BALDWIN -- The 2007 football campaign was a disappointment at West St. Mary. A large senior class led to high hopes for the Wolfpack which came crashing down in the midst of a 3-7 season.

“We had a large returning senior class and things didn’t quite work out the way we expected,” said WSM coach Andre Lockley. “Last year we had nine to 10 seniors on both sides of the ball and it was a difficult year for us.”

And unfortunately, last year’s lack of success could extend into this football season.

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“With a large senior class, a lot of your backups don’t get a lot of playing time,” said Lockley. “We’re going to take our bumps this year with a real inexperienced team.”

West St. Mary’s inexperience starts on the offensive end.

“We’re returning three guys on the offensive side of the ball,” said Lockley. “Jerwone Keil at running back, Ricardo Francis, who’s played quarterback and receiver, and we’re returning Thei Washington, who played on the offensive line.

“Right now Jazz Coleman is hurt with a knee injury, he was the only other returning starter on the offensive side of the ball.”

It doesn’t get much better on other side of the ball.

“We’ve got Francis and free safety and we have Louis Green returning,” said Lockley. “Green played strong safety last year and we’re going to have him at linebacker this year.

“Washington was the only other guy returning at defensive end.”

Keil’s return at running back tempers some of the losses but Lockley knows that the teams must get better up front along the line in order to give the senior running back a chance.

“Keil gives us great effort but offensive line has been a trouble area for us,” said Lockley. “Keil is a competitor and a lot of times instead of taking what’s there he’s trying to make that big run every time and at running back you might get two or three chances to do that.

“Your mentality has to be I’m going to take what’s there. Last year as a junior, he was trying to look for the big run on every play. I appreciate his effort and toughness but he needs to stay within the game plan and take what’s there.

“If he can concentrate on getting us a tough three or four yards, it will put us in a better situation.”

The Wolfpack struggled on offense last year, averaging only 14 points per game and in four games were either shut out or scored less than 10 points alternating between two quarterbacks.

“Last year we gave Tyjuandre Tillman a few snaps here and there and showed us he can handle the short game and the play-action pass,” said Lockley. “This year we’re going to move Ricardo back at to receiver and we’re going to ask Tillman to throw some short passes and some play-action passes.

“I think that will take some pressure off of him and we’re going to do a heavy dose of Keil running the ball.”

Defensively, the Wolfpack played well last year but the lack of offensive production put pressure on that side of the ball to produce.

“Defensively, we’re always been pretty solid,” said Lockley. “Coach (Daniel) Barras does a real good job with our scheme and putting our kids in position to make plays.

“We’re pretty aggressive on the defensive side of the ball where we can take our athletes and create things.

“Offensively, it’s about execution and that’s something that we have to work on.”

With a young and inexperienced team, success may be measure in small increments this year.

“I think that there’s a few schools that we can match up with and we’re working hard to compete with those guys so we can win,” said Lockley. “We’re going to work with our guys in the non-district game and hopefully we’re going to be prepared to compete in district.

“Playing against New Iberia and Donaldsonville hopefully we can learn and carry that over into district.”