On August 30, 2025, at approximately 11:30 a.m., Shreveport Police officers responded to a report of a sexual assault. Officers made contact with the victim at a local hospital and began their investigation.

Through the course of the investigation, detectives identified the suspect as Matthew Sandifer. While the investigation into the allegation of second-degree rape remains ongoing, Sandifer has since been arrested on one count of extortion related to this case.

Detectives allege that Sandifer sent threatening messages to the victim in an attempt to coerce the victim into dropping the charges.

This investigation remains active and ongoing. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Shreveport Police Department at 318-673-7300 or Caddo Crime Stoppers at 318-673-7373.

Just like the 46-game losing streak itself, it seemed as though Southwood’s Thursday night game just wouldn’t end. 

Never in the history of football have so many people watched a clock count down on the scoreboard. You’d think that Cowboys’ coach De’Aumante Johnson wouldn’t have been one of those people.

But he was. Front and center.

“I’ve never watched a clock so much in my life,” he said. “It had me nervous for sure.”

Seconds seemed like minutes; minutes seemed like hours. Having a 46-game albatross hung around your next will do that to you.

But just like you can’t wish a clock down to zero, you also can’t wish away five seasons worth of losses (though some of those are by forfeit).

Tension filled the Southwood sideline as Cowboys tried to run out the clock in the final minutes. The comfort of a two-possession lead to start the fourth quarter had long since disappeared. There were still yards to gain and seconds to try to make disappear off that clock.

There are no style points in any football game, particularly one as significant as this one. It was never going to be easy and this one proved that true.

At 9:28 p.m. Thursday night at Lee Hedges Stadium – a place in where Southwood has won more than 100 games in 56 seasons – the Cowboys won a game that is as memorable as any in school history.

It doesn’t matter how they won (16-15) or who they beat (Class 1A Arcadia), only that they got a chance to do what they hadn’t done in years.

Celebrate.

This was the Super Bowl, World Series, NBA FInals rolled into one giant celebration that began once Southwood came up with a fumble after a completed pass downfield that could have been the beginning of here-we-go-again doom scenario.

And even then, the Cowboys had to wait that out because there was a flag on the field. When the referee pointed in the direction of Arcadia, all that was left was two victory formations before it all broke loose.

As great as the scene was, it’s one that Johnson never wants to see again. Unless, of course, the Cowboys were to win 46 in a row.

“We’ve got to get familiar with winning,” he said. “We’ve got to understand how it’s supposed to feel. But as they say, any win is better than no win.”

Standing close by a Johnson spoke was former Bossier High principal David Thrash, dressed – perhaps for the first time in his life – in the orange and blue of Southwood. Thrash is as Bossier Parish as they come (he also coached at Haughton and Benton) but he was no innocent bystander.

Thrash was there on the sideline for one reason: De’Aumante Johnson.

Thrash hired Johnson as Bossier’s coach, but they got back much further than that. All the way to Johnson’s days in middle school.

“We talk every day,” Thrash said. “He’s a special guy.”

There are all sorts of ties between the Southwood staff and Bossier High and all of them run through Thrash and/or Johnson.

The two had lunch Thursday in which Thrash found his friend to be more than a little bit nervous about what might happen later in the day.

“That’s always me,” Johnson said. “That’s why I call him. He’s my guy. He’s going to always calm me down and tell me to not overthink things.”

There’s nothing more to overthink. The only thing to think about is Southwood 16, Arcadia 15.

One in a row.

Contact JJ at johnjamesmarshall@yahoo.com

JOURNAL SPORTS

A pair of two-point conversions and a clinching forced fumble made the difference Thursday night as the Southwood Cowboys made their 2025 debut memorable with a 16-15 victory over Arcadia at Lee Hedges Stadium.

The outcome ended the state’s longest high school football string of defeats, 46 straight games dating back to 2019. The Cowboys did win a pair of early season games in 2022 but had to forfeit those later that year due to LHSAA eligibility infractions.

Thursday night, Southwood ran the best play in football, the victory formation, to wipe off the last 1:18 after forcing and recovering a fumble near midfield.

The Cowboys got a TD run by Roger Moore and a two-point conversion pass to James Harris from Jayden Carter to grab an 8-7 halftime lead. Carter and Harris connected on a 32-yard scoring strike and Christopher Sheppard ran for the conversion in the third quarter.

