‘Select’ football playoffs move into key round

    Pope John Paul II and Archbishop Hannan, two of four teams from the very competitive District 7-2A to make the Division III Select football playoffs, will clash for the second time on Friday.
    And for the second time, Hannan will have to travel to Slidell to face the host Jaguars at the site of the Hawks’ 22-20 victory on Oct. 4.
    This rematch was made possible by a dual playoff system that placed non-public schools into one of four Select divisions.
    The two are playing at their best during the early playoff rounds. No. 4 seed Hannan trounced Westminster, 61-20; and No. 12 Pope John Paul II    eliminated No. 5 Menard, 22-6.
    Two more district rematches are scheduled for Friday when District 9-5A champion St. Augustine will try to defeat Catholic League rival Jesuit a second time, and St. Charles Catholic meets District 11-3A champion John Curtis.
    St. Augustine, the No. 1 ranked Select school in Division I, will host the Blue Jays at Tad Gormley Stadium on Friday at 7 p.m. The Purple heir first encounter, besting Jesuit, 34-14.
    While the Knights drew a bye, Jesuit earned advancement by defeating district mate Brother Martin, 17-14.
    The winner will then face the winner of the No. 5 Archbishop Rummel-No. 4 Scotlandville game in next week’s semifinal round.
    It’s no secret that St. Charles Catholic officials are not happy about a rematch with John Curtis, a 25-time state champion and the No. 1 seed in the Division II playoffs.
    Had not SCC chosen to play up to Class 3A from 2A, the Comets would be among the favorites in Division III. 
    Instead, Curtis also chose to compete in 3A and landed in a district (11-3A) with the Comets.
    And the Patriots followed a 29-28 loss to St. Augustine by soundly beating St. Charles, 46-13, the following week. The two will play on Friday at Muss Bertolino Playground.
Others moving on
    The 2012 Class 5A champion, Archbishop Rummel, drew a bye in the Division I bi-district round as the No. 5 seed and will travel to No. 4 Scotlandville.
    No. 6 Holy Cross visits No. 3 Catholic High at Olympia Stadium in Baton Rouge in another Select Division I quarterfinal game on Friday.
    If there is anything positive to say about separate playoffs, the Archbishop Shaw coaches will say simply, “Thanks.”
    The Eagles would have failed to make a common 5A playoff    bracket for lack of power points, but because of the split, they garnered the final Division I seed and turned the opportunity into a 21-14 overtime victory over No. 7 St. Paul’s last week.
    Shaw moves on to Shreveport to face No. 2 Byrd High.