LHSAA sets football playoff pairings; Brother Martin No. 1

By Ron Brocato
Clarion Herald Sports Editor

Archbishop Rummel, the reigning Division I football champion, drew the No. 5 seed for the Louisiana High School Athletic Association’s 2020 playoffs.

 

The Raiders yielded the top spot to Catholic League rival Brother Martin, a team it eliminated in the 2019 semifinal round to advance to the championship game.

 

The LHSAA selected its playoff brackets on Nov. 22 for the post-season tournament, which begins Thursday. The select and non-select school championships will be played in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome Dec. 26-28.

 

Ten teams representing schools from the Archdiocese of New Orleans earned the right to compete for championship honors. Seven will compete in the Division I bracket.

 

As the No.1 seed, Brother Martin, whose only state championship came in 1971 when it defeated St. Augustine, will have a bye in the first round. The Crusaders will then host the winner of the No. 8 St. Paul’s vs. No. 9 Jesuit game.  

St. Paul’s posted a 4-3 record in this COVID-interrupted season. Jesuit, the 2014 Division I champion, finished with a 4-4 record following a 36-13 loss to Rummel.

By the quirk of the playoff draw, Brother Martin, Rummel and 2019 runner-up Catholic of Baton Rouge landed spots in the upper bracket. Rummel, which defeated Catholic 14-10 in last year’s championship game played at Tulane, will meet Catholic in Baton Rouge following first-round byes for both teams. The Raiders, whose only loss this year was to Brother Martin, 26-23, have a 5-1 record, while Catholic is at 6-2, but yet the higher seed.

 

The No. 3 seed is 8-0 Byrd High of Shreveport, which has a first-round bye. The Yellowjackets will then host the winner of the game between No. 6 St. Augustine and No. 11 Holy Cross, which will take place next weekend. St. Aug and Holy Cross just met on Nov. 21 at Yenni Stadium. with the Purple Knights (4-2) defeating 2-4 Holy Cross, 56-33.

 

Also in the bottom bracket is No. 2 Scotlandville (6-0), which will host either No. 7 John Curtis or No. 10 Archbishop Shaw. Those two will face off for the second time. Curtis defeated its District 9-5A rival Eagles, 33-6.

 

That win was one of only four for the Patriots, who uncharacteristically lost four games (to Acadiana, Karr, Rummel and Brother Martin) for the first time since J.T. Curtis took over coaching the team in a winless 1969.

 

De La Salle continues to search for that elusive Division II championship trophy when it opens the playoffs with a bye as the division’s No. 1 seed. The Cavaliers, runners-up in 2019 and 2017, completed a perfect 7-0 record with a 35-6 win over Thomas Jefferson and drew the spoils of success in the second round by hosting the winner of the No. 8 Teurlings Catholic (4-4) vs. No. 9 Thomas Jefferson (5-3) game.

 

Archbishop Hannan, fresh from a 5-2 record and a No. 4 seed, will host No. 13 St. Michael (2-4) next weekend (Nov. 26-28). If the Hawks win and get past the winner of the E.D. White vs. Loyola Prep game the following week, they would meet De La Salle in the division semifinal round.

 

On the bottom half of the bracket are No. 2 St. Thomas More (7-0), the defending champion; No. 3 University Lab (6-1); No. 6 Vandebilt Catholic (6-1); No. 7 Parkview Baptist (6-2); No. 10 St. Louis (2-5); No. 11 Haynes Academy (4-3) and No. 11 Evangel (0-7).

 

St. Charles Catholic, the Division III runner-up a year ago, is back as the No. 2 seed.  But also returning is Lafayette Christian, the 2019 champion via a 41-14 win over the Comets.

St. Charles, which has never experienced a losing season under longtime head coach Frank Monica, takes a 5-2 record into its bye week. The Comets will then meet the winner of the No. 7 St. Thomas Aquinas (5-1) vs. No. 10 Dunham (3-4) game in the quarterfinal round.

 

The division’s No. 1 seed is Newman (8-0), which recorded a hard-earned 14-7 win over St. Charles. The Greenies also have No. 5 Lafayette Christian (6-1) on its side of the bracket. The defending champion also has No. 4 Episcopal (8-0) waiting.

 

One possible matchup for the Comets is against undefeated No. 6 Ascension Episcopal, which has averaged 44 points per game in eight outings.

 

Eleven public schools from the New Orleans area will try to unseat Class 5A champion Acadiana in the non-select games. Among them are Covington, East Jefferson, Mandeville, West Jefferson, Destrehan, Hahnville, Ponchatoula, Slidell, Chalmette, East St. John and Ehret.

 

Earning spots in the Class 4A playoffs were Lakeshore, Kennedy, Salmen, Landry-Walker, Warren Easton, Carver, Belle Chasse, Pearl River and Edna Karr, a 35-34 winner over Easton in last year’s finals.

 

St. James returns to defend its Class 3A crown in a 32-team field that includes Booker T. Washington, Kenner Discovery, McDonogh 35, Lutcher, Bogalusa, Loranger and Jewel Sumner.

 

Kentwood, Amite and South Plaquemine are area teams in the Class 2A playoffs with hopes of replacing Ferriday as the champion. And West St. John is the only area team entered in the Class 1A playoffs, which was won by Oak Grove in 2019.

 

LHSAA officials will have strict guidelines for teams competing in the postseason. Officials said if a team has a COVID-19 case during the playoffs, it will be eliminated, and its opponent will advance to the next round. A team had to have at least four wins to qualify for the postseason.

rbrocato@clarionherald.org