Arcadia, a 14-7 winner over Southwood a year ago, drew within a point with a fourth quarter TD but the Cowboys held on to win in their first try under new coach De’Aumante Johnson.

Thursday’s local scores

Mansfield 28, Green Oaks 22

Lincoln Prep 52, Magnolia School of Excellence 14

Southwood 16, Arcadia 15

JOURNAL SPORTS

Benton, Captain Shreve, Evangel and Haughton begin the District 1-5A football season at home tonight as Week 2 kicks into gear with 12 games involving Shreveport-Bossier schools.

Defending 1-5A champion Airline goes to Benton. The Vikingss spanked Barbe at home last Friday 56-27 while Benton was overwhelmed at home by Northwood, 49-13.

Byrd goes to Haughton hoping to get its offense untracked after a kickoff return by Christian Maxie gave the Yellow Jackets their only scoring in a 49-6 home loss to St. Amant. Haughton was edged by Class A power Homer 36-34 last week.

Captain Shreve and Huntington square off after each went east and took double digit losses to 2-5A foes Ouachita Parish and West Monroe, respectively.

Evangel also fell in Monroe last week, but it was a 33-32 nailbiter at powerful Neville. The Eagles are home tonight hosting Natchitoches Central and quarterback Owen Smith, who along with ECA’s Pop Houston ranked among state passing leaders last season.

The non-district slate includes a matchup of local 1-0 teams when Woodlawn goes to Parkway. Calvary goes to Neville in a rematch of a 42-38 Tigers win last year.

Plain Dealing makes its debut under erstwhile sportswriter and school administrator Jerry Byrd Jr. hoping to snap what is now the state’s longest skid, a 35-game losing streak, when Ringgold visits. The Redskins won at home 64-0 last season.

Week 2 local schedule

Tonight

District 1-5A games

Airline (1-0) at Benton (0-1)

Byrd (0-1) at Haughton (0-1)

Huntington (0-1) at Captain Shreve (0-1)

Natchitoches Central (1-0) at Evangel (0-1)

Non-district games

Bastrop (0-1) at Booker T. Washington (1-0)

Bossier (1-0) at Glenbrook (1-0)

Calvary (1-0) at Neville (1-0)

Loyola (1-0) at Logansport (0-1)

North Caddo (0-1) at North Webster (0-1)

Peabody (1-0) at Northwood (1-0)

Woodlawn (1-0) at Parkway (1-0)

Ringgold (0-1) at Plain Dealing (0-0)

By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports

BATON ROUGE – As average as No. 3 LSU played last Saturday in an underwhelming victory over a 37½-point underdog, there was a ready-made solace for Tigers’ fans as they exited Tiger Stadium.

“It could be worse. We could be Florida.”

The Gators lost 18-16 at home to South Florida. The Bulls had an eight-play, 84-yard game-winning drive jumpstarted in the first four plays by Florida defensive pass interference and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, followed by a trail of missed tackles on a USF 29-yard pass play to the Florida 32.

USF’s Nico Gramatica hit a chip-shot 20-yard field goal for the win as time expired, sending the Gators (1-1) into a foul mood heading into Tiger Stadium vs. LSU (2-0) for Saturday’s 6:30 p.m. SEC opener televised nationally by ABC.

The Tigers avoided a similar disaster because LSU’s defense blanked Louisiana Tech for the game’s first 54 minutes in a 23-7 victory. LSU’s offensive ineptness was magnified as it scored just two TDs and three field goals after forcing Tech to punt on 9 of 10 possessions (including eight straight).

“We’re still kind of growing into our identity, trying to work out the kinks,” said LSU senior starting quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, who never found a rhythm vs. Tech while completing 26 of 41 passes for 237 yards, one TD, and an interception. “It was a learning experience for us. It’s great when you can learn from a win.”

The lessons learned by the Tigers, mostly all on offense, were simple. Have a running game. Block somebody. Call more diverse plays.

“The issue, for me, more than anything else, is converting in the red zone and scoring touchdowns instead of field goals,” said LSU head coach Brian Kelly, whose team ranks 14^th in the 16-team SEC in red zone offense (scoring on 7 of 8 chances with four TD and three FGs).

“We’ll need to be that kind of team that can run the football and get tough yardage. That’s a mentality, that’s physical play, and we’re capable of doing it. We have to have the right mindset in terms of how we’re practicing, how we’re doing things. That’s where the coaching comes in. That’s where I come in.”

