LHSAA Playoff Brackets: Storylines, Prospects | D-I Non-Select
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Louisiana’s high school football playoffs kick off this weekend. The LHSAA’s second postseason under a tweaked format features eight brackets — four “nonselect” and four “select” — full of impressive teams and prospects and intriguing matchups and storylines. We’ll give a…
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Continue ReadingLouisiana’s high school football playoffs kick off this weekend.
The LHSAA’s second postseason under a tweaked format features eight brackets — four “nonselect” and four “select” — full of impressive teams and prospects and intriguing matchups and storylines.
We’ll give a quick preview of each, including the top five seeds, two lower seeds to watch for a potential run, up to eight top-ranked prospects, up to five sleeper prospects, an intriguing first-round matchup, a most intriguing potential second-round matchup and an overarching storyline entering the tournament.
Check out the Division-I Non-Select capsule below.
Top 5 seeds: No. 1 Ruston, No. 2 Neville, No. 3 Destrehan, No. 4 Airline, No. 5 St. Amant
Lower seeds to watch: No. 25 Northshore, No. 28 Ouachita Parish
2022 champion: Destrehan
2022 runner-up: Ruston
Top prospects: 2024 Terrebonne WR Kylan Billiot Kylan Billiot 6'3" | 185 lbs | WR Terrebonne | 2024 State LA , 2024 Ruston DL Ahmad Breaux Ahmad Breaux 6'3" | 260 lbs | DL Ruston | 2024 State LA , 2024 Zachary OL Kavion Broussard Kavion Broussard 6'6" | 270 lbs | OL Zachary | 2024 State LA , 2024 Destrehan LB/DL Kolaj Cobbins Kolaj Cobbins 6'2" | 220 lbs | LB Destrehan | 2024 State LA , 2024 Zachary TE/WR Trey’Dez Green Trey’Dez Green 6'7" | 225 lbs | ATH Zachary | 2024 State LA , 2024 Westgate DL De’Myrion Johnson De’Myrion Johnson 6'2" | 280 lbs | DL Westgate | 2024 State LA , 2024 Ponchatoula LB Albert Smith III Albert Smith III 6'2" | 205 lbs | LB Ponchatoula | 2024 State LA , 2025 Neville DL Brody Whatley Brody Whatley 6'5" | 250 lbs | DL Neville | 2025 State LA .
Sleeper prospects: 2024 Terrebonne DL Talan Bingham Talan Bingham 6'3" | 315 lbs | DL Terrebonne | 2024 State LA , 2024 Parkway DB Ashtin Jackson Ashtin Jackson 6'1" | 175 lbs | DB Parkway | 2024 State LA , 2024 Airline RB Trevon Jackson, 2024 Salmen RB Jacobi Jefferson Jacobi Jefferson 5'9" | 175 lbs | ATH Salmen | 2024 State LA , 2024 Ponchatoula DL/LB Jamaal Sapp Jamaal Sapp 6'3" | 205 lbs | LB Ponchatoula | 2024 State LA .
Intriguing first-round matchup: No. 15 East St. John vs. No. 18 Central (Baton Rouge)
Most intriguing possible second-round matchup: No. 8 West Monroe vs. No. 9 Walker
Overall Storyline: The top of the bracket is full of familiar faces who once again largely appear to be the most legitimate contenders to bring home trophies. Top-seeded Ruston is full of leaders back from last year’s runner-up team and determined the complete the mission this time around. Defending champion Destrehan is the loaded once again as the No. 3 seed in this year’s bracket. And No. 2 Neville and No. 6 Zachary have been among Louisiana’s most prominent and successful programs during the past decade. But don’t overlook some ascending teams in higher seeds than usual, such as No. 4 Airline or No. 5 St. Amant; traditional powers in lower seeds after some ups and downs, such as No. 8 West Monroe or No. 16 Westgate; or even (a long list of) some other talented, but lower-seeded underdog teams more than capable of creating chaos, such as No. 18 Central (Baton Rouge) or No. 21 Mandeville.