The feel-good story of the new year so far in local high school sports? Plain Dealing boys basketball.
When the Lions won last week 73-72 at Pickering, on a last-second 3-pointer by Jayden Ray, it was the team’s first victory this season. In fact, it was the first happy ending since Feb. 7, 2024, halting a skid of 35 straight defeats.
The Lions have the smallest number of boys enrolled in grades 9-12 of any Class A school statewide. That has put athletics in a bind – in 2024, the football team had to forfeit a district game in Week 8 because there weren’t enough healthy players to put 11 on the field at once, even though some junior high kids were on the squad.
The football struggles have continued. Plain Dealing was 0-9 last fall, stretching its losing streak to 44, longest in Louisiana. First-year coach Jerry Byrd has breathed life into the program and is unabashedly optimistic as more boys have come out for football while the community and school have stepped up support and encouragement.
Plain Dealing is the only pre-K-12th grade campus in Bossier Parish. Along with the enthusiasm and experience brought in by Byrd, who has been head coach at North DeSoto, North Caddo and Huntington before a few years as vice principal at C.E. Byrd, there’s the spark from new basketball coach DeAnthony Lyons.
He is the grandson of Louisiana High School Sports Hall of Fame coach Michael A. Lyons, who stacked up state titles at Grambling Lab (now Lincoln Prep). The younger Lyons began coaching at 16 years old. As assistant coach, he helped the Arcadia High School Lady Hornets win the 2023 Division IV State Championship and to a 2024 state runner-up finish.
In a mirror of the football rebuild, the Lions’ hoop squad had only five boys last season. Now there are a dozen. After the midnight welcome party from local police, family and supporters following the Pickering win, there’s a milestone confirming progress that should attract more participation and better days ahead.
The revitalization project is being led by the 2025 Bossier Parish high school principal of the Year, Jason Edwards, in his second year on campus. Along with the budding athletic turnaround, Edwards was honored by the school board in November after the school’s growth in the percentage of students reaching proficiency in all content areas and a higher graduation rate.
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At the other end of the scale locally, Calvary Baptist again has one of the state’s best teams, and a top player in lanky guard Tyrone “T.J.” Jamison. The junior was the Class 2A state Outstanding Player and the SBJ’s All-Metro Outstanding Player last season.
Jamison and the Cavs are in peak form again. Tuesday night they packed the gym at Calvary and nearly knocked off Class 5A power Ruston, falling 67-63 despite 27 points from their prime-time guard.
Last month, Ruston won a powerhouse Capitol City Classic tournament in Portland, Ore., and the Bearcats are 11-1.
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Looks like former Parkway All-State kicker Aeron Burrell made a good move entering the transfer portal along with 28 other LSU teammates.
Arkansas sophomore-to-be kicker Scott Starzyk will transfer to LSU, reports indicate, after making 14 of 18 field goals including a pair of 50-yarders. He was Freshman All-SEC.
Burrell has been the Tigers’ kickoff specialist for his first two years in Baton Rouge but apparently is not the pick of new LSU special teams coach Joe Houston.
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