Ben Powell entering first year at Country Day

LAPLACE, La. (WGNO) – A new era begins at Metairie Park as a Yellow Jacket takes over for the Cajuns. Ben Powell is in his first season as Country Day’s head coach, after a dominant and historic run at Haynes Academy last season.

During the 2024 campaign, Powell leads the Yellow Jackets to their first undefeated season in program history, the district 9-3A title and a top four seed in the Division II Select bracket. However, despite his success at Haynes Academy, all the off-the-field benefits of coming to Metairie Park are too much to pass up.

“Most of our kids, they go to school together since they’re little bitty, K through 12, and as a teacher and as a coach, you get to be involved in that, right? Our middle school is right there. Our flag football team is fourth, fifth or sixth grade right there. You get to build relationships with kids from the time they’re a little bitty, build relationships with their families, build a football community, and build it all the way from the bottom,” Powell explained.

One of the benefits of the Cajuns pipeline: Getting athletes from professional families like KB Brewer and Curtis McAllister. The two basketball stars, one the son of a Saints Hall of Famer and the other one the son of a Pelicans’ assistant coach have now put on the pads, showing they can be dominant on the court and the gridiron.

“I feel like we could really cause some problems out there because we’re both about 6’3″, 6’4″ and that really helps us against smaller DBs and stuff like that,” Brewer said.

“He helps take a lot of pressure off of me as a receiver and bringing in somebody as huge as him on the other side really opens up the offense,” McCallister added.

“Running the air raid offense, trying to throw the football 30, 40 times a game, maybe that’s counter than what we’ve done in the past, but it’s based around the talent that we have right now,” Powell said, following a run-dominant offense at Haynes.

Week one will be the ultimate test for both basketball players though1. Brewer has not put on the pads since his eighth grade year, and McAllister is only entering his third season as a football player.

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