St. Paul’s, St. Charles, Jesuit draw high playoff seeds

    St. Paul’s and Jesuit are the top two seeds in the Class 5A football playoffs.
    St. Charles Catholic is the No. 2 seed in the 3A state eliminations.
    And Archbishop Rummel, Brother Martin, St. Augustine, De La Salle, Pope John Paul II, Archbishop Shaw and Archbishop Hannan are somewhere in between in their various class brackets.
    The postseason begins on Friday.
    It already has been a banner year for schools in the Archdiocese of New Orleans. St. Paul’s, Jesuit, St. Charles Catholic, St. Augustine and Pope John Paul II all have won district championships. And De La Salle (5-4) and Hannan (6-4) had winning records to cap their campaigns.
    The area Catholic schools have had such outstanding seasons, the Clarion Herald’s task of selecting its annual Elite Team in the next few weeks will be its most arduous task since the first team was published in 1997.
     But let’s get to the business at hand of scoping the playoffs.         Class 5A: St. Paul’s should get past No. 32 Central and the Ruston-Denham Springs winner in the regional round to make it to the quarterfinals. There, the Wolves will likely meet either No. 5 and defending runner-up West Monroe or No. 4 and undefeated Dutchtown in the semifinal round.
    On the other side, Jesuit (10-0) should brush aside No. 31 Sulphur  (5-5), then take on the East St. John-Brother Martin winner (and that game is too close to call). But either way, Jesuit should advance to the quarterfinals, where the Blue Jays will face either No. 7 Carencro (9-1) or No. 10 Ouachita (8-2). If Jesuit makes it to the semis, it will have either No. 3 Byrd (10-0) or No. 11 and dangerous Acadiana (7-2), the reigning 5A champion, in the way of a trip to the Dome.
    Rummel (8-1) is seeded sixth and opens with No. 27 Higgins (6-3). A Raider victory pairs them with old adversary Acadiana in the regional round. Acadiana has twice eliminated Rummel from the playoffs.
    Class 4A: St. Augustine drew the No. 9 seed and opens with No. 24 Belle Chasse, which it should beat. But then the Purple Knights will likely face archrival McDonogh 35 in the regional round with the opportunity to avenge an earlier 50-42 loss to the Roneagles.
    It doesn’t get any easier from there. The winner of that game will go against the No. 1 seed and unbeaten Neville in the quarterfinals.
    Shaw (3-6), which slipped into the No. 31 slot on power points,  has the dubious task of facing No. 2 St. Thomas More (9-1) in Lafayette.
    Class 3A: St. Charles Catholic (10-0) drew a difficult bracket as the No. 2 seed. The Comets open at home on Nov. 11 against No. 31 Kaplan (6-4), which should be no problem. But Patterson (9-0), a surprising No. 15 seed, would be next. Louisiana sports writers consider Patterson the No. 2 team in 3A behind the Comets in their Top 10 poll.
    The winner then will most likely face No. 7 Church Point (8-2) in the quarterfinal round, then the Loranger (9-1)-Notre Dame (7-3) winner in the semis.
    On the other side of the bracket, No. 4 Amite looks like the best of the bunch.  Top seed Farmerville (9-1) has beaten just two teams with winning records.
    No. 27 De La Salle, having its best season since pre-Katrina, is up against a Notre Dame team that is much better than its 7-3 record would indicate.    
    Class 2A: No. 14 Pope John Paul II hosts No. 19 Oakdale (6-4), which has not beaten an opponent with a winning record. But the Jaguars will then face No. 3 Calvary Baptist (9-1) in the regionals and will have to travel to Shreveport to do so.
    No. 1 John Curtis and No. 5 Evangel are on their way to meeting again in the semifinals of the upper bracket.  
    Class 1A: Hannan made it as the No. 31 seed with the task of facing No. 2 Vermilion Catholic (10-0) in Abbeville.