Exciting events will usher in the prep sports season

Crunch time!

High School football’s 16th season in New Orleans is just a few weeks away and prep fans can expect to see exciting action as depicted above in a 2011 jamboree game between Pope John Paul II and Carver. This season will mark the last time schools will be forced to compete in classifications dictated by their enrollments. The change in Louisiana High School Athletic Association rules may see the reformation of a true Catholic League in 2013.

Photo by Ron Brocato | CLARION HERALD

    Are you getting excited yet about the upcoming prep fall sports season?
    As football teams sweat through the rigors of conditioning in 90-plus-degree heat, they inch closer to the jamboree week, which kicks off the season in three weeks.
    Girls’ teams from this archdiocese, Louisiana’s high school volleyball hotbed, are also preparing for their annual drives for championships in five divisions.
    If the anticipation of these events is not enticing enough to begin preparing for tailgate parties, I’ve got more exciting news for you:
    ➤ First, WLAE is scheduled to  televise Part II of its award-winning documentary, “Glory Days: The Catholic League of New Orleans” on Aug. 26.
    This, the second of three segments, will focus on the 1970s, a decade in which Catholic League football had reached its zenith.
    The second bit of news is that New Orleans finally will have a venue to recognize the great athletes, coaches and officials of high school sports – a Wall of Legends, which will also be announced this month. The details will soon be revealed by its iconic New Orleans host.
    Also, as announced by my buds at www.sportsnola.com – the area’s top website for sports – the Archbishop Hannan Football Classic will return in 2012 with eight schools participating in the four-game event. These games, sponsored by the area’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes, will be played for the first time since 2004.
Return of ‘Glory Days’
    The first chapter of the WLAE production aired last  year to rave reviews.
    The special introduced viewers to the history of prep football in New Orleans and the circumstances under which the Catholic League was formed. It then journeyed through the league’s first 15 years.    
    During the 1970s – the time period featured by “Glory Days II,” the league experienced  several power shifts:
    ➤ Chalmette, a public school, became an adopted member in 1970 after the LIALO, composed of the state’s African-American schools, folded, allowing those schools into the LHSAA.
    ➤ The decade also began with the rise of Brother Martin and St. Augustine as Louisiana powers and the beginning of their now-fabled “Battle for Gentilly” rivalry.
    ➤ The advent of Archbishop Rummel as a championship contender from the East Bank of Jefferson Parish, a recruiting hotbed for other non-public schools, came about in 1972.
    ➤ St. Augustine flexed its gridiron muscles by winning not one, not two, but three state championships during the decade.
    ➤ And a young, cocky kid named John Fourcade ushered in a new attitude and winning tradition as quarterback of Archbishop Shaw.
    Viewers will get a glimpse of the great coaching friendships and battles between Otis Washington of St. Aug and Bobby Conlin of Brother Martin, and Don Perret of Rummel against Joe Zimmerman of Shaw.
    It was a time when the Jesuit-Holy Cross rivalry, which dates back to 1922,  had to take a back seat. John Kalbacher of Holy Cross and Jesuit’s Ray Coates had departed, and the two schools struggled to find the right men to get their programs back at the top of the leaderboard.
Wall of Legends
    There is no question this city has been the birthplace of thousands of outstanding athletes, both male and female, at public, private and Catholic schools.
    Many have gone on to gain their own measure of glory at the college and professional levels. Some, who rose above the rest, have been inducted into various halls of fame.
    But other than earning a spot on all-district, all-metro or all-state teams, there has been no other deserving recognition on a local level.
    There soon will be, thanks to the innovative thinking and the generosity of the owners of a New Orleans landmark, who will announce their tribute to city’s legendary prep athletes, coaches and officials in the weeks to come.
Hannan Classic
    The series, which honors former New Orleans Archbishop Philip M. Hannan and his legacy,  will consist of four regular-season games during two weekends in September.
    The first will match Archbishop Rummel against St. Augustine on Sept. 15 at Joe Yenni Stadium (7 p.m).
    Three games will be played on the following weekend, beginning on Thursday, Sept. 20, with Brother Martin facing John Ehret at Tad Gormley Stadium (7 p.m.).
    Two games will be played on Friday, Sept. 21. The first matches Jesuit and De La Salle at Pan American Stadium (3:30 p.m.), followed by a 7 p.m. encounter down the road at Gormley between Holy Cross and Archbishop Shaw.
    Dr. Bennie Jones, director of the FCA, began sponsoring the games in 2000 to honor Archbishop Hannan and his contributions to Catholic education.
NOTES ‘N NEWS:
    ➤ The Greater New Orleans Football Officials Association will break in its new members and the veterans will shake out their own kinks at a camp sponsored by state’s high school officials association at  Joe Yenni Stadium.
    The officials will alternate working six scrimmages over a two-day period.
    The schedule for Friday, Aug. 10:
    Pope John Paul II vs. Patterson, 4 p.m.
    Ponchatoula vs. Brother Martin, 5:15 p.m.
    Riverdale vs. E.D. White, 6:30 p.m.
    East Jefferson vs. St. Paul’s, 7:45 p.m.
    On Saturday, Aug. 11:
    Hahnville vs. Belle Chasse, 9 a.m.
    Jesuit vs. Higgins, 10:30 a.m.
    ➤ Batters in high school softball no longer will have to make an attempt to avoid being hit by a pitch in order to be awarded first base. The Louisiana High School Athletic Association recently announced the revision of the rule.
    A batter will be awarded first base if “a pitched ball is entirely within the batter’s box and it strikes the batter or her clothing. No attempt to avoid being hit by the pitch is required; however, the batter may not obviously try to get hit by the pitch.”
    Ron Brocato can be reached at [email protected].