with me," said Booty, a quiet man with a quick smile.

Booty has had three sons star at Evangel -- Josh, now a quarterback with the Cleveland Browns; Aaron, a wide receiver who went on to LSU; and John David, who is going to Southern California this fall.

Booty started a ministry of his own, with members gathering in their homes rather than in a church. His Web site had 14,000 hits the first day, he said.

There has been speculation that Booty's growing membership led to his firing.

"I'm not going to say that," Booty said. "My ministry has grown. You can make what you will of that."

After he was fired, Booty left the First Assembly of God. Many of those who now worship with Booty once attended First Assembly of God.

Booty was the acting head coach and led the Eagles to the 2001 state title when Dunn stepped down following allegations that he had sex with an underage student. When charges were dropped for lack of evidence and Dunn returned, Booty went back to his old job. He said the transition was smooth.

Booty was also the school's leading fund-raiser, having just headed up a drive that raised $1.7 million.

"We were at the point of having to close," Booty said. "We needed that money, we raised it, and it's coming in now."

For many, the biggest fallout from Booty's firing was the loss of his son, John David -- a heavily recruited quarterback. John David Booty decided to skip another year at Evangel, pick up his final high school credit this summer and go to Southern Cal.

"We have a really good team," Dunn said. "We might have been the No. 1 high school in the country if John David hadn't left. Now, I don't know."

Even without Booty, the school expects success. It has 28 seniors, and most have been Evangel students since elementary school and are well-versed in the system.

"Some people say this will be the finest high school football team ever put on the field," said Bowers, whose sons Chris and Chase are on the team.

Evangel has 600 students counting kindergarten and elementary grades; 85 of them are football players.

"I wanted a Christian education for my son," said Tommy Nard, whose son, Tommy Jr., is a football player. "And he has the talent to play football, so this is perfect for him."

Nard said he struggles to pay the $4,500 tuition but hopes it will pay off in a college scholarship.

"If you're a good player at Evangel, people hear about you," he said.

Even Shows acknowledged that there's a definite advantage for Evangel players when it comes to college.

"They do a great job and have a great program," Shows said. "Who's to say if I had a son that had a chance at a college scholarship that I wouldn't want him to go there?"

The school is so good because the students start learning the Evangel system in elementary school, Bowers said.

"The fathers learn it and teach it to the kids," Bowers said. "They come up knowing how to play the way Evangel plays."

Conditioning is also a big factor, Dunn said.

At the "Lift-a-thon," a fund-raiser in which people pledge money for each pound a player lifts, Brandon Lee, a 145-pound eighth-grader, lifted 205 pounds.

"I've been working out six days a week since I was 11," Lee said. "I run and lift weights. I want to play varsity when the time comes."

Evangel will play high school teams in California, Florida, Missouri, Alabama and Texas this year. The national schedule is partly for prestige, but mainly because schools in Louisiana don't want to play the Eagles.

By mid-June, Evangel had scheduled nine of the 10 games it hopes to play, and only four were in Louisiana.

West Monroe, which has won five state championships and has been runner-up three times since 1993, refused to schedule Evangel this year.

"I figure I'll have to play them in the playoffs, and it's hard enough to beat them once, let alone twice," said Shows, whose team has lost to Evangel three times in the championship game.

The state high school athletic association has passed a rule that targets Evangel and John Curtis, another religious school with a history of success.

Evangel, which has an enrollment that puts it in Class 2A, plays bigger schools and has won three of the past four state football championships in the top 5A division.

Under the new rules, Evangel must either increase enrollment or drop down in class. The rule takes effect in the 2005-06 school year.

"I'm not worried," Dunn said. "We've had success in football, but Evangel is not about football.

"We never set out to build a football empire. Our mission is to give a Christ-centered education to children. Playing football is just a part of what our students do."