8 Takeaways from the LHSAA playoffs

Underdogs shine in DI, interesting match-ups abound in round two; frontrunners on track in District 6-2A; and more

Cecilia quarterback Diesel Solari lead the Bulldogs on the road next week against the Lutcher Bulldogs. / Brad Kemp, The Acadiana Advocate

The Louisiana High School Athletic Association football playoffs began last Thursday with eight divisions taking the field on a five-week journey that will culminate next month over three days at the Caesars Superdome. Let's take a look at some interesting facts from the bi-district round and preview key regional matchups.

Underdogs had bite in Division I as four lower seeds advance

In Division I nonselect, four lower seeds advanced: No. 24 Chalmette, No. 22 Walker, No. 21 West Monroe and No. 18 Westgate.  

The Owls (8-3), who travel this week to No. 8 Hahnville (8-2), left the Houma area with a 20-17 bi-district win over No. 9 Terrebonne. Tristan Dubose kicked two field goals, including the game-winner, to send the Owls to the 20-17 win. For the second straight week, Jaden Williams was a difference-maker for Chalmette. The senior returned a punt to set up Dubose's 18-yarder with four seconds left, according to Tory Trahan of Crescent City Sports.

Walker (7-4) defeated District 5-5A rival No. 11 Dutchtown for the second time. The Wildcats, who travel to No. 6 Southside (8-2), won the rematch over the Griffins, 41-27. Quarterback Troy Sylve passed for three TDs, caught a TD, and punted for Walker, according to Charles Salzer of The Baton Rouge Advocate. Walker handed Dutchtown its only two defeats.

West Monroe raced to a 28-0 first-half lead at No. 12 Parkway and won, 35-14. The Rebels (6-5) travel to No. 5 Mandeville, a 31-16 winner over No 28 Thibodaux. The Skippers (10-1). who lost star tailback Nate Sheppard to injury, have gotten stellar rushing performances from Isaiah Baham, who went over 200 yards in two regular season games. Mandeville reached the 2023 semifinals as a No. 21 seed.

No. 18 Westgate (8-2) won its sixth straight game after losing to Division I select heavyweights Teurlings Catholic and St. Thomas More. With quarterback and four-star Univ. of Miami commit Jaboree Antoine out with injury, the Tigers have used multiple freshmen such as Cayden Lancelin, Brock Mitchell and Noah Antoine, who threw a TD pass in the 28-20 bi-district win at No. 15 St.  Amant.

Westgate's regional matchup at No. 2 Airline (10-0) will put coordinator Tyrunn Walker's defense up against a Vikings' offense that scored at least 52 points in seven games. Walker, a Westgate grad who played in the NFL, made headlines when the Tigers stopped Warren Easton on four plays near the goal-line to win the 2021 state title, 14-13. 

'Knight game in Lafayette' tops DI select slate

Playoff seeding, which is always a hot topic, appears to have worked out well in Division I select where No. 8 St. Thomas More will host No. 9 St. Augustine in the marquee game of the week.

The Cougars, a two-time defending champion in Division II, moved up to Division I even though their enrollment remains in a Class 4A district. STM won six straight games (one by forfeit) to finish the regular season as QB Cole Bergeron passed for 11 TDs with no interceptions. Its losses were to Division I select No. 3 Acadiana and No. 4 Catholic-BR and Division I nonselect No. 1 Neville.

St. Augustine (7-4), which has won four straight games since losses to Edna Karr, Jesuit and Archbishop Rummel (the latter two by a combined seven points), defeated No. 24 Carencro, 44-7. St. Aug's other loss was to 9-1 Cardinal Ritter (Missouri).

The Purple Knights got two defensive touchdowns against Carencro, according to Lenny Vangilder of Crescent City Sports. This will be St. Aug's second trip to the Lafayette area. The Purple Knights beat Cecilia, 58-34, in an impromptu Saturday evening game that was created out of Hurricane Francine cancellations.

The Division I select bracket, with 24 teams, lacked the upset potential of the 28-team nonselect field. but three lower seeds accomplished the feat: No. 17 Huntington, No. 18 Evangel Christian and No. 19 John Curtis Christan.

