Traditions

The Ouachita Christian football program is recognized as one of the top programs in the state of Louisiana. However, it did have to experience some growing pains before it reached the platform on which it stands today.

In starting a football program, OCS fielded a junior varsity team for two seasons with Wayne Spruell heading up the first season before Marlin Anderson took over the reins the second year. The teams played area schools while playing all of their games on the road and conducting their practices at Forsythe Park. 1977 was the inaugural year for competing in the varsity ranks; Under Anderson, the team finished the season with three wins and seven loses.

1978 brought a wave of changes as Larry Richmond took over the Eagle football program; he would lead the Eagles to an 8 and 12 record over the net two seasons. It was teh fourth game of his first season that OCS finally played a home game.

The next six years brought a unique situation as OCS had head co-head coaches. Adrian Hickman would coordinate the defense while Ronnie Huckeba would call the offensive signals. It was during these years that the Eagles climbed the ladder of success. After winning only 14 and losing 16 games in the first three seasons, the Eagles would go on to win 31 of their next 36 games over the final tenure of these coaches.

In 1983, led by a group of sophomores, OCS made its first playoff appearance and would fall victim to Logansport 34-20 in the first round. Two years later, this same group of guys would lead OCS to its only undefeated season in school history, outscoring its opponents by an average of thirty points a game, and claiming its first state championship with a 36-0 win over University High in the Louisiana Superdome for the Class A title. During the year, quarterback Sol Graves set the national passing record for touchdown passes with 50! This season would be the last for Coach Huckeba who departed to go coach at his alma mater, Harding University, where he retired as Head Coach of the Bisons in 2016, and now serves as the senior advancement officer at Harding.

In 1986, Adrian Hickman continued to serve as head coach and defensive coordinator, and in ‘87, assistant Micah Harper took over as offensive coordinator. In Hickman’s final five seasons, he would lead the Eagles to 47 wins with only 4 losses, a district record of 19 and 3 (which included three district championships), and another Superdome appearance in 1987 when OCS finished as state runner-up. Hickman would leave after the 1990 season to pursue a doctorate degree in family ministry; He served as a professor in the program of marriage and family therapy at Harding University for 20 years, and the Founder and Clinical Architect of Capstone Treatment Center in Searcy Arkansas.

1991 began the Micah Harper era. In his first season, led by a junior-laden team, the Eagles would go all the way to the semi-finals before losing out to second-ranked Buras. 1992 saw this group complete the regular season undefeated before suffering a second round loss to Episcopal of Baton Rouge. During these two seasons, running back Jermaine Sharpe topped the 2,000 yard plateau each year, leading the state in that category. The Eagles struggled through the next two seasons battling numbers and injuries, but hit the playoff scene again in ‘95. The 1995 season brought many heartaches as four of the five losses were by a single point, including the first round playoff game against Plain Dealing. 1996 turned the tide gain for OCS as they won the district title and reached the second round of the playoffs.

“A special year,” that’s how one would describe the 1997 football season at OCS. The Eagles were picked to finish third in a tough district, but proved to nay-sayers wrong as they won all of their district games and marched through the playoffs, averaging over 42 points a game and defeating arch-rival Oak Grove in the Superdome to claim the 1997 state championship. The ‘97 season would be the last coach Harper would serve as the head football coach due to his coinciding responsibilities as head baseball coach and athletic director. In his seven seasons, Harper led the Eagles to four undefeated district titles and a state championship.

In 1998, OCS moved previous assistant coach Steven Fitzhugh into the head coaching spot. During his first year, the Eagles held the number one ranking for eight straight weeks, and finished with a 10 and 2 record, being eliminated in the second round of the playoffs by Loyola Prep of Shreveport.

The eagles pulled off a huge upset over the Farmerville Farmers in the final game of the 1999 regular season to lay claim to a share of the district title, and set the state for what was in store around the corner. The 2000 team had a special chemistry to them led by a group of 11 seniors (8 of whom changed positions during or prior to the season). The group of young men finished the regular season with a 7-3 record, and entered the playoffs as the #8 seed. When the playoffs hit, they made the jump, winning five straight games, including an exciting 17-8 quarter-final win over the defending state champion Iota Bulldogs. The state championship team of 2000 allowed only 20 points defensively during their playoff run.

Reaching the quarter-final game of the playoffs during 2004 and 2005 marked the first time in the school’s history for a team to accomplish such a feat in back to back seasons. The 2004 team entered the playoffs as the #25 seed and pulled off a couple of exciting upsets before being eliminated by #1 seed Northeast.

The upsets continued in 2005 as the eleventh seeded Eagles shocked higher seeded teams such as Sacred Heart and Clinton before falling to eventual state champion John Curtis. The tradition is strong as ever at OCS and looks to keep going!

Ouachita Christian salutes the many players, coaches, parents, teachers, and fans who have helped OCS football obtain the manner of respect which it receives today!