By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
On the heels of Election Day, this weekend’s high school football games wrap up the regular season and the resulting LHSAA power rankings determine playoff byes, home game sites and pairings to be set Sunday.
The LHSAA power rankings system factors in game results, strength of schedule and to some degree, point differentials.
The power rankings after Friday’s games will set the playoff brackets in each division.
In Non-Select divisions, 28 teams qualify. The top four get first-round byes and second-round home games, while teams seeded 5-16 are at home in the opening round.
In Select divisions, 24 go to postseason in the Select divisions, with the top eight earning first-round byes and second-round home dates, and seeds 9-16 play at home in the first round.
Evangel’s 52-42 win over Airline last Friday gave the Eagles the biggest lift, up five spots, by any Shreveport-Bossier team in the Week 10 rankings. Haughton’s upset loss to Natchitoches Central dropped the Bucs five spots, but when they host the Eagles Friday night with the District 1-5A title at stake, both teams appear certain to host first-round playoff games.
Among the 12 games involving local teams, nearly all will impact the brackets including two of the biggest rivalry battles in Shreveport-Bossier.
The Airline-Parkway winner could earn a home playoff game. Both teams currently are just outside the top 16 in Non-Select Division I.
The “Backyard Brawl” between Byrd and Captain Shreve is always intense. Shreve can lock up a home playoff game with a victory while Byrd needs a win to be in the mix to fit in the Select D1 top 24.
Here are LHSAA power rankings through seven weeks for all 19 local teams, along with the top-ranked team in each division statewide (rankings movement in parenthesis):
NON-SELECT DIVISION I
1 (no change), Mandeville, 15.31; 11 (down 5), Haughton, 12.58; 18 (down 3), Airline, 11.05; 20 (no change), Parkway, 10.56, 31 (no change), Benton, 8.52.
SELECT DIVISION I
1 (no change), St. Augustine, 15.71; 14 (up 5) Evangel, 10.45; 15 (no change), Captain Shreve, 10.21; 20 (up 3), Huntington, 9.20; 26 (no change), Byrd, 7.41.
NON-SELECT DIVISION II
1 (no change), Neville, 15.97; 23 (down 4), Northwood, 11.09; 35 (down 2), Bossier, 7.98; 38 (up 3), Woodlawn, 6.71.
SELECT DIVISION II
1 (no change), Archbishop Shaw, 14.57; 15 (down 1), Booker T. Washington, 11.07; 26 (down 1), Southwood, 7.65.
NON-SELECT DIVISION III
1 (no change), Jena, 14.37; 7 (down 1), Green Oaks, 12.51.
SELECT DIVISION III
1 (no change), Notre Dame, 15.33; 6 (no change), Calvary, 13.78; 7, (up 1), Loyola, 13.14; 27 (up 1), North Caddo, 8.01; 35 (no change), Magnolia School of Excellence, 5.77.
NON-SELECT DIVISION IV
1 (no change), East Feliciana, 15.75; 41 (no change), Plain Dealing, 6.23