Louisiana LookBack: Top takeaways from Week 14 of 2023 season

Acadiana continues surprising playoff run by taking down another high seed

SBLive Louisiana is continuing its weekly statewide high school football recap called Louisiana LookBack. 

This week, we will look back at Week 14, the semifinal round of the playoffs, as 16 surviving teams now get set to travel to New Orleans to compete in the LHSAA Prep Classic beginning on Thursday.

Louisiana's Prep Classic high school football championship games now set 

1. Rams Wreck Bracket Again

Edna Karr lost for the second time to a program that runs the split-back veer offense.

The fifth-seeded Cougars suffered a 41-7 loss to John Curtis Christian in Week 10. Eighth-seeded Acadiana repeated the feat with a 30-24 win at Karr in the Division I select semifinals.

Acadiana (11-2), which moves on to face No. 3 Catholic-Baton Rouge in the championship on Friday at 7 p.m. in the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, upset another Catholic League foe, top-seeded Holy Cross, in the quarterfinals.

The Rams ran out the clock on their final drive Friday. Ezekiel Hypolite rushed for 159 yards on 24 carries with two TDs. Jonah Gauthier added 89 yards on 22 carries. Linebacker Shemarius Harris rambled 63 yards to the end zone on a fake punt.

Karr (10-2) receiver TaRon Francis, an LSU commit, caught five passes for 120 yards.

2. Out of Hibernation

Catholic-Baton Rouge and Archbishop Rummel began on Friday and resumed Saturday evening due to foul weather in southeast Louisiana.

The Bears and 18th-seeded Rummel were deadlocked at 14-all in the second half when the game was postponed.

University of Louisiana quarterback commit Daniel Beale completed 15-of-20 passes for 143 yards and a touchdown for the third-seeded Bears (11-2), who won 26-14. He ran for 115 yards and two more scores on 10 carries, according to Reed Darcey of the Baton Rouge Advocate.

Beale's 35-yard TD pass to Brooks Wright put the Bears ahead to stay.

The Raiders (7-7) upset the Division I select No. 15, No. 2 and No. 7 seeds to reach the semifinals.

3. Broncos' Wild Ride

Over in the Division I non-select bracket, No. 6 Zachary and No. 7 Dutchtown also took an extra day to conclude.

Zachary trailed the Griffins, 28-13, with 1:48 remaining in the third quarter when play was suspended on Friday. The Broncos (12-1) reeled off 18 straight points when the game resumed to win, 31-28, in overtime.

Rafael Costa kicked a 25-yard field goal for the winning points. The Broncos blocked Dutchtown's 32-yard field goal attempt on the first overtime possession, according to Robin Fambrough of the Baton Rouge Advocate.

Zachary will test top-seeded Ruston (13-0) in the championship at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

4. An All-District Final

Division II non-select will showcase an all-District 5-4A final at noon on Friday. Second-seeded Cecilia took care of 22nd-seeded Northwest, 55-18, and 12th-seeded Opelousas upset top-seeded North DeSoto, 28-20.

Cecilia (12-1) rallied from 14-0 and 20-7 deficits to beat Opelousas, 25-22, for the district championship.

D'Shaun Ford ran for 213 yards on 28 carries for Opelousas, and quarterback Zack Malveaux ran for two scores and threw for another against North DeSoto, according to Shawn White of the Shreveport/Bossier Advocate.

Ford and Malveaux are both juniors.

5. Running Back to the Dome

Top-seeded St. Thomas More ran roughshod over No. 5 Archbishop Shaw in the Division II select bracket. The Cougars produced three 100-yard rushers in the 69-30 win, according to Kevin Foote of the Acadiana Advocate.

Senior Hutch Swilley ran for 219 yards on 18 carries with three TDs for the 13-0 Cougars, who will face Lafayette Christian in the finals for the second straight year.

Lafayette Christian (11-2) got past seventh-seeded Teurlings Catholic, 42-35, in another game that finished on Saturday. Junior Jalen Noel ran for 281 yards on 27 carries with two scores for the third-seeded Knights.

215 of Noel's yards came after contact, according to team statistician Hayden Lessard.

St. Thomas More and Lafayette Christian have only met three times. The Cougars swept the Knights in 2022 and defeated their District 4-4A rival again during the regular season.

The Knights, who have been playing up in Class 4A despite Class 2A enrollment, will return to Class 2A next season.

6. Game-Winning 3

In a defensive struggle, St. Charles Catholic edged fourth-seeded University Lab in the Division III select playoffs.

The game, which took place in LaPlace, was already in the fourth quarter while other contests around the state were plodding along in the first half.

The top-seeded Comets (13-0) won in overtime, 10-7, on a Tyler Milioto field goal. If that sounds familiar, it should. Milioto kicked several field goals during the regular season, many of which came in high-pressure situations.

St. Charles Catholic will vie for its third consecutive state title on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. vs. No 2 Calvary Baptist (13-0).

Leading 7-0 in the fourth quarter, the Comets intended to stretch the lead by three points, but Milioto's field goal attempt was blocked, according to Lanny Vangilder of Crescent City Sports.

The Cubs (11-2) forced overtime on their ensuing drive. Quarterback Emile Picarella tossed a TD pass to Granville Anderson, who added the game-tying extra point.

7. Clutch Cavs

Calvary Baptist stayed unbeaten on the other side of the Division III select bracket with a 35-27 win over third-seeded Isidore Newman.

Defensive back Landon Sylvie intercepted Greenies' quarterback Eli Friend near the goal-line with less than a minute remaining to seal the win for the Cavaliers, according to Roy Lang of the Shreveport-Bossier Advocate.

Calvary Baptist junior quarterback Abram Wardell completed 20-of-29 passes for 297 yards with touchdowns to four different receivers. James Simon ran for 155 yards on 22 carries with a TD.

8. Wildcats Pounce

In Division III non-select, third-seeded St. James won on the road with a 28-17 defeat of second-seeded Sterlington.

St. James (11-2) came up with a fourth-quarter stop that turned the ball over on downs with the score, 21-17, and the Wildcats milked the clock with a 12-play, 96-yard scoring drive on their possession, according to Jake Martin of the Ouachita Citizen.

Sterlington finished its season with a 12-2 record.

On Friday at 3:30 p.m., St. James will square off with fourth-seeded Union Parish for the Division III non-select championship.

9. Farmers Treasure Island

Union Parish, which lost to Class 5A Airline and Captain Shreve, along with District 1-3A opponents Sterlington and Wossman, ousted Division III non-select top-seed Jena on the road, 24-16.

The Farmers (9-4) are led by senior tailback Jy'Marion Island, who entered the Jena game with 2,130 yards on 266 carries with 22 TDs.

Island ran for over 1,000 yards as a junior while sharing carries with Trey Holly, who is now at LSU. Union Parish has reached the title game three straight years with three runner-up appearances: 2022 to Many, 2021 to Sterlington and 2020 to Madison Parish. 

Photo of Acadiana tailback Ezekiel Hypolite by Brad Kemp, The Acadiana Advocate 

-- Mike Coppage | @SBLiveLA