LHSAA Playoff Brackets: Storylines, Prospects | D-III Select

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Louisiana's high school football playoffs kick off this weekend.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The LHSAA's third 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>This season is also the first in a new two-year classification cycle, so a few notable programs have changed divisions, which we'll note as well. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Check out the Division-III Select capsule below.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHMV2oKpdY0","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHMV2oKpdY0 </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top 5 seeds: </strong>No. 1 Lafayette Christian, No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Jewel Sumner, No. 4 Isidore Newman, No. 5 Dunham</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Lower seeds to watch:</strong> No. 9 Catholic (New Iberia), No. 10 Amite</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>2024 champion:</strong> Catholic (New Iberia)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>2024 runner-up:</strong> Dunham</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top prospects: </strong>2026 Lafayette Christian WR [player_tooltip player_id='924621' first='Brayden' last='Allen'] (Oklahoma), 2027 Catholic (New Iberia) DB [player_tooltip player_id='1593755' first='Karon' last='Eugene'], 2026 Lafayette Christian DB [player_tooltip player_id='1345269' first='Luke' last='Green'] (Ragin' Cajuns), 2027 Dunham QB [player_tooltip player_id='642719' first='Elijah' last='Haven'], 2027 Calvary Baptist DB [player_tooltip player_id='934564' first='Braylun' last='Huglon'], 2026 Bunkie RB [player_tooltip player_id='1237769' first='Zion' last='Lee'] (Navy), 2028 Country Day WR [player_tooltip player_id='1372199' first='Curtis' last='McAllister'], 2026 Isidore Newman RB [player_tooltip player_id='920625' first='Jake' last='Randle'] (Tulane), 2026 Lafayette Christian QB [player_tooltip player_id='1601816' first='Braylon' last='Walker'] (Ragin' Cajuns), 2026 Dunham WR [player_tooltip player_id='710974' first='Jarvis' last='Washington'] Jr. (South Alabama)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Sleeper prospects: </strong>2026 Lafayette Christian WR [player_tooltip player_id='1348446' first='Draylon' last='August'], 2026 Episcopal (Baton Rouge) WR [player_tooltip player_id='710971' first='Taj' last='Callahan'], 2026 Amite EDGE [player_tooltip player_id='920611' first='Kaleb' last='Campbell'], 2026 Northlake Christian RB [player_tooltip player_id='920630' first='Kameron' last='Casnave'], 2026 Lafayette Renaissance Charter WR Ja'Courey Duhon, 2026 Notre Dame RB Drew Lejeune, 2028 Amite RB [player_tooltip player_id='1619707' first='Ja'Myron' last='Dillon'], 2026 Jewel Sumner RB Jamohn Dyson, 2026 Lafayette Christian LB [player_tooltip player_id='1537169' first='Jaimason' last='Marzell'], 2026 Calvary Baptist DB [player_tooltip player_id='1237645' first='Luke' last='Miller'], 2026 Catholic (New Iberia) DB/WR [player_tooltip player_id='1602029' first='Layton' last='Mitchell'], 2026 Dunham DB/WR [player_tooltip player_id='283986' first='Richard' last='Montgomery Jr.'], 2028 Lafayette Renaissance Charter EDGE Ashton Williams</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Intriguing first-round matchup: </strong>No. 15 Episcopal (Baton Rouge) vs. No. 18 De La Salle</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Most intriguing possible second-round matchup:</strong> No. 8 Bunkie vs. No. 9 Catholic (New Iberia)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Overall Storyline:</strong> With a dominant regular-season performance, top-seeded Lafayette Christian appears to be back to its old form of being the clear team to beat in Division-III Non-Select. The Knights won five games against good higher-classification competition and rolled through its district with one big win after another, including against two of the other top teams in the bracket in Notre Dame and Lafayette Renaissance Charter. But Jewel Sumner is the lone undefeated team in the field, Dunham and Catholic (New Iberia) return top prospects and good all-around teams from last year's Superdome runs, Bunkie and Calvary Baptist have had great seasons after being somewhat questioned how they would hold up following big 2025 graduations and Isidore Newman overcame a slow start with a new-look team and staff and has been rolling the past couple months.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->