Battle of the Bulldogs set as Cecilia will visit Lutcher

The Cecilia Bulldogs may have been a No. 18 seed on paper, but it was no surprise when the 2023 runner-up to Opelousas downed No. 15 Pearl River in a Division II nonselect matchup.

The Bulldogs got six rushing TDs from the trio of Diesel Solari, Braylon Calais and Ellis Stewart. Solari, who had sat out recent games to rest an ankle injury, completed 10 of 13 passes for 146 yards and a 20-yard TD to UL Ragin' Cajuns' safety commit Brent Gordon, according to Dave Woodall of The New Orleans Advocate.

Calais, the leading rusher (11-96, three TDs), caught four passes for 41 yards. Solari (10-59) added two rushing TDs. Stewart totaled 152 yards on eight touches with a rushing touchdown.

Cecilia will travel to face the Lutcher Bulldogs (9-0), who had a first round bye. Lutcher, which lost to Opelousas in the 2023 quarterfinals, is led by quarterback Zach Jenkins (17 TDs, 0 INT) and Ragin' Cajuns' commit Trenton Chaney, the top rusher and receiver.

Reigning state champion No. 14 Opelousas (7-3) travels to the No. 3 Jennings Bulldogs (9-1) in another Division II nonselect regional. Running backs D'Shaun Ford of Opelousas and Rejohn Zeno of Jennings should get plenty of carries. OHS QB Zack Malveaux and JHS QB Chris Ned are dual-threat signal-callers. The OHS defense is led by Ole Miss commit Corey Amos, a four-star linebacker on Rivals.

Cougs crashing the party in Division II

Lake Charles College Prep, the No. 9 seed in Division II select, got a tough draw in its first year up from Division III. The Trailblazers (6-5) face a No. 8 John F. Kennedy team that lost only one game on the field. 

The Class 3A Cougars (6-4), who had a first-round bye, lost by three points to Class 5A St. Paul's in Week Four, 25-22. Their first three wins - over Class 5A Scotlandville, Warren Easton and St. Amant - were changed to forfeit losses. 

The game promises plenty of passing from JFK's Amyne Darensbourg and LCCP's Dylan Vital. The winner will face the winner of No. 1 Archbishop Shaw/No. 16 Loranger. A JFK/Shaw matchup would be an all-NOLA quarterfinal.

Wing-T vs. Wing-T on tap in Pine vs. Kaplan match-up

Division III nonselect should yield one of the fastest-played regional round matchups in No. 9 Pine (8-3) at No. 8 Kaplan (8-2). The Raiders, who returned 15 starters from a 2023 team that notched a win over perennial power Amite, lost by seven points to 9-1 Jewel Sumner, one point to Division II nonselect No. 1 Franklinton and 33-14 to Amite in the regular season.

Pine defeated No. 21 St. Helena, 40-16, in b-district. Kaplan blanked No. 25 North Webster, 50-0. The Pirates boast a three-pronged rushing attack that features 1,000-yard rushers Daylon Landry and Wyatt Hebert and Bradyn Bearb, who rushed for 80 yards on 11 carries with a TD in the bi-district win. The Kaplan defense, which has held three opponents to negative rushing totals, limited North Webster to eight yards on the ground (0 passing) in the first half.

No. 15 Loreauville (5-5) travels to No. 2 Erath (8-1) in a rematch of Week 1 won by the Bobcats, 14-7. The Tigers took down No. 18 Marksville in bi-district, 48-26, and have won five of their last six games. Maddox Savoy rushed for 135 yards on 15 carries with a TD. Blake Delcambre totaled 165 yards on five touches with a receiving TD.

District 6-2A frontrunners Notre Dame and Lafayette Christian will do it again

No. 8 Notre Dame (6-4) and No. 9 Lafayette Christian (5-6) meet again in the Division III select regionals. The league foes met in Week 7 with the Pioneers prevailing, 42-28. Star linebacker Jackson Casanova ran for four touchdowns, according to Raymond Partsch of The Acadiana Advocate. 

