LHSAA Playoff Brackets: Top Storylines, Prospects | Division-III Select

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Louisiana's high school football playoffs kick off this weekend.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The LHSAA's second postseason under a tweaked format features eight brackets — four "nonselect" and four "select" —&nbsp;full of impressive teams and prospects and intriguing matchups and storylines.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>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.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Check out the Division-III Select capsule below.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top 5 seeds: </strong>No. 1 St. Charles Catholic, No. 2 Calvary Baptist, No. 3 Isidore Newman, No. 4 University Lab, No. 5 Catholic (New Iberia)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Lower seeds to watch: </strong>No. 9 Notre Dame, No. 10 Parkview Baptist</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>2022 champion:</strong> St. Charles Catholic</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>2022 runner-up:</strong> Dunham</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top prospects: </strong>2025 Isidore Newman OL [player_tooltip player_id='291165' first='Brett' last='Bordelon'], 2026 University Lab OL/DL [player_tooltip player_id='212343' first='Lamar' last='Brown'], 2025 Bunkie DB/WR [player_tooltip player_id='291084' first='Kyle' last='Johnson'], 2025 University Lab LB [player_tooltip player_id='144902' first='Alec' last='Haynes'], 2027 Dunham QB [player_tooltip player_id='642719' first='Elijah' last='Haven'], 2025 University Lab LB [player_tooltip player_id='144905' first='Keylan' last='Moses'], 2025 University Lab QB [player_tooltip player_id='734867' first='Emile' last='Picarella'], 2025 Calvary Baptist RB [player_tooltip player_id='710073' first='James' last='Simon'].</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Sleeper prospects: </strong>2024 University Lab WRs [player_tooltip player_id='285207' first='Granville' last='Anderson II'] and [player_tooltip player_id='285208' first='Seth' last='Gale'], 2024 Isidore Newman LB [player_tooltip player_id='901564' first='Isaiah' last='Grant'], 2024 Calvary Baptist WR [player_tooltip player_id='139473' first='Aubrey' last='Hermes'], 2024 Dunham DL [player_tooltip player_id='373290' first='Louis' last='Phillips'], 2024 Notre Dame OL [player_tooltip player_id='678297' first='Luke' last='Schultz'].</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Intriguing first-round matchup: </strong>No. 14 Northlake Christian vs. No. 19 St. Thomas Aquinas</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Most intriguing possible second-round matchup:</strong> No. 7 Dunham vs. No. 10 Parkview Baptist</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Overall Storyline:</strong> Recent champions St. Charles Catholic (2011, 2021, 2022), Calvary Baptist (2013, 2014, 2020) and University Lab (1974, 1988, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2021), each of whom boasts marquee wins against higher classification teams, appear to be the leading candidates to bring home the title this year in one of the most intriguing brackets of all levels. But Dunham made a surprise run to the Superdome in 2022, including defeats of both Calvary Baptist and University Lab, and is again among the other talented teams — also notably including No. 3 Newman, No. 5 Catholic (N.I.) and No. 6 Bunkie — with the opportunity to flip the anticipated scripts.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->