Louisiana

5 Big Louisiana HS Semifinal Matchups: The Massey Ratings (and Jerit's Take)

Published

1 year ago

December 7, 2024

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5 Big Louisiana HS Semifinal Matchups: The Massey Ratings (and Jerit's Take)

High school football stadiums around Louisiana will host their final games of the season Friday.

Thirty-two teams will back in eight divisions for 16 spots in the Caesars Superdome for next week’s Prep Classic.

The semifinal slate is loaded with exciting matchups, and we’ll look at five of the most intriguing, including players to watch and predictions from the Massey High School Rankings and myself.

No. 4 Catholic-Baton Rouge (11-0) at No. 1 Edna Karr (11-0)

Division-I Select

Friday, 7 p.m., at Morris F.X. Jeff Stadium (Jerit will be covering from the sidelines)

Massey Rankings: No. 5 vs. No. 1

Last week: Catholic beat No. 5 Archbishop Rummel, 14-7. Edna Karr beat No. 8 St. Thomas More, 42-14.

Players to Watch: 2025 Edna Karr DL Corey Adams Jr. (Ole Miss), 2026 Edna Karr DL Richard Anderson (LSU), 2025 Edna Karr LB Arsenio Bolds Jr., 2026 Catholic S Blaine Bradford, 2025 Catholic DB Jacob Bradford (LSU), 2025 Edna Karr DB/LB Tyrik Brigalia, 2025 Catholic WR Amari Clayton (Nicholls State), 2025 Edna Karr WR TaRon Francis (LSU), 2026 Edna Karr DB Aiden Hall (LSU), 2026 Edna Karr DB Hayward Howard Jr., 2026 Edna Karr QB John Johnson Jr., 2025 Catholic DB Cayden Jones, 2025 Catholic WR Cohen LeBlanc, 2027 Catholic RB Jayden Miles, 2025 Edna Karr WR Oliver Mitchell Jr. (Tulane), 2025 Catholic RB Rylan Parker, 2026 Edna Karr DB Torrence Sanders, 2025 Catholic OT Ervin Smith (Louisiana Tech), 2025 Edna Karr WR Daejawn Smith, 2026 Catholic OT Blaise Thomassie, 2026 Edna Karr DB Maurice Williams Jr.

Recent History: Catholic won a 2022 quarterfinal, 32-24, at BREC’s Memorial Stadium to hold Edna Karr out of the semifinals for the only time this decade.

Massey Prediction: Edna Karr (80%), 41-21.

Jerit Thoughts: Two of the state’s top few teams in any classification. The undefeated top team vs. the reigning champion. Edna Karr vs. Catholic (Baton Rouge) matchups through the years have consistently been epic battles — aside from a lopsided Bears win in Baton Rouge in 2019. This year, the Cougars have rolled through just about every opponent in their path in dominant fashion. But win or not, that type of margin feels unlikely in this matchup. That said, Edna Karr has little-to-no weakness from a talent standpoint and is the best team in the state when it avoids its own miscues. Junior quarterback John Johnson has been exceptional, and his cast of weapons speaks for itself when you look at Wednesday’s signing day celebrations of wide receivers TaRon Francis (LSU), Oliver Mitchell Jr. (Tulane) and Daejawn Smith (Louisiana Tech). Catholic figures to bring a battle to town. But slowing down the Cougars’ full spread of firepower or keeping up with it against a stacked Karr defense for four quarters in Algiers might prove too tall a task this year.

No. 5 Union Parish (9-4) at No. 1 St. James (9-2)

Division-III Non-Select

Friday, 7 p.m., at St. James Wildcat Stadium

Massey Rankings: No. 55 vs. No. 45

Last week: Union Parish beat No. 4 Kinder, 44-14. St. James beat No. 9 Pine, 26-7.

Players to Watch: 2027 St. James DB Jye Blain, 2025 Union Parish RB Derrick Dew, 2028 St. James QB Ja’Juan Jackson, 2027 St. James RB/DB Kendrick Joseph Jr., 2026 St. James RB Kani King-Young, 2025 Union Parish WR/DB Chase Meeking, 2025 St. James LB Chaidyn Parker, 2027 Union Parish QB Braxton Patterson, 2026 Union Parish DE/TE Ari Slocum, 2025 Union Parish DL Tyreon Traylor, 2026 St. James WR/ATH Jakias Villanueva, 2025 St. James DB Garry White, 2025 Union Parish LB Tyquereis Wilson (Mississippi Valley State), 2025 St. James DB Jarrell Williams, 2026 St. James WR Kanye Zenon, 2026 St. James LB Nolan Zenon.