Lafayette Christian, which has won three of four games since then, pounded No. 24 Beekman Charter, 72-0. Junior quarterback Braylon Walker has passed for 2,094 yards and 17 TDs with five interceptions and rushed for 12 scores. Walker and junior Brayden Allen, who has over 1,000 receiving yards, ranked near the top of the area's regular season stat leaders. Defensive back Chris Helaire, who has four interceptions, returned one for TD last week.

The Knights have made seven straight state finals appearances across multiple divisions. This is their first year playing in Division III as a program with Class 2A enrollment. LCA played up in a Class 4A district each of the past two years. 

Division III select offers more intriguing matchups in No. 12 Amite at undefeated No. 5 Bunkie (two public schools now in select) and No. 13 De La Salle at No. 4 Calvary Baptist. 

Class 3A De La Salle (5-6) won five of its last six games with the one loss coming by eight points (22-14) to John F. Kennedy. Class 2A Calvary Baptist (8-2), the defending state champion, has won seven straight with losses by a combined eight points to Neville and Division II nonselect No. 4 Franklin Parish (9-1).

De La Salle began the year 1-4 with losses to Class 5A Central-BR, Holy Cross, St. Paul's and Class 4A Archbishop Shaw (8-2), the top seed in Division II select.

North Iberville make history with first home playoff win

Division IV nonselect No. 5 North Iberville won a home playoff game for the first time ever, according to WBRZ-2 TV in Baton Rouge, thumping No. 28 Oberlin, 44-6. The Bears (9-2) host No. 12 General Trass (7-4) out of Lake Providence in the regional round. 

No. 3 DeQuincy (9-1) and tailback Wyatt Lavergne host upset-minded No. 19 Franklin (6-5), which pummeled No. 14 White Castle, 44-0, and has won four of its last five games. Back in 2021, Franklin upset undefeated district rival Loreauville in the regionals as a No. 15 seed. Lavergne has been a workhorse, rushing for 1,399 yards on 222 carries with 20 TDs. 

D4 Select bracket features parity

The Division IV select bracket is full of intriguing second-round storylines. In the interest of brevity, we picked out a few.

No. 6 Catholic of Pointe Coupee (9-1) hosts No. 11 Ouachita Christian (10-1), which has reached the semis or finals each of the past five years. The Eagles lost by four points in the 2023 semifinals at state champion Southern Lab (7-3), which is a No. 13 seed and will travel to Monroe to face No. 4 St. Frederick (8-2).

Catholic PC's only loss was in Week 10 to No. 15 Opelousas Catholic (8-3), which edged No. 18 Westminster Christian-Lafayette, 34-33, and will travel to No. 2 Ascension Catholic in a rematch of 2023 won by the Bulldogs.

No. 7 Riverside (7-2), which finished as runner-up to Southern Lab last year, hosts No. 10 Hamilton Christian out of Lake Charles. The Warriors (9-1) are led by sophomore quarterback Javon Vital, who had a spectacular regular season and led his team to a 41-30 win over No. 23 St. John. It was the second win over the Eagles for Hamilton Christian, which won the regular season matchup in Lake Charles, 46-40. The Warriors haven't lost since Week 1 at DeQuincy.

No. 9 St. Martin's Episcopal, which outscored No. 24 Delhi Charter, 56-36, travels to Eunice to challenge No. 8 Edmund. The Saints (9-2) and five-star LSU running back commit Harlem Berry lost in the regular season to Riverside and Class 2A Pope John Paul II. 

St. Edmund (9-1), which only lost to Catholic Pointe Coupee, is led by quarterback Kane West, who tossed 30 of 64 completions for touchdowns in the regular season while passing for 1,614 yards. Seth Aucoin (17-740, 12 TDs) has been the definition of 'big play receiver.' Henry Summerlin has rushed for 1,312 yards on 141 carries with 18 TDs. 

No. 1 Vermilion Catholic (10-0) and senior quarterback Jonathan Dartez host No. 16 Westminster Christian-Opelousas (8-3). Dartez, a senior, should top the 2,000-yard rushing mark. He enters the game with 1,930 yards and 30 TDs. VC is the only team to beat Division III select No. 7 Catholic-New Iberia (9-1), Division IV select No. 5 Ascension Episcopal (9-1) and Erath (8-1). The Eagles also defeated Riverside on the road in the regular season.