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This article first appeared in Louisiana Football Magazine. VC quarterback Drew Lege was featured on the cover of the magazine.

by Jace LeJeune

After the 2018 season, J.T. Lege was coming off one of the best football careers at Vermilion Catholic High School. J.T. was so good that he inspired his younger brother Drew Lege to immediately follow his footsteps at the quarterback position, although he got his start in fifth grade at Mount Carmel.
“My brother has always been a big influence in my life,” Drew Lege said. “He did an awesome job helping me learn the game and is the main reason I am at where I am today.”
It did not take long for Eagles fans to move on from J.T. as Drew immediately was an impact player for the Eagles. Over the last three seasons, Drew has risen to the occasion, becoming one of the best quarterbacks in the Lafayette area.
“Right now, I’m happy with how our team has performed the past few years,” Lege said. “Although, we, of course, wanted to make it a little further, we still had some great years. Personally, though, I’m just about 3,600 yards from passing for 10,000 career yards, which I hope to maybe close in on this year.”
The fourth-year veteran Vermilion Catholic quarterback will have his chance to put a dent into 10,000 yards, especially with the addition of former St. Thomas More High School assistant coach Broc Prejean, who helped the Cougars become one of the most efficient and explosive passing attacks in the country.
“Coach Prejean comes from a winning program from St. Thomas More, who runs a similar offense to ours, so he is just adding on to our arsenal that will help us out this year,” Lege said. “He is an awesome man who has made a connection with all of our players since day one.”
Not only Coach Prejean is coming in with the right offensive philosophy, but he also has the best quarterback to run his offense at the high school level. Because of that, there has not been much of a learning curve in practice even during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Luckily, as a quarterback, nothing much has changed for me,” Lege said. “I don’t have any contact usually at practice, and Coach Broc started to let me wear my shoulder pads to get used to throwing with them on again.”
According to Lege, the work ethic both the coaches and players have shown deserving of playing out a high school football season for the state of Louisiana.
“I really think some of these college guys are saying it best,” Lege said. “The game of football is something that we players care about so much, and I can’t imagine losing it, especially for my senior year. It has been an escape from reality for some people and has kept others out of trouble. I believe there will be no positives that come out of taking the game out of our lives. It will only affect us, players, in the wrong ways, which is something that none of us want to happen.”
What the 6-2, 200-pound quarterback wants to happen is having more positive results from the recruiting process right now, which is another reason he wants another chance to show what he can do his senior season.
“Recruiting hasn’t been easy for me recently because of the virus, and I haven’t been receiving much attention,” Lege said. “It’s hard not being able to go to different camps and show what I have to offer. I think personally, though, I am a coachable player who loves the game and is eager to learn even more about it.”
As of right now, the All-District and All-State quarterback has one college that has pulled the trigger and has offered him, which is the Yale Bulldogs.
“There’s a special connection for me to the school and Coach Lett, who was my recruiter since it was my first offer and was such a surreal moment for me,” Lege said.
Louisiana Football Magazine’s Lee Brecheen believes in Lege as much as anyone else by selecting him to be one of 20 players represented on the South Louisiana Football Magazine edition cover.
“It’s an honor to be chosen to be put on the cover,” Lege said. “I know it’s not easy getting on there, so I’m happy to be apart of it.”
To prove his worth of being on the cover and being one of the best quarterbacks in the state of Louisiana, the younger Lege is hoping that experience will guide him to having his best season ever.
“This now being my technically fourth year of players, I feel like I just understand the game so much more,” Lege said. “Understanding defenses has also helped me know where I should or want to go with the ball on almost every play before the ball is even snapped.”

America has been for many years the beacon of freedom and hope for the world, and there are three key reasons for this exceptionalism: The Constitution, Capitalism and Religion. Our Constitution is the supreme law of the land and was designed to protect the moral foundation that all men are created equal with unalienable Rights from God, and its unique separation of powers allowing its citizens the Right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is like no other in the world. Capitalism, a political economic system based on private property rights and free markets, has created more widespread wealth than the world has ever seen before—and like magnets, draws hordes of immigrants and refugees hoping for a better life. The glue that holds everything together, however, is the third pillar--God and religious freedom. History has shown us that both our Constitution and Capitalism are designed only for a moral and religious people; absent specific ethical and religious values in the hearts and minds of the people, neither the Constitution nor Capitalism can function properly. This is a critical sentence; read it twice!
History has also shown us that no political economic system last forever. The nineteenth century was one of the bloodiest centuries in history, and the world had seen first the fall of national socialism during the wars between 1914 to 1945, and then the fall of communist socialism in 1989. Eastern Europe and the Third World was grasping for a new political economic system to adopt, when Pope John Paul II issued his encyclical Centesimus Annus in 1991 which professed the benefits of “Capitalism rightly understood.” The Pope had come to understand the American meaning of liberty as an “ordered liberty,” and favored Capitalism because it “was a structure based on a free political system, a free economy, and a culture of liberty—which recognizes the fundamental role of business, the market, private property and free human creativity.” He had concluded that capitalist virtues and institutions, whatever their faults, are the best available protection for democracy.
The American political economic system is now almost 250 years old now—and if history is any indication, its life span should be coming to an end. However, one should never count America down and out. In general, our citizens are a moral and religious people—and now we need to make sure our children grow up to be a moral and religious people. Putting God back in our schools would be a good place to start.

Steve Gardes is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA) with over 40 years of public accounting experience.

