By LEE BRECHEEN, Louisiana Football Magazine
The first week of the LHSAA football playoffs weeded out the brackets and produced some upsets, none more convincing than Captain Shreve pounding Hammond on the road. All six Shreveport-Bossier teams still going might make it to Thanksgiving-week practices – I expect four will.
In Select Division I, eighth-seeded Evangel Christian (8-2) hosts No. 9 St. Paul’s (9-2) from Covington, who I’ve seen in person. The Wolves are a dangerous young team with a good running game led by Cody Morales (5-11, 198), a tough kid, hard to tackle with football speed. The offensive line averages about 270 pounds and must establish ball control for young coach Kenny Sears Jr., a former Northwestern Demon quarterback and son of the Wolves’ former coach.
The Wolves have a pretty good front seven anchoring their defense. The key to the game is keeping the Eagles’ superb junior QB, Pop Houston, from having a 400-yard passing game.
I like Evangel Christian to advance, but it might be closer than what most people might think because of St. Paul’s ability to keep the ball longer than most of ECA’s opponents. Evangel will also need to run away from defensive tackle Gage Brown (6-2, 280). He is the real deal as a pass rusher and run stopper going sideline to sideline.
Last week, 20th-seeded Captain Shreve upset a really good 13th-seeded Hammond team – blew them away, actually, by 40 points in a Select D-I mismatch. Hats off to Gators’ coach Jeremy Wilburn and his staff — they did a great job. Shreve (7-4) will travel to No. 4 Catholic of Baton Rouge and play at Memorial Stadium.
Catholic relies more than usual this year on the run game. The Bears have two really good running backs and a quick, tough defense.
Captain Shreve needs a great game from star RB Jamarcea “Champ” Plater (5-9, 195) who is the real deal. His understudy, junior Gabe Lockett, had a big game last week and gives Shreve a great 1-2 punch along with an explosive passing game loaded with talented receivers.
The Gators’ defense has to come up with some stops and get off the field because the Bears thrive on eight-minute drives behind the talent they have at RB. Catholic is hard to pick against but if the Shreve D can make some plays and the offense dials up another big night and controls the ball, the Gators could shock everybody.
In Non-Select Division I, sixth-seeded Parkway (10-1) will host No. 11 Hahnville (9-2) after putting up 51 points on a good Covington team last week. Hahnville will present more of a challenge as a better opponent in all three phases — defense, special teams and offense. I like Parkway here but it should be a close game with the Panthers’ defense making the difference. Hahnville has one of the state’s best kicker/punter in Myles Borey, who averages over 40 yards per punt and gives his team a chance to score inside the 40 like Byrd’s Asher Murray.
In Select Division II, No. 13 Booker T. Washington (7-4) travels to Baton Rouge to face fourth-seeded University Lab (8-2). The Lions’ key to this game is finding a way to score at least 24 to 27 points. U-High will present a challenge with a very good defense. The Cubs have talent but you can score on this team and BTW has the capability with its spread offense. Outside of big time defensive end/tackle Lamar Brown (6-3, 305), who is committed to LSU, the Cubs’ defense is very young. A Lions’ win would be a shocker but there is a path.
Select D-II’s No. 2 seed, Loyola Prep (9-1), will unleash its high-powered offense against a surprise team from Baton Rouge, 18th-seeded Belaire (6-5). Loyola has the goods to put up 40-50 points at Messmer Stadium on Friday, but must avoid turnovers. Belaire has athletes who can score, but the Flyers should move on to the quarterfinals.
Sixth-seeded Calvary Baptist (9-1) begins its Select Division III playoff run at home against No. 11 Metairie Country Day (7-4). The Cajuns put up 56 points in their first-round game and they have athletes but I think if the Cavaliers play their game, controlling the football, they should win by at least two touchdowns.
Country Day has a talented young team but this will be its toughest out of district game of the season. Calvary plays a very impressive non-district schedule to get ready for this time of year and few coaches do it better than Rodney Guin and his staff.
Contact Lee at lbrecheen@aol.com
(Lee Brecheen is the longtime publisher of Louisiana Football Magazine, covering all of the state’s high school teams each year since 1997. He’s been tracking high school recruits since 1992. Free content can be found at the website lafootballmagazine.com. Lee hosts a podcast with guests from around the state — The Sports Scouting Report with Lee Brecheen, available on YouTube).