For the first time in five years, more than half of Southwest Louisiana’s contingent survived the first week of the high school football playoffs.
Area teams posted an 8-7 record Friday
night, one winner better than last year’s 7-8 mark, and much better than
the preceding
three years, when area teams won only 15 of 50 bi-district round
games, and produced only five regional-round teams each year.
A couple of the area’s lower-seeded teams, No. 26 Iowa and No. 22 DeRidder, were the big winners on the opening weekend.
Iowa, due to a poor strength of schedule, was way underseeded. The Yellow Jackets' victory was not a big surprise, but the impunity
with which they did so was. Iowa scored on all seven first-half possessions to take a 49-0 lead over No. 7 seed Buckeye en
route to an easy 49-6 win.
As a reward, the Yellow Jackets will
get to enjoy the comforts of home in their upcoming regional-round game
against No. 10
North Vermilion, which scratched out a 38-36 win over Avoyelles.
Another win could set up a rematch between the Yellow Jackets
and District 4-3A mate Notre Dame. The Pioneers won the
regular-season meeting 28-13. Iowa moved the ball well in that game
and has since picked up quality road wins against Westlake and
Buckeye.
First, the Yellow Jackets will have to take care of business against North Vermilion. Against Buckeye, Iowa flexed its strength
on defense and rolled up 362 rushing yards. That’s a good blueprint for postseason success.
DeRidder continued its second-half
surge with a fine defensive performance of its own in beating O.P.
Walker 10-6 in New Orleans
to set up a home date against Holy Cross. The Dragons have won
five of their last six games since opening the season 2-3.
The sole loss in the current hot streak came to a red-hot
Washington-Marion team that was in the middle of a seven-game winning
streak.
The Dragons have allowed only 12 points
per game during the 5-1 run, and gave their best performance Friday
night against
the Chargers. O.P. Walker had won eight playoff games over the
past five seasons, twice reaching the semifinals, and had won
at least one game the four times it had made the playoffs in that
span.
DeRidder had won only four playoff
games since 1952 — and none since 1995 — until Friday night. The Dragons
didn’t let the
lack of pedigree bother them last week and will face another tough
test this week. Holy Cross has quality wins over East Jefferson
and St. Augustine and has beaten traditional power Archbishop Shaw
twice, including a 28-0 win Friday night.
LaGrange also had a good weekend,
winning its first home playoff game in 13 years and receiving a
better-than-expected regiona-round
draw with No. 30 St. Martinville — which had lost its previous
three games by a combined score of 119-16, pulled off the opening
round’s biggest upset with a 30-29 win over No. 3 Lutcher.
That result gives the Gators a shorter
trip, less intimidating opponent and a chance to avenge their lone
district loss. If
LaGrange and DeRidder both win, the Gators will host DeRidder in
the quarterfinal round. DeRidder beat LaGrange 21-20 in the
opening week of district play. LaGrange has won five games since,
and will be playing a regional-round game for the first
time since 1999, when they advanced to the quarterfinals.
Warren Arceneaux covers high school athletics. Email him at warceneaux@americanpress.com