By DAVID ERSOFF, Journal Sports
The combination of Captain Shreve’s strong showing at the Copa Acadiana tournament with Loyola’s first loss of the season moved the Gators back on top of the Shreveport-Bossier Journal Coaches Boys Soccer Poll after just a week behind the Flyers.
Shreve dispatched Evangel 3-0 before heading down to the Copa, where the Gators only played twice instead of the traditional three outings down south. Friday, Shreve beat a strong St. Amant team 2-1, then fell 1-0 to Catholic of Baton Rouge, considered one of the top three teams in the state.
The Gators have a tough week ahead. They travel to Neville tonight, then host Sterlington Thursday, both good Monroe-area teams. Shreve hosts a traditionally-strong Dutchtown team on Saturday afternoon. Then the Gators can relax and enjoy their well-earned holiday break.
Bossier moved into a tie for second place in the Week 5 poll with Loyola while only playing a single game last week, a comfortable 2-0 win over Parkway.
The Bearkats host Ouachita Parish tonight before going on the road to Lake Charles this weekend. Bossier faces Barbe on Friday and St. Louis on Saturday in a rematch of the 2023 state semifinal game that Bossier won 1-0.
Loyola suffered its first loss of the season last week as Northwood came to Messmer Stadium and beat the Flyers 2-0. Loyola bounced back the next day by beating Haughton 8-1 to finish their week.
The Flyers played their first district game last night, winning a close one 1-0 at Minden. Loyola finishes the week hosting Dutchtown Saturday morning.
Byrd used a strong week to move one point behind Bossier and Loyola, creating a logjam for the 2-4 spots in the coaches poll. The Yellow Jackets beat Neville 3-0 before heading to the Copa. Byrd fell 1-0 to Top 5 teams St. Paul and Denham Springs, then gained a hard fought 2-1 victory over Northshore. The Yellow Jackets will not sneak up on anyone any more.
The Yellow Jackets will play a district game against Huntington Wednesday before facing Caddo Magnet on Friday. Coach Gary Montgomery is giving the team the rest of the year off.
After handling Huntington 8-0, Benton also headed to the Copa. Unfortunately, the Tigers did not fare as well as Shreve or Byrd. Benton lost 4-0 to Catholic and Denham Springs before falling 5-0 to St. Paul. The valuable lessons the Tigers learned from this trip will help the team heading into district play and the playoffs.
Benton has just one game left in 2024, a Friday night home game against Dutchtown.
The Northwood Falcons were the first team this season to figure out how to break down the Flyers, in what on paper seemed like an upset. But anyone who knows Northwood’s new coach Francois Browne, knows he is a master of game strategy, and it seems his team is buying in. Northwood also defeated North Caddo 8-0 last week. The Falcons will ride that high until early next year, when they get back on the pitch.
After falling 4-2 to Calvary last Monday, the Vikings came back with close wins over Caddo Magnet 4-3 and Minden 3-2 last week. Airline tied North DeSoto 2-2 Monday night. The Vikings face Huntington tonight, before hosting both West Ouachita and Ruston Thursday night. Airline will have earned the rest of 2024 off after this week.
There will be no coaches poll on Christmas week. We will resume coverage the following week.
Contact David at dersoff@bellsouth.net
Week 5 SBJ Coaches Boys Soccer Poll
Rank Team (1st) Record Pts Last week
1 Shreve (8) 8-3-3 66 2
2 (tie) Bossier 7-4-1 46 3
2 (tie) Loyola (1) 10-1-2 46 1
4 Byrd (1) 7-3-1 45 4
5 Benton 6-8-1 26 5
6 Northwood 7-2-2 23 7
7 Airline 6-1-1 17 6
Also receiving votes — Calvary (6), Magnet (5)