By LEE BRECHEEN, Louisiana Football Magazine/YouTube TV
A lot of speculation surrounds Friday night’s state Select Division III semifinal playoff game in Shreveport between Calvary Baptist and Isadore Newman of New Orleans, because it’s a tremendous matchup.
Might be the best semifinal in any division, select or non-select. No question it’s on a short list and should be a great game at Jerry Barker Stadium.
There’s plenty to discuss when it comes to skill-position talent on both sides of the football for each team. Both programs have a lot of history with quarterbacks.
Calvary’s QB stable is headed by Shea Patterson (Ole Miss/Michigan), and recently the 2021 Mr. Louisiana Football, Landry Lyddy (UAB) who lead Calvary to the 2020 state championship. Newman has produced the magnificent Mannings — brothers Peyton and Eli, both two-time Super Bowl champions, and their nephew, Cooper’s son, Archie’s grandson, Arch Manning, a true freshman at Texas who many believe is the best yet.
I don’t have enough space to break down the tremendous talent in the offensive and defensive backfields and at wide receiver/tight end for both teams. The quarterbacks are incredible – Calvary’s Abram Wardell and Eli Friend of Newman, who is not Arch Manning but is dynamic in his own way.
Calvary’s James Simon is a spectacular junior running back who will have major colleges all over him this spring and summer before his senior season. Ask Parkview Baptist. He hit them for 326 rushing yards and four second-half TDs last week.
But especially in this contest, it’s the big guys up front who make the difference. This game will be won in the trenches, by the front sevens.
Both teams are capable on any given night to score over 40 points easy. Both teams have a lot of playmakers — I give the edge to Calvary, which has as many as 10 playmakers who can hit the end zone, on offense or defense.
Calvary comes in with a perfect 12-0 record. Newman is 10-1, with a win at Benton early this year. These teams have great coaches – Rodney Guin at CBA, Nelson Stewart at Newman, and there are excellent assistants on both sidelines.
The Cavaliers have the bigger and deeper units in the trenches. That group is led by OL Jimmy Wright (6-3, 255), LB Cole Miller (6-1, 200), DE Cayden Markray (6-2, 245), OL/DL Ethan Sands (6-3, 255), LB Heath Gross (6-0, 210), OL Layton Terrell (6-3, 315), LB Tre Houston (6-2, 215), LB Hutch Grace (6-2, 220), OL Kendrick Manning (6-3, 320), OL Jax Gallier (6-4, 245), and OL Hayden Darner (6-0, 250).
It’s the best linebacker group I have seen at Calvary Baptist and the best group of offensive linemen in program history.
Newman will counter with a talented unit, just not as big overall and not as deep. The Greenies are led by DT/OL Brett Bordelon (6-4, 290), who can run like most linebackers in Louisiana with 4.9 speed, and he is as tough as they come – obviously the leader of the unit.
They have an athletic big guy in the middle in DT Brandon Williams (6-2, 300). At tight end, Will Loerzel is 6-6, 255, (his dad started for Purdue back in the day) and runs a 4.89 forty. LB Isaiah Grant is a former WR who checks in at 6-2, 220 with scary 4.65 speed. More tough customers up front are DT Justin Wells (6-2, 245), DE William Darragh (6-0, 225), and Arch Manning’s “little” brother Heid, an OL/LSP/DE who is 6-1, 235 and a lot more rugged than his uncles.
I think Calvary will make more big plays than Newman. I also think any long drives will wear Newman down by the fourth quarter. If this happens, then my prediction is 31-21 Calvary.
It should be a great game. Both teams can make field goals and both teams have good punters, so drives will be earned for both sides. It would not be a shock for Newman to go home happy, but with Calvary at home, the depth factor and the long travel for the Greenies, I think not.
This summer in the Shreveport-Bossier Journal, I picked Calvary to win it all. I’m not changing my pick. I think the Cavs will be in the Superdome next Saturday afternoon.
Contact Lee at lbrecheen@aol.com