Brother Martin, Chapelle earn top seeds from area in bowling playoffs

BRACKETS: Boys | Girls

Seven boys/co-ed and three girls team from the New Orleans region have qualified for the state bowling playoffs beginning next week.

The playoff brackets were released Monday by the LHSAA.

Brother Martin (11-1), which has won a record six state titles, including each of the last four, claimed the No. 2 seed in the boys/co-ed bracket behind only Central Lafourche (12-0), while Archbishop Chapelle (11-1) leads the girls contingent from the region as the No. 5 seed.

The Crusaders and the other 15 teams in the boys/co-ed lower bracket will bowl early round matches at AMF All Star Lanes in Kenner on March 21. The Trojans headline the group of upper bracket teams competing at Creole Lanes in Houma on March 20.

Two other area teams are top eight seeds in the boys/co-ed bracket. Archbishop Shaw (11-1), which reached the semifinals a year ago, is seeded fifth and will bowl in Houma, while Jesuit (11-1) is the No. 7 seed and will bowl in Kenner.

For the third straight year, Brother Martin and Jesuit are in the same quarter of the bracket. The teams met in the second round in 2021 and the quarterfinals last season, and could meet in the quarterfinals again next week.

In the opening round, Brother Martin will face Comeaux, Shaw meets Woodlawn-Baton Rouge and Jesuit takes on region rival Archbishop Rummel (8-4), which is seeded 26th, in the only all-local first-round matchup.

The rest of the New Orleans region representatives in the playoffs include No. 18 seed Patrick Taylor (10-2), which will face 15th seed South Terrebonne in the first round in Houma, and a pair of first-year programs, No. 22 seed Slidell (10-2), which opens with Dutchtown in Kenner, and No. 29 seed John Ehret (7-5), which will face undefeated Hammond in Houma.

In the girls bracket, 2021 champion Chapelle and 12th-seeded Cabrini (8-4), which faced off in the regular-season finale for both schools last Thursday, will meet again in the first round March 22 at All Star Lanes in Baton Rouge.

The other area team in the girls bracket, 2018 and 2019 champion Academy of Our Lady is seeded 11th and will face defending champion Denham Springs (11-1) in the opening round.

Dutchtown (12-0), which qualified an unprecedented 10 bowlers for the March 31 singles event, is the top seed in the girls bracket.

The early-round matches will whittle the fields down to four teams for the semifinals and finals March 30 at Premier Lanes Entertainment Center in Gonzales.