Kelly said Thursday that starting center Braelin Moore, who sat out almost the entire Louisiana Tech game after injuring an ankle on the game’s first play, is probable to face the Gators. Tight end Trey’Dez Green, who has a sprained medial collateral knee ligament, is questionable.

LSU had dominated the series with the Gators, winning five straight until last season’s 27-16 loss in Gainesville. The Tigers dominated ball possession 41:43 to 18:17) and total plays (92 to 43).

But when it came to making game-deciding plays, Florida simply was overwhelming. It had five of its six sacks and three of its 11 TFLs on five LSU drives that resulted in field goals (three made, one missed) and turning the ball over on downs.

Four Florida defenders who started last season against LSU return. But the Gators’ second leading tackler in last year’s win over LSU – defensive end Jack Pyburn – now plays for the Tigers.

LSU’s defense had problems a year ago chasing athletic, dual-threat quarterbacks like South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers, Texas A&M’s Marcell Reed, Arkansas’ Taylen Green, Alabama’s Jalem Milroe and Florida’s DJ Lagway.

As a freshman a year ago, Lagway rescued Florida’s season and head coach Billy Napier’s job by going 6-1 as a starter, including wins over LSU and Ole Miss, snuffing the College Football Playoffs hopes of both teams.

A calf injury midway through Florida’s preseason camp kept Lagway sidelined until the Gators’ season opener. While he’s completed 38 of 51 for 542 passing yards and four TDs in the first two games, he hasn’t completely knocked off the rust recovering from the injury.

“He made a lot of steps forward in the game Saturday,” Napier said of Lagway. “He’s still getting comfortable, still getting in the rhythm in his third week of practice. He’s really close to having a huge day. And we’ve got to play better around him at times, too.”

GO FIGURE

2: Touchdowns allowed by LSU’s defense this season in 19 possessions.

4-3: Florida’s record facing a top-five-ranked LSU team since 2007.

6 of 26: Third-down conversions by LSU’s opponents.

7-2: Florida QB DJ Lagway’s record as a starter.

11: Games with 25 or more completions by LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier, tying Joe Burrow’s school career record.

463: Consecutive games by Florida without being shut out.

Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com

JOURNAL SPORTS

RUSTON – LSU couldn’t put Louisiana Tech away, and struggled to sustain offensive production against the Bulldogs last Saturday night.

Now Tech returns to Origin Bank Field at Joe Aillet Stadium for the first of two consecutive home games as the Bulldogs open Conference USA play against the New Mexico State Aggies on Saturday at 6:30 p.m.

This matchup will serve as the CUSA opener for both teams in Tech’s final year in the league before jumping to the Sun Belt for the 2026 season. The contest will be aired on ESPN+.

The Bulldogs enter Saturday’s matchup with a 1-1 record after falling 23-7 to No. 3 LSU this past weekend. The Aggies enter the matchup 2-0, marking their first 2-0 start since 2014. NMSU defeated Tulsa 21-14 this past Saturday.

The Bulldogs are in search of their fifth straight home opening CUSA win.

The Louisiana Tech defense turned in a masterful performance against No. 3 LSU, holding the Tigers to 128 rushing yards on 34 attempts. While 91 of those yards came on two carries, the Bulldogs limited LSU to 37 yards on the other 32 attempts.

Tech allowed only two touchdowns in the loss, while recording three sacks, touchdowns in the loss, while recording three sacks, one interception, eight tackles for loss and one forced fumble.

Several Bulldogs recorded career firsts in the matchup against LSU. Devin Gandy made his first FBS start and scored his first touchdown, while Michael Richard recorded his first interception. Jojo Odom, Christian Davis, and Jadon Mayfield each registered their first career sack.

Redshirt sophomore Blake Baker saw his first action of the season at quarterback as he took all snaps in the fourth quarter. The Texas native led Tech on its lone scoring drive as he found Devin Gandy wide open after a cornerback blitz, resulting in a 33-yard score. Baker finished the quarter 3-of-8 for 46 yards with the one score.

By T. SCOTT BOATRIGHT, Lincoln Parish Journal

GRAMBLING – After a 70-0 smackdown last week at Ohio State, the Grambling State football team looks to get back on a winning track as the Tigers play host to Kentucky State at 6 p.m. Saturday at Eddie G. Robinson Memorial Stadium.

Both teams enter the game at 1-1.

