By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
Three of the four local teams still going in the LHSAA football quarterfinals will meet south Louisiana foes that rarely encounter teams from the 318 area code. Two of those are reigning state champions and the other is unbeaten.
Parkway and Loyola get to host games Friday night. The Panthers take on Monroe’s Ouachita Parish Lions while the Flyers square off against Archbishop Shaw out of the fabled Catholic League in New Orleans.
Evangel and Calvary travel to play undefeated, top-ranked foes.
The Eagles have the most formidable task, visiting nationally-ranked Edna Karr in New Orleans. The Cavaliers head to the Hammond area to encounter upstart Jewel Sumner, which unlike Calvary, has little playoff experience.
PARKWAY’S OPPONENT: The Ouachita Parish Lions (8-4) entered with a No. 14 seed but just pulled the upset of the Non-Select Division I bracket, winning 21-19 last Friday at No. 3 Destrehan. That’s a Destry team that plastered Captain Shreve 68-28 in midseason. The Lions opened the season beating Shreve 37-19 in Monroe.
Ouachita plays in District 2-5A that includes Ruston, Alexandria, Neville and West Monroe. All but West Monroe are in the quarterfinal round this Friday.
OPHS lost 38-37 to Neville, and by one score to Ruston and ASH. West Monroe beat the Lions 39-25.
Quality non-district wins for the Lions: 33-22 over Sterlington and 42-14 at Franklin Parish.
Senior running back Macario Dade is averaging 135.5 yards on the ground (1,490 for the season).
LOYOLA’S OPPONENT: Archbishop Shaw (7-4) is the defending Select Division II state champion, and owns a No. 7 seeding. The Eagles have three shutout losses.
They’re the only team to beat Class 2A power Lafayette Christian, intercepting six passes in a 31-13 win on Sept. 26.
Shaw opened with a 35-0 loss to the undisputed best team in the state, Edna Karr. The Eagles were routed 29-0 by their rival, Archbishop Rummel, in Week 3.
After a first-round bye, they blasted Haynes Academy 49-6 last week, scoring 42 points on 11 first-half plays. Their coach, Hank Tierney, is among the state’s top 15 all-time winningest coaches.
EVANGEL’S OPPONENT: The Edna Karr Cougars are four-time reigning Catholic League champions and are defending last year’s Select Division I state title, won in a 50-0 romp over Alexandria.
Quarterback John Johnson, a Washington State commitment, threw three touchdown passes and ran for three more scores in a 39-13 victory over 17th-seeded Jesuit last Friday. The game was scoreless at halftime, but the Cougars roared to life and built a 26-0 lead.
Top-seeded Karr (11-0) has outscored opponents 480-119. The Cougars’ closest games against in-state foes were a 42-21 win over St. Augustine and a 48-26 victory over John Curtis – both still going in the state quarters.
Karr dodged a loss against Florida-based American Heritage in a 24-17 overtime victory on Sept. 12 in New Orleans. The Cougars’ highly-regarded senior running back, Tre Garrison, is nicknamed “Truck Stick” and plans to join Johnson in Pullman, Wash., next season.
The Cougars, who have 33 seniors, are riding a 24-game winning streak and are No. 7 nationally in the SI.com prep rankings. MaxPreps has them at ninth and in The Sporting News composite rankings of eight different polls, Karr is No. 11.
CALVARY’S OPPONENT: Where is undefeated Jewel Sumner located? It’s near Kentwood, outside of Hammond, best known for being the hometown of pop singer Britney Spears and Pro Football Hall of Fame tight end Jackie Smith.
But it’s in a one-light town – Tangipahoa, population under 500.
The Cowboys (11-0), the third seed in Select Division III, are having their best season ever. Last year they won their first-ever district title in 20 seasons and finished 10-2. They’ve been atop the LSWA’s Class 3A Top 10 poll most of the year, ahead of University Lab.
Jewel Sumner, using a productive Wing T offense, has outscored its opponents 406-100 with three shutouts. Last week the Cowboys opened postseason beating St. Charles Catholic – the team Calvary defeated to win its 2023 state title – by 42-20.
Eleventh-year coach Ross Currier led the program to its first playoff appearance in 2018, its first postseason win in 2020, and its first quarterfinal round berth last year. Currier’s father and uncle combined to coach five state championship teams at other small schools in the area.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com