LHSAA Playoff Brackets: Storylines, Prospects | D-III 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-III Non-Select capsule below.
Top 5 seeds: No. 1 Jena, No. 2 Sterlington, No. 3 St. James, No. 4 Union Parish, No. 5 Bogalusa
Lower seeds to watch: No. 11 South Plaquemines, No. 12 Loreauville
2022 champion: Many
2022 runner-up: Union Parish
Top prospects: 2024 St. James WR Kobe Brown Kobe Brown 5'10" | 160 lbs | WR St. James | 2024 State LA , 2024 Many DL Swazy Carheel Swazy Carheel 6'3" | 230 lbs | DL Many | 2024 State LA , 2027 Sterlington DB Devyn Downs Devyn Downs 6'1" | 185 lbs | DB Sterlington | 2027 State LA , 2024 Sterlington OL Mitch Hodnett Mitch Hodnett 6'5" | 280 lbs | OL Sterlington | 2024 State LA , 2024 Many RB Jeremiah James Jeremiah James 5'10" | 170 lbs | RB Many | 2024 State LA , 2025 Pine OL Jackson Jones Jackson Jones 6'7" | 290 lbs | OL Pine | 2025 State LA , 2024 Donaldsonville DB/ATH Raiyen Oatis Raiyen Oatis 5'11" | 185 lbs | DB Donaldsonville | 2024 State LA , 2024 Many DB/ATH Tylen Singleton Tylen Singleton 6'1" | 210 lbs | DB Many | 2024 State LA
Sleeper prospects: 2024 Caldwell Parish OL Eli Head Eli Head 6'5" | 285 lbs | OL Caldwell Parish | 2024 State LA , 2024 Jena WR/ATH Zykerrik Hunter Zykerrik Hunter 6'1" | 175 lbs | WR Jena | 2024 State LA , 2024 Bogalusa WR Desmond Ramirez Jr. Desmond Ramirez Jr. 5'11" | 160 lbs | WR Bogalusa | 2024 State LA , 2025 Westlake DB/ATH Kevin Rideau Jr. Kevin Rideau Jr. 6'2" | 170 lbs | ATH Westlake | 2025 State LA , 2025 Union Parish LB/DL Tyquereis Wilson Tyquereis Wilson 5'11" | 170 lbs | LB Union Parish | 2025 State LA .
Intriguing first-round matchup: No. 8 Amite vs. No. 25 Donaldsonville
Most intriguing possible second-round matchup: No. 8 Amite vs. No. 9 Jewel Sumner
Overall Storyline: One of the most wide-open brackets, if not the most wide-open, is led by a Jena program that finished the regular season undefeated for the first time since 2017 and earned its first top seed since the implementation of the power rankings system. The Giants are led by a strong senior core eager for a better showing than last year’s second-round loss, with the same opponent potentially the same opponent in 2021 champion Amite in their path in the quarters. The shifted bracket groupings have three programs to have won championships in the past two years (Amite, Many and Sterlington) all in this division, plus perennial powers St. James and Union Parish who won most recently in 2019 and 2013, respectively, although the Farmers have reached title games the past three years. Four of the 12 first-round matchups in this bracket last year were upsets. And almost every week of this tournament appears poised to include one or more notable rematches of recent playoff history or battles for earlier this season, which can often mean additional curveballs or chaos.