The teams have only met twice, with Grambling State taking both games — 14-13 in 1952 and 13-0 in 1953.

Grambling is looking to wipe away memories of the walloping from No. 1 Ohio State, the defending FBS national champions.

Tigers coach Mickey Joseph said his team is confident they can turn things around now that they’re back on a level playing field.

“I’m proud of my coaches and proud of my players because they competed,” Joseph said of the Ohio State game. “We looked at the film on Sunday — ‘Tell the Truth Sunday’ — and nobody’s effort was questioned, and that’s what we asked them to do.”

Joseph admitted he got emotional during that game.

“It’s like a father watching his son go into an uphill battle and all you can do is stand on the sideline and not help them physically. So I had to make sure I made good decisions that game and that’s why we started going to the huddle.

“But nobody quit. Our O-line and D-line guys battled and they won because they didn’t quit. They didn’t back down and I thought for the most part they did a good job.”

Joseph said that after opening the season with a big win over Langston and then losing in a game they weren’t supposed to win, he understands why the G-Nation is still unsure about what they have in a football team this season.

“No, you don’t know,” Joseph said of what fans know about his team two games into the season. “You’re still searching — if you’re not in this building, you’re searching. We know what we have in this building.

“That (big win) was supposed to happen against Langston because we’re on different levels. If you execute and do what you’re supposed to do, that’s how it’s supposed to look because we have 63 scholarships and Langston has five. So, we know in this building what we have, but I think outside is still searching because we stay private in this building.”

He said his team’s practices have been the same this week as they were last week preparing for Ohio State.

“We prepare the same every week, so we’re preparing the same way we prepared for Langston, the same way we prepared for Ohio State,” Joseph said. “There’s two things we ask them — focus and finish. And this is a pretty focused group when it comes down to it.

“They take nobody for granted. Really, they take nothing for granted. So they’re looking at Kentucky State just like they looked at Ohio State. Like I said last week, there’s levels to this thing, so we understand (Kentucky State) is a Division II school, but it’s also a school with a reputation of winning some games. They’re 1-1 and they look good on film, so they’ll get our best game.”

For Joseph, preparing means practicing hard every day.

“It’s how you come out every week,” Joseph said. “How you get them to practice and how you get them to play. Around here, you can’t practice soft and then play hard on Saturday. That’s why we played hard last Saturday. Because that’s what we demand as a coaching staff.

“We demand that you practice hard. We demand that you study hard. We’re about to get on this academic stuff. So, we demand that you do everything right around here.

Kentucky State opened the season with a 34-24 neutral site win over Central State before falling last week to Albany State, the eighth-ranked team in this week’s BoxToRow HBCU football poll, 49-21 at home.

And while the Thoroughbreds are a Division II program, Joseph said he realizes they’re capable of putting up a fight.

“They’re a really athletic football team. Well-coached, very aggressive on defense,” Joseph said. “They’re going to come in here to play. They won’t be intimidated coming in here.”

Contact Scott at tscottboatright@gmail.com

By BRAD WELBORN, Northwestern State Sports Information

CINCINNATI  – With a very young roster still finding its footing, the Northwestern State football team visited Minnesota last week getting more than simply a chance to face off against a Big Ten program for the first time in program history.

Last Saturday’s game doubled as a classroom.

“Those games are what they are, but with that there is a lot that we can learn from it,” head coach Blaine McCorkle said. “How to play a game. How to play clean. How to go on the attack and not sit back and feel the game. With our extremely young team, there’s a lot to be learned from that game.

“I told them after the game you either lose, or you learn. We’re going to take the lessons from this one and do just that –- learn.”

The Demons (1-1) get their second straight test against a power-conference team when they visit Cincinnati (1-1) of the Big XII on Saturday afternoon at 2:30 p.m.  The game telecast will stream on ESPN+ with a Demon Sports Network radio broadcast available through 100.7 FM KZBL in Natchitoches along with other Baldridge-Dumas Communications stations in Leesville, Many and Winnfield, at BDCRadio.com/listenlive and through www.nsudemons.com.

Saturday’s outing against the Bearcats is an immediate chance to put the Demons’ newly-gained knowledge and experience to work.

“You can change the uniform and the location but we’re playing the exact same team this week,” McCorkle said. “In terms of talent and atmosphere and things like that it’s essentially the same as last week. 

