Inside the numbers of LHSAA Prep Football Playoffs

In what is the seventh year of the split among non-select and select schools in Louisiana high school football, let us take a look inside the numbers, some of them of the ridiculous nature once again as a result of the decision of Louisiana principals to create nine classifications in a small state.

**There are 298 football playoff schools in Louisiana, including 229 non-select and 69 select schools.

**A total of 152 non-select schools are in the playoffs (66.4%) while 61 of the 69 select schools (88.4%) are in the playoffs, 213 total.

**Overall, 71.5% of the schools participating in football make the playoffs.

**Under the previous playoff system which included all schools in their respective classifications number five total, 160 schools made the playoffs out of the 298 participating schools (54%). The %50 percent threshold is much more appropriate.

**Division III has just 11 schools in the playoffs while Division I has only 12. The fallacy of Division I is that seven of those schools reside in the same district (9-5A), which results in regular rematches.

**Speaking of rematches, there are eight in the opening round among the 93 games set to be played Thursday-Saturday.

**District 4-5A rivals in No. 5 Zachary and No. 28 Live Oak meet in the opening round. The Broncos won 21-16 at Live Oak on Oct. 11.

**District 5-2A rivals in No. 8 Kinder and No. 25 Rosepine meet in the opening round. The Yellow Jackets won 42-26 at home on Oct. 11.

**District 1-2A rivals in No. 3 North Caddo and No. 30 Lakeside hook up in the first round as well. The Rebels won 34-14 at home on Oct. 25.

**District 3-1A rivals in No. 9 Montgomery and No. 24 Block renew acquaintances as well. The Tigers won 36-16 at home on Oct. 24.

**In 1A, No. 11 Grand Lake will host No. 22 Merryville. The Hornets won 46-20 at home on Sept. 27.

**In Division I, No. 5 Scotlandville entertains No. 12 McKinley. The Hornets blasted the Panthers 68-7 at home to open the regular season on Sept. 6.

**Also in Division I, Catholic League rivals in No. 6 Jesuit and No. 11 Archbishop Shaw play again Thursday night. The Blue Jays won 34-3 at Shaw on Oct. 26.

**In Division IV, unbeaten No. 3 seed Ascension Catholic plays host to No. 14 Riverside Academy. The Bulldogs won 35-22 at home on Sept. 13.

**Of the 213 teams in the playoffs, 35 have losing records.

**There are no 5A teams with losing records. Three of the teams in 4A have losing records and three in Class 3A have losing records. A total of 13 of the 32 teams in 2A have losing records while eight of the 24 teams in Class 1A have losing records. Three of the 12 teams in Division I have losing records. Three teams in Division II have losing records and two teams in Division IV have losing records.

**Of those teams in the playoffs with losing records, nine have won just three games, four have won just two games and one has won just one game.

**Projecting potential blockbuster matchups further down the road, powers West Monroe and Destrehan could meet in the quarterfinals while Acadiana and Zachary could square off in the 5A semifinals.

**Warren Easton, a dangerous 20th seed, could make it to a semifinal matchup with top seed Lakeshore in 4A while behemoths Karr and Neville may meet in the semifinals in Monroe.

**In 3A, there would be a lot of work to do for No. 20 Lutcher but the Bulldogs are capable of reaching the semifinals, where they would likely face a rematch at No. 1 St. James, their parish rival.

**In 2A, top seed Ferriday could be on a collision course with powerful No. 5 Amite in the semifinals.

**In 1A, familiar foes West St. John, the top seed, and No. 4 Oak Grove could meet again, this time in the semifinals and this time at Edgard. Oak Grove whipped West St. John 30-0 on a muddy field at home in the semifinals last year.

**In Division I, unbeaten top seed Archbishop Rummel could face rematches with Catholic League rivals St. Augustine in the quarterfinals and Brother Martin in the semifinals.

**Third-seeded John Curtis Christian is facing rematches with 9-5A rival Jesuit in the quarterfinals and Catholic of Baton Rouge in the semifinals. The Patriots beat the Blue Jays in the regular season and lost to them in the 2014 Division I final. Curtis whipped Catholic in the Division I title game last year after the Bears beat the Patriots in the 2017 final.

**In Division II, No. 2 De La Salle is seeded to face two-time defending champion and No. 3 seed University High in the semifinals. U-High defeated the Cavaliers 45-19 in the Division II title game in 2017.

**In Division III, rivals in No. 2 Notre Dame and No. 3 Catholic of New Iberia will likely see each other once again in the quarterfinals. After losing to Notre Dame in the regular season in 2017, the Panthers upset the Pios in the state title game before Notre Dame defeated Catholic in last year’s championship game.

**In Division IV, unbeaten No. 4 Calvary Baptist could very well take on a very good team in No. 5 Ouachita Christian, which has lost just once, in the quarterfinals. Both programs have won state championships in recent years.

In the final analysis, to reiterate and pound home the point made on a continual basis, nine classes in Louisiana among just 298 participating schools is ridiculous. Here is once again holding out hope that principals will listen to coaches and many athletic directors and vote to reunite the LHSAA or we will end up with two completely separate and apart organizations in the future and that will hurt prep sports in Louisiana.