Recent History: Union Parish beat St. James, 36-35, on a late two-point conversion in last season’s state title game. St. James won a 2019 semifinal at home, 25-14.

Massey Prediction: St. James (59%), 27-21.

Jerit Thoughts: A rematch of a 2023 state championship game couldn’t be left of the list. And the home Wildcats will be itching to host the Farmers in Beautiful Downtown Vacherie after last season’s heartbreak. The story on St. James is youth, but talent and depth in that youth, and the group has continued finding its way toward its annual goal — regardless of age or experience — of reaching the Superdome. Union Parish is meanwhile in its sixth straight semifinal and has already shown time and time again its ability to get back to not only this point, but also to the Superdome regardless of its roster turnover with any given senior class. Friday figures to be physical and intense in the River Parishes, but I’m giving the edge to the home team in a relative toss-up.

No. 18 Cecilia (10-3) at No. 6 Plaquemine (12-1)

Division-II Non-Select

Friday, 7 p.m., at Plaquemine’s Andrew Canova Green Devil Stadium

Massey Rankings: No. 26 vs. No. 35

Last week: Cecilia beat No. 7 North DeSoto, 57-40. Plaquemine beat No. 14 Opelouas, 35-22.

Players to Watch: 2025 Cecilia OL Ryker Airhart, 2026 Plaquemine ATH Dajon Beloney, 2026 Plaquemine DB/LB Roderick Bingham, 2027 Cecilia ATH Braylon Calais, 2026 Cecilia WR Jermaine Davis, 2027 Cecilia DB Franky Frank Jr., 2025 Cecilia DB/WR Brent Gordon Jr. (Ragin’ Cajuns), 2026 Cecilia LB Braylon Jones, 2025 Cecilia OL Christian Menard, 2025 Plaquemine RB Tyrese Mosby, 2025 Cecilia QB/ATH Diesel Solari, 2025 Cecilia WR/ATH Ellis Stewart, 2025 Plaquemine QB Nico Victorian, 2027 Plaquemine ATH John Walker V.

Recent History: Cecilia won a 2007 non-district game, 34-8.

Massey Prediction: Cecilia (62%), 42-35.

Jerit Thoughts: Both of these teams have been underrated much of the season and explosive as all get-out most Friday evenings. No one looks like to completely stop either one particularly consistently, so which one can come up with the more timely stops could ultimately determine this one. And Cecilia appears to have the greater depth of firepower and versatility on offense to cope with, more experience in games of this magnitude and a field general in Diesel Solari that is one of the toughest, most dynamic players in the state. Expect the Bulldogs to scrap their way back to the Superdome, even if it gets a thrilling battle from the Green Devils in front of what figures to be a raucous home crowd.

No. 7 Catholic-New Iberia (11-1) at No. 3 Calvary Baptist (10-2)

Division-III Select

Friday, 7 p.m., at Jerry Barker Stadium

Massey Rankings: No. 40 vs. No. 22

Last week: Catholic (New Iberia) beat No. 2 Isidore Newman, 31-0. Calvary Baptist beat No. 6 Episcopal (Baton Rouge), 52-10.

Players to Watch: 2025 Calvary Baptist OL Devin Harper (LSU), 2027 Calvary Baptist DB Braylun Huglon, 2025 Catholic (New Iberia) QB Luke LeBlanc, 2025 Calvary Baptist LB Cole Miller, 2026 Calvary Baptist S Luke Miller, 2025 Catholic (New Iberia) WR/DB Jaiden Mitchell, 2025 Calvary Baptist S/RB Julius Moss (Air Force), 2025 Calvary Baptist DL Ethan Sands, 2025 Calvary Baptist RB James Simon (Texas), 2025 Calvary Baptist WR Kaleb Tucker (Texas Southern), 2025 Calvary Baptist QB Abram Wardell, 2025 Catholic (New Iberia) LB Bennett Woodring, 2025 Catholic (New Iberia) ATH Jake Wyman.