“So, what did you learn from Minnesota? What are you going to change? We talk about constant, continual improvement, how do you do that. We challenged them to make honest assessments of what they need to do as individuals to be more prepared to play in that type of environment and game. If they do that, they will get better and that will help us the rest of the season.”

The growth mindset that has been instilled within the Demons since Day 1 of McCorkle’s time in Natchitoches has become second nature for second-year players in the system like safety Kaden Mackey.

“Win or lose every week is a new opportunity,” said Mackey, who led the Demons with a career-high 11 tackles a week ago. “If you go out and win, you celebrate but know you still have work to do. We just have to get better every day and improve. Coach talks about constant, continual improvement and that’s where we focus.”

The Demons displayed the first snapshot of that against the Golden Gophers, before Mother Nature intervened to conclude the game with just over six minutes remaining.

Across the final 12-plus minutes of competition, Troy Santa Marina recorded his first career interception, the Demons’ third in two games this year, and the defense stood tall with a goal line stand, getting a 4th-and-1 stop on what became the final play of the game.

“One of the things I was really proud of our team for was they played until the end of the game,” McCorkle said. “They never backed off. We were in a game a year ago against an FBS opponent where that didn’t happen. So, I think it showed some of the maturity of our program to stay positive and stay together. Find ways to stay in the fight and try to find a way to make a play. They did that and I give them a lot of credit for that.

The Demons made three straight defensive stops and saw similar progress on the offensive side of the ball, even with the game well in hand. That effort was testament to the toughness that McCorkle has instilled in his team via the standard that has been set from the start of offseason work.

“We work extremely hard every day,” senior running back Kolbe Burrell said. “I think this is one of the hardest working teams I’ve been a part of. It’s a new identity and new mentality. We want to embody working hard and striving for the things we want. You’re not going to get anywhere staying where you’ve been. If you want to do something different you have to be different.”

By PATRICK MEEHAN, Centenary Sports Information Director

JACKSON, Miss. — The Centenary football team hits the road this weekend as the Gents will face the Millsaps College Majors on Saturday evening at 6 in a non-conference contest at Harper Davis Field.

The Gents raced past the Westgate Christian University Ravens by a score of 42-7 last Saturday at home. The Majors, an NCAA Division III program like the Gents, fell 50-24 at Belhaven in their season opener.

“Millsaps is a well-coached, disciplined football team, and going on the road to face them in Week 2 is a great challenge for our program,” said Centenary head coach Byron Dawson.

“It’s the kind of test that shows us where we are and what we’re made of. We have a ton of respect for them, but we’re excited for the opportunity. And we need Gent Nation to show up loud and proud on the road. Your energy makes a difference, and our guys feed off it,” said Dawson.

The Gents led the Ravens 14-0 after the first quarter last Saturday and 21-7 at halftime and then outscored the visitors 21-0 in the second half to cruise to the win. Centenary ran 56 plays for 372 yards and had 18 first downs and the Gents’ stingy defense limited the Ravens to just 82 total yards and 3-13 on third and fourth down.

Junior Vance Feuerbacher passed for three touchdowns, ran for one, and punted last weekend and will be counted on all season after earning first-team All-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference honors at linebacker last season when he also played quarterback and punted and kicked.

Sophomore defensive lineman D’Qavion Lemons, a former Southwood High School star, leads the Gents’ defense. He was named to the D3football.com Preseason All-America Team last month.

Lemons had a stellar 2024 season as he was named to the D3football.com All-Region Team and the All-SCAC First Team.

The Gents, who return six all-conference selections from last season, were picked to finish fourth in the SCAC this season in the preseason poll and claimed a first-place vote.

Live stats and live video are available for the game at these links:

STATS: https://gomajors.com/sidearmstats/football/summary

VIDEO: https://gomajors.com/sports/2023/7/25/millsaps-video.aspx

Contact Patrick at pmeehan@centenary.edu

JOURNAL SPORTS

They say the waiting is the hardest part and that may be especially true for the Southwood Cowboys.

The owners of the state’s longest losing streak* didn’t even get a chance to put that misery to an end because they were off in the opening week of the season. (The asterisk is because even though the streak is 46 games, the number was increased due to two forfeits in the 2022 season).

The Cowboys will get their chance tonight to put it all to rest when they take on Class 1A Arcadia (0-1) at 7 o’clock at Lee Hedges Stadium.

Southwood came close last year to breaking the streak, losing three of its first four games by a touchdown or less. One of those was to Arcadia, 14-7.

