LHSAA Playoff Brackets: Top Storylines, Prospects | Division-IV 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-IV Select capsule below.
Top 5 seeds: No. 1 Vermilion Catholic, No. 2 Ouachita Christian, No. 3 Southern Lab, No. 4 St. Martin’s Episcopal, No. 5 Riverside Academy
Lower seeds to watch: No. 9 Ascension Catholic, No. 11 Glenbrook Academy
2022 champion: Ouachita Christian
2022 runner-up: Vermilion Catholic
Top prospects: 2024 Ouachita Christian OL Ryder Bentley Ryder Bentley 6'6" | 270 lbs | OL Ouachita Christian | 2024 State LA , 2025 St. Martin’s Episcopal RB Harlem Berry Harlem Berry 5'11" | 175 lbs | RB St. Martin's | 2025 State LA , 2026 St. Frederick ATH Montrell Conner Jr. Montrell Conner Jr. 5'10" | 150 lbs | ATH St. Frederick | 2026 State LA , 2024 Southern Lab DB Dylan Day Dylan Day 6'0" | 170 lbs | DB Southern Lab | 2024 State LA , 2025 Ascension Catholic RB/ATH Chad Elzy Chad Elzy 5'10" | 175 lbs | ATH Ascension Catholic | 2025 State LA Jr., 2024 Southern Lab OL Jude Foster Jude Foster 6'4" | 260 lbs | OL Southern Lab | 2024 State LA , 2025 Ascension Catholic DB/ATH DeMarcus Gant, 2024 Ouachita Christian ATH Tate Hamby Tate Hamby 6'1" | 180 lbs | ATH Ouachita Christian | 2024 State LA .
Sleeper prospects: 2024 St. Mary’s ATH Ben Bienvenu Ben Bienvenu 6'3" | 200 lbs | ATH St. Mary's | 2024 State LA , 2024 Riverside Academy DB Jared Campbell Jared Campbell 6'2" | 165 lbs | DB Riverside Academy | 2024 State LA , 2024 St. Mary’s LB/DL Drake Griffin Drake Griffin 6'0" | 215 lbs | LB St. Mary's Natchitoches | 2024 LA , 2026 St. Edmund RB Ke’Von Johnson, 2025 Riverside Academy RB Dedrick Lastie
Intriguing first-round matchup: No. 16 Slaughter Community Charter vs. No. 17 Delhi Charter
Most intriguing possible second-round matchup: No. 8 Opelousas Catholic vs. No. 9 Ascension Catholic
Overall Storyline: The two teams that reached the Superdome in 2022 — champion Ouachita Christian and runner-up Vermilion Catholic — have been widely considered top contenders all year long, along with 2021 champion Southern Lab. And Vermilion Catholic managed to finish its second consecutive season undefeated, led by junior quarterback Jonathan Dartez Jonathan Dartez 5'9" | 170 lbs | ATH Vermilion Catholic | 2025 LA , and earn the No. 1 seed on the opposite side of the bracket from both those foes. But the top half is full of potential pit-falls, too, headlined by the slew of prolific running backs leading Riverside Academy, St. Martin’s Episcopal and Ascension Catholic.