Recent History: The teams have met three times, with the winner going on to a state championship each time. Catholic (New Iberia) got the best of a second-round game, 49-28, on its way to a 2017 title, while Calvary Baptist won the 2014 championship game, 27-24, and a 2013 semifinal, 34-33.

Massey Prediction: Calvary Baptist (80%), 40-20.

Jerit Thoughts: The games between these schools have been historically fun, and this year’s teams enter the matchup with booming momentum on each side. Don’t count out Catholic (New Iberia), which looks likely to be Calvary Baptist’s biggest test since early-season matchups against Division-I Non-Select No. 1 Neville and Division-II Non-Select No. 4 Franklin Parish. But those types of games along the way, as well as last season’s title run — not to mention home-field advantage — should serve the Cavaliers well. Calvary Baptist has levels of balance and efficiency on both sides of the ball that should prove too much for the visiting Panthers in this one, and Jerry Barker Stadium may turn into another celebration by the back half of the fourth quarter.

No. 10 Destrehan (10-3) at No. 3 Ruston (10-2)

Division-I Select

Friday, 7 p.m., at Ruston’s Hoss Garrett Stadium

Massey Rankings: No. 15 vs. No. 2

Last week: Destrehan beat No. 2 Airline, 69-41. Ruston beat No. 6 Southside, 49-7.

Players to Watch: 2025 Ruston DB Aidan Anding (LSU), 2027 Ruston DB Jayden Anding, 2025 Ruston DL Payton Bell, 2025 Ruston QB/ATH Joshua Brantley (Tulane), 2025 Ruston RB Dylone Brooks, 2026 Destrehan DL Bryce Bufkin, 2027 Destrehan RB Malachi Dabney, Destrehan QB Jackson Fields, 2025 Destrehan LB Myd Gilbert, 2025 Ruston RB Jordan Hayes, 2025 Ruston LB Zheric Hill (Louisiana Tech), 2026 Destrehan WR Jabari Mack, 2026 Destrehan OL/DL Braylon Montero, 2025 Ruston C Sam Nations (Northwestern State), 2025 Ruston WR Joran Parker, 2026 Destrehan DB Damien Richard II, 2025 Destrehan WR/DB Johnnie Thiel IV (Louisiana Tech), 2025 Destrehan LB Semaj Walker, 2026 Destrehan WR Greg Wilfred, 2025 Destrehan WR Phillip Wright III (LSU).

Recent History: Destrehan won playoff games vs. Ruston three straight postseasons culminating in the 17-10 state championship victory in 2022.

Massey Prediction: Ruston (93%), 42-14.

Jerit Thoughts: This Destrehan team is much different from the banged-up version of itself that dropped a few early-season games and had some fans start prematurely counting it out. I expect these Wildcats to move the ball a bit better and put some more points on the board than people might expect against Ruston. But the Bearcats will be the best defense Destrehan has faced in months, if not all season, and will also be able to move the ball effectively behind Joshua Brantley and their senior running back duo. Ruston will be tough to beat at home Friday — and the likely favorite next week in the Superdome as well. Don’t be surprised if new LSU signee Aidan Anding provides a crazy highlight or two each week on interceptions and return opportunities.

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Louisiana

How carbon capture is becoming one of the biggest fights in Louisiana politics

Published

2 hours ago

April 5, 2026

Press Room

How carbon capture is becoming one of the biggest fights in Louisiana politics

Retired U.S. Air Force Col. Mark T. Guillory, second from right, speaks to fellow members of Save My Louisiana and, on the far left, State Treasurer Dr. John Fleming on Thursday, Nov. 21, 2025, outside the 19th Judicial District courthouse in downtown Baton Rouge. The group sued the state of Louisiana to challenge a law that allows companies seeking to do carbon capture to store the gas under private land. Fleming, a critic of carbon capture who is running for U.S. Senate, was present for the news conference held immediately after the lawsuit was filed. Guillory, a Rapides Parish resident, is one of the plaintiffs. Gary Musgrove, president of the group, is fifth from the right.

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Louisiana

Vehicle hits revelers, injuring about 15, at Lao New Year celebration in Louisiana

Published

14 hours ago

April 4, 2026

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Vehicle hits revelers, injuring about 15, at Lao New Year celebration in Louisiana

More than a dozen people were injured when a vehicle struck revelers at a parade celebrating the Lao New Year on Saturday in rural Louisiana, authorities said.