But D’Aumante Johnson is undefeated as head coach of the Cowboys; the former Bossier coach took over on Walker Road in January.

The rest of the local District 1-4A teams have something in common as they move into Week 2 – they all have a 1-0 record.

Northwood crossed the Red River and came away with a win over Benton and will now take on Peabody (Alexandria) in the home opener at Jerry Burton Stadium. New quarterback Nathan Cervantes had two long touchdown passes to open last week’s game and threw for 189 yards. Running back Kyren Johnson picked up where he left off last year with 109 yards and two touchdowns.

The Falcons were able to overcome three turnovers.. 

Loyola, a point away from tying the school record for points in an opening game with a 55-21 win over St. Frederick, will be on the road to take on Logansport. As was the case last year, the Flyers showed a balanced offense in the opener with running back Mason Drake rushing for 177 yards and three touchdowns and quarterback Bryce Restovich throwing for 186 and two scores.

The Flyers have won eight of the last 10 against Logansport, including a 24-6 win a year ago.

Bossier will try to keep its offensive machine cranked up (63 points in a win over North Caddo) when the Bearkats travel to Minden Friday to take on Glenbrook. The Apaches spent plenty of time in the end zone as well in a 64-6 win over Magnolia.

Booker T. Washington will try to avoid looking ahead to next week’s Soul Bowl when the Lions play Bastrop on Friday at Leonard C. Barnes Stadium. The Lions had no trouble in a 56-0 opening win against Lakeview.

Woodlawn probably has the toughest test of any 1-4A team when the Knights travel to Parkway Friday. The Panthers are one of the favorites in District 1-5A and disposed of Carroll 43-13 in the opener.

Week 2 local schedule

Tonight

Arcadia (0-1) at Southwood (0-0), at Lee Hedges Stadium, Captain Shreve HS

Mansfield (1-0) at Green Oaks (0-1), at Jerry Burton Stadium, Northwood HS

Lincoln Prep (0-1) at Magnolia Charter (0-1)

Friday

District 1-5A games

Airline (1-0) at Benton (0-1)

Byrd (0-1) at Haughton (0-1)

Huntington (0-1) at Captain Shreve (0-1)

Natchitoches Central (1-0) at Evangel (0-1)

Non-district games

Bastrop (0-1) at Booker T. Washington (1-0)

Bossier (1-0) at Glenbrook (1-0)

Calvary (1-0) at Neville (1-0)

Loyola (1-0) at Logansport (0-1)

North Caddo (0-1) at North Webster (0-1)

Peabody (1-0) at Northwood (1-0)

Woodlawn (1-0) at Parkway (1-0)

Ringgold (0-1) at Plain Dealing (0-0)

By JASON PUGH, Northwestern State Sports Information Director

The Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026 announced Wednesday includes Bossier City native Mike McConathy, an Airline High and Louisiana Tech star player who became the state’s winningest college basketball coach in a combined 39 seasons at Bossier Parish Community College and Northwestern State.

Joining McConathy in the class to be enshrined in Natchitoches next June 25-27 are 2025 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Sylvia Fowles, NFL stars Joe Horn, Todd McClure and Pat Williams, Major League Baseball All-Star Jonathan Lucroy, Florien High School girls basketball coaching legend Dewain Strother and McConathy’s contemporary on the college basketball sidelines, John Brady of LSU.

Former LSU College World Series hero Warren Morris will join the group as the winner of the Louisiana Sports Ambassador Award, which is being presented for the third time since 2020. Shreveport network sports broadcaster Tim Brando was the first Ambassador Award recipient and Grambling baseball icon Wilbert Ellis got it in 2024.

A prep All-America guard at Airline High School, McConathy coached 39 college seasons, the first 16 at Bossier Parish Community College and the last 23 seasons at Northwestern, coaching the Demons to 330 of his state-record 682 victories and three NCAA Tournament berths.

It took McConathy just two seasons to completely transform the Demons, taking his first squad to the Southland Conference Tournament final and the second, the 2000-01 team, to the program’s first NCAA Tournament and the first March Madness win in program history – a 71-67 triumph over Winthrop. That victory allowed McConathy to helped build on a Demon legacy built by his father and two uncles, all of whom starred at Northwestern.

McConathy’s father, John, was a 1951 first-round NBA Draft pick of the Syracuse Nationals. He later coached the Bossier Bearkats to the 1960 state championship and eventually served as Bossier Parish superintendent of schools for over 20 years.