DELCAMBRE – A Mass of Christian Burial will be conducted for Tina Segura Saunier, age 56, at 3:00 pm Wednesday, September 30, 2020 at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church with Fr. Buddy Breaux officiating. Interment will take place privately at a later date.
Visitation will be held from 9:00 am Wednesday until 2:30 pm at the funeral home. A rosary will be recited at 11:00 am Wednesday.
A native and resident of Delcambre, Tina passed away at 11:05 pm on Friday, September 25, 2020 at her residence.
Tina enjoyed spending time outdoors; fishing, camping, gardening and trips to the beach. She loved being surrounded by her family and her grandchildren.
She is survived by her husband, Karl Douglas Saunier of Delcambre; two daughters, Destiny Saunier of Delcambre and Nichole Stott and Keith of Erath; four grandchildren, Brooklyn Romero; Kyler Saunier; Jolie Saunier and Riley Stott; her father, Loua Segura of Delcambre; one brother, Jarett Saunier of Delcambre and three sisters, Christine Segura and Mike Broussard of Delcambre; Charlotte Segura and Elliott Bales of Abbeville and Sherry Romero of Erath and one brother in law, Tony Hardy of Abbeville.
She was preceded in death by her mother, Margaret Weekly Segura and one sister, Trudy Hardy.
Pallbearers will be Tony Hardy, Brian Saunier, Elliott Bales, Clint Sonnier, Kyle Bourque and Dallas Broussard.
To view the on-line obituary, video tribute, and sign the guest register, please visit www.evangelinefuneralhome.com.
Evangeline Funeral Home of Delcambre is in charge of arrangements.

NEW IBERIA — A funeral mass was held on Friday, September 25, 2020, at 10 AM at St Peter’s Catholic Church in New Iberia for Dr. Gerald James Elias, Jr., age 61, who died unexpectedly in the early hours of Sunday, September 20, 2020, at Abrom Kaplan Memorial Hospital.
The family requested that visitation be observed at Pellerin Funeral Home from 2:30 PM to 8 PM on Thursday, with a rosary scheduled for 6:30; and from 8 AM to 9 AM on Friday. Interment followed at Holy Family Mausoleum in New Iberia.
Reverend Bryce Sibley, Pastor of Our Lady of Wisdom in Lafayette, was the celebrant of the funeral mass.
Survivors include his son, Andrew E. Elias (of New Iberia), his daughter, Rebecca C. Elias (of Baton Rouge), his former wife, Janet Schexnayder (of Slidell); his mother, Janice Barras Elias, and six sisters: Karen E. Doll and her husband Bob (of Searcy, AR), Harriet E. Hoag and her husband Monty, Charlotte E. Spicer (of Lake Charles), Frances E. Fenstermaker and her husband Mark (of Lafayette), Edith E. Thornton and her husband Lyman (of Baton Rouge), and Michelle E. Van Duzee and her husband Tony (of Baton Rouge).
He was preceded in death by his father, Dr. Gerald J. Elias, Sr.
Born in New Orleans on September 3, 1959, Dr. Elias was a resident of New Iberia for most of his life. He will be remembered by his many patients and friends for his personalized, professional care and for his response, often in the form of house calls, at all hours of the day and night. Gerald graduated from Catholic High School of New Iberia in 1977. He received a B.S. from Louisiana State University in 1983, and he received his M.D. from LSU Medical School in New Orleans in 1990. He completed his Family Practice Residency at University Medical Center in 1993 and immediately assumed the practice of his father, who had passed away in February of that year. He served as Deputy Coroner in Iberia Parish since the mid-1990s. In 2006 he co-authored the book “Common Sense Medicine” alongside Donald A. Pavy and Craig Frederick. On weekends for the past several years, he was the Emergency Room Physician at Abrom Kaplan Memorial Hospital, where he was on-call at the moment of his passing.
Gerald was called “Bird” by his friends and “Zookie” by his family. He fondly remembered his time playing high school football and competing in the high jump. In the mid-90’s, he played drums in Backstreet, a cover band that once performed at the Krewe of Iberians Mardi Gras ball. He coached baseball at Evangeline Little League, coached pee-wee and middle-school football at CHS, and founded the CHS chess club (c.2002-2004); in all of these he strongly emphasized character development and etiquette/sportsmanship. He was an ardent supporter of the CHS Alumni Association and Panther Club; and of the Iberia Performing Arts League, which still uses the front-of-house speakers he donated. He was known to often wear a Martin Guitars t-shirt, and he was never far from an ice chest of cold Coca-Colas.
Pallbearers will be Andrew Elias, Robert “Bob” Doll, Elmer “Monty” Hoag, Mark Fenstermaker, Lyman Thornton III, Anthony “Tony” Van Duzee, Kerry Broussard, Michael Caffery Sr., and Dr. Kent Miller.
Honorary pallbearers will be: his godsons Scott Elias and Austinn Miller; Dr. Kyle Acosta; Kahlil Ackal; Ricky Barras, Dicky Barras, Matt Molbert, and the rest of the CHS Class of 1977; and all surviving members of Backstreet, including Jeff Landry.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to be made in his name to Team Gleason, either at www.teamgleason.org or to “Team Gleason, P.O. Box 24493, NOLA 70184”.
To view on-line obituary, sign guest book, and view video tribute, please go to www.pellerinfuneralhome.com
Pellerin Funeral Home, 502 Jefferson Terrace, New Iberia, LA 70560, 337.365.3331, is in charge of the arrangements.