The driver was quickly arrested and charged with impaired driving, police said.

Video shared on social media showed multiple people on the ground at the annual event in Broussard and New Iberia. The videos showed firefighters tending to one person trapped beneath the car, which wound up in a ditch along the parade route.

About 15 people were hurt, some seriously, according to the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office.

“Based on the preliminary investigation, this does not appear to be an intentional act,” said a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office, Rebecca Melancon.

Acadian Ambulance, a private ambulance company, said on social media that it responded to the emergency at around 2:30 p.m. and sent 10 ambulances and a helicopter to aid the injured. Two patients were airlifted, it said.

The Louisiana State Police said the driver, who is 57 and lived in Jeanerette, La., appeared impaired when police arrived and later tested positive for a high blood alcohol level. He was charged with impaired, negligent and careless driving and having an open container of alcohol in the vehicle.

The parade is part of a three-day New Year celebration set in the Lanexang Village, a Laotian neighborhood near New Iberia with hundreds of families near the Buddhist temple grounds of Wat Thammarattanaram.

It features Southeast Asian food, live music, a parade and other family-friendly activities attracting thousands each year.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry issued a statement on behalf of himself and his wife about the incident. “Sharon and I are praying for all those affected, and are grateful for the first responders who have responded to the scene,” he said.

The festival’s organizers issued a statement on Facebook saying they were “profoundly saddened” by the tragedy. “We are praying for the victims and for their families during this difficult time,” it said.

Afternoon and evening events were canceled, but the festival planned to hold religious services Sunday, the organizers said.

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Julia Letlow faces more questions about past DEI comments in Louisiana Senate campaign

Published

1 day ago

April 4, 2026

Press Room

Julia Letlow faces more questions about past DEI comments in Louisiana Senate campaign

How does U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow square endorsing diversity, equity and inclusion policies as a college presidential applicant in 2020 and her subsequent anti-DEI voting record in Congress?

That’s the question that confronted Letlow Friday in the face of continuing attacks from the man she is trying to unseat, U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, for her calls to expand DEI to hire more women and racial minorities on the faculty when she was applying in 2020 to be the next president of the University of Louisiana-Monroe.

In press releases and a video on Thursday and Friday, Cassidy pointed to her comments to challenge her conservative credentials. “Julia is a liberal,” he concluded.

State Treasurer John Fleming, the other major Republican candidate in the race, has piled on with criticisms of Letlow.

“DEI is a Marxist concept that says everybody has to have equal outcomes regardless of their abilities or regardless of how hard they work or study,” Fleming said in an interview. “Socialism or Marxism has never worked in any country.”

So far, Letlow has noted that she has expressed strong opposition to DEI programs since she was elected to the House in 2021. She also noted that Cassidy supported bills passed by Congress that included DEI programs.

On Friday, The Times-Picayune | The Advocate requested an interview with Letlow to ask her to explain how she could call for creating a “division” of DEI at UL Monroe and then oppose those programs after joining the House the following year.

“Early on, DEI was presented in higher education as a way to encourage people to achieve the American dream,” the campaign responded in a statement from Letlow. “But I quickly witnessed firsthand what it really was: another tool the radical left hijacked to divide people, push indoctrination, and build a system that holds people down instead of lifting them up.”

The wrangling over DEI is taking place six weeks before the May 16 Republican primary where Republicans and no-party voters will choose among Fleming, Cassidy, Letlow and Mark Spencer, a political unknown, to be their next senator.

The party’s leadership is crystal clear on DEI.

President Donald Trump, from the day he returned to office, has sought to root out DEI policies at the nation’s universities.

Gov. Jeff Landry wrote the U.S. Department of Education on Feb. 23 that “harmful diversity, equity and inclusion policies have no place in Louisiana.”

This backdrop explains why Cassidy began slamming Letlow on DEI immediately after Fox News on Wednesday aired a report that contained video of her promoting the benefits of DEI when she was one of six semifinalists to be UL Monroe’s next president in August 2020.

“I think it exposes her true colors,” Cassidy said in a video recorded on Thursday.

Letlow, who has a doctorate from the University of South Florida, was the university’s Executive Assistant to the President for External Affairs and Community Outreach at the time. Her comments came three months after a police officer in Minneapolis choked George Floyd to death, spurring a leftward move nationally in favor of DEI and so-called “woke