“How blessed am I to have coached with people and coach players who would actually allow us to coach them and to take us to greater heights than anyone dreamed?” the younger McConathy asked. “You have to give (former Northwestern Director of Athletics) Greg Burke a tremendous amount of credit. He took a chance on hiring me, but he saw something whether he knew it or not. I had a 50-year head start on anyone coming to Northwestern because of all of the ties my dad had established in the state and at Northwestern. That gave me an advantage.”

Five years later after that first NCAA Tournament berth, McConathy’s “Demons of Destiny” delivered one of March Madness’ signature buzzer-beating upsets in 2006 when Jermaine Wallace’s late 3-pointer capped a stunning second-half comeback to lift 14^th-seeded Northwestern to a victory that lives on every March in NCAA Tournament highlight packages.

McConathy’s third NCAA Tournament team came in 2013 when his Jalan West-led Southland Conference regular-season runner-ups outlasted rival Stephen F. Austin in the SLC Tournament championship game to earn its spot in the big dance. That victory in Katy, Texas, was one of seven appearances for a McConathy-coached team in the Southland Conference tournament championship game.

Those three tournaments were part of four national postseason appearances for McConathy’s Demons, who also played in the 2014 College Insider Tournament.

A member of the Louisiana Tech and NSU athletic halls of fame, McConathy also has been enshrined in the Ark-La-Tex Museum of Champions and the Northwestern State University Hall of Distinguished Educators – the latter coming after spending 23 years as a member of the university faculty.

In addition to graduating more than 90 percent of his NSU players, McConathy mentored five future Division I head coaches during his Demon tenure. Included among those who followed their leader’s footsteps to the top spot on the bench were Buzz Williams (currently at Maryland), Dave Simmons (McNeese) and Mark Slessinger (New Orleans).

Northwestern christened Mike McConathy Court at Prather Coliseum on Feb. 15, 2025, adding to his list of honors for his 43-year coaching career that began as the girls basketball coach at Airline. McConathy’s teams lived by the slogan, “The MVP of our team is our team,” something his induction into the state’s biggest sports shrine echoed.

“It’s special, but it’s special because there are so many people who helped me along the way – my parents, my teammates, my brothers  and sister, my wife and my children,” McConathy said. “Every player was a part of my family because they allowed me to be part of their life and to use what God’s given me, a gift to be able to reach out to others and see the best in them. By doing that, we were able to achieve a lot of great things. It was a collective thing with so many people contributing to me to make me able to give back to them.”

McConathy’s coaching career blossomed from the ground up at Bossier Parish Community College where he built a program from scratch and led it to seven seasons of 23-plus victories and two trips to the NJCAA national tournament, including a seventh-place finish. The Cavs played their home games at Airline during McConathy’s 16 seasons and competed with great success in the Texas-dominated NCJAA Region XIV against well-established, much better funded opponents.

The BPCC program turned into a powerhouse in McConathy’s fourth season, going 24-8 in 1986-87 and making the first of 12 NJCAA Region 23 tournament appearances. That was the first of 11 seasons with at least 22 wins, two NCJAA Tournament trips, and a 53-8 record with two final top 10 national rankings before he took the Northwestern job in March 1999.

As a player, McConathy was a prep All-American guard at Airline before becoming the Southland Player of the Year in 1977 as part of a Louisiana Tech career where he averaged 20.7 points per game. Just as his coaching career circled back to his father, so did McConathy’s time as a player. He went from an undersized freshman for the Vikings to a highly-recruited guard who visited Oklahoma and LSU before his college choice came down to Louisiana Tech and his parents’ alma mater, Northwestern. The chance to play for Scotty Robertson, a coaching colleague of his father’s, helped him choose the Bulldogs after spurning offers from Dale Brown at LSU and future NBA coach John McLeod at OU.

“The playing part of my career is pretty special,” McConathy said. “To go from being a 5-foot-3, ninth grader who wanted to play because his dad was a great player and a coach, the needle’s not moving. To be able to develop into a player, nobody thought that was going to happen. I wasn’t big, and I wasn’t strong, but my work ethic carried over from being a player to being a coach.

“I remember (future Louisiana Tech head men’s basketball coach) Tommy Joe Eagles (under whom McConathy student taught at Cedar Creek in Ruston) a long time ago told me great players don’t make good coaches. The reason is they don’t have to do the little things. I was not in that category. I had to do everything I could possibly do (to succeed as a player).”

He was good enough to get to the final cut with the Chicago Bulls in an era when there were only 12 NBA teams with 12-man rosters. After a brief stint playing pro ball in Europe, he came home and went to work at Airline, starting the girls program there before becoming the architect of BPCC basketball and launching a career that has carried him to the LSHOF Class of 2026.

Contact Jason at pughj@nsula.edu

Each year when the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame announces the next summer’s induction class, there’s nearly unanimous agreement – and where these days do you ever find that?

“It’s a great class,” people say. People like you and me. People like Archie Manning and other LSHOF members, including the recently inducted Danny Broussard, who ranks sixth in the country in career high school boys basketball coaching wins. Both said so Wednesday.

People from far away who don’t realize what talent we have in sports in this state, until somebody they know or cheered for is in the induction class and they take notice.

Louisiana takes a back seat to no place when it comes to jazz, zydeco, humidity, gumbo, etouffee, jambalaya … and sports studs.

The Louisiana Sports Writers Association’s LSHOF selection committee has 35 members from around the Boot – well, sadly, 34 after retired prep sportswriting legend Bill Bumgarner of New Orleans passed away suddenly on Sunday, gardening with his son and daughter-in-law, after taking his son and grandson to the Saints game.

The man we all knew and loved as “Bummer” was the first scribe in the state, and one of the first in the South, to cover football recruiting. He could tell you about a prospect at Bastrop, Basile or Barbe, at Northwood or Northwood-Lena, at Woodlawn (here) and Woodlawn there (in Baton Rouge), and OMG, when it came to prep football’s fabled Catholic League in New Orleans, Bummer knew about the backups who were gonna be stars.

Bummer loved, loved, loved voting each August to select the following year’s induction class. He was in the middle of discussions about the next year’s elections while occupying press boxes and press rooms and burning up the phone lines with pals from all around.

He was one of only a couple charter members of the selection committee, formed in 1982, still involved in the process. And he was excited about the latest selections, chosen during a five-hour meeting Aug. 23 in Pineville. That ended three weeks of deliberations, beginning with online voting that pared down 153 nominees from 27 different sport categories (from the obvious ones to lacrosse, rodeo, sailing, shooting, women’s boxing, weightlifting, and even chess) to 61 finalists.

Only nine, by rule, could be chosen. The LSWA honors the words of one of the forefathers, Otis Harris, sports editor of the Shreveport Journal.

The LSWA, and the Hall of Fame, were established in 1958. Discussion among state sportswriters began in the years after World War II, as they tried to figure out how to share high school football and basketball scores, and more effectively pick All-State teams. Those conversations hatched an idea. Wrote Harris:

“An organization with a membership so exclusive that nobody may immediately qualify to be tapped will open for business this weekend as a going concern,” said his Dec. 11, 1950 Journal column. “It is the Louisiana Hall of Fame – a hall of fame for the state’s greatest athletes, men or women, amateur or professional, living or dead.”

Turned out Harris was ahead of everybody else, and it didn’t come together for eight years. But his perspective was on point from the day he handed sheets of the column to the typesetter.

“The purpose is to make the hall of fame mean something and limit the roll to athletes, past or present, who have become figures of national or international renown in the general sports pattern. Only the state’s immortals in the sphere of athletes will be enshrined.”

The first three inductees – baseball great Mel Ott, LSU football All-American Gaynell Tinsley (from Homer) and champion boxer Tony Canzoneri – were inducted in 1959 at the Ark-La-Tex Sports Award Banquet in Shreveport.

Over the years, as a total of 503 people have been enshrined, a lot more stars haven’t gotten selected.

Many of the 144 not chosen for the Class of 2026 are accomplished enough to belong. Probably every one of the 61 finalists would fit fine in the Hall, but as new nominees emerge each year, most of those left outside will never get inside.

For example, for the 2027 ballot, strong candidates who will be eligible for the first time will include Patrick Peterson (football), Ryan Harrison (Shreveport’s own pro tennis great), and Leonard Fournette (football). The 2026 newbies left waiting included Mark Ingram, Jarvis Landry and Ed Orgeron – and that’s just the football guys.

It’s not easy whittling down the nominees to the inductees. That makes Wednesday’s announcement worthy of celebrating the nine who have earned an invitation to Natchitoches on the last weekend of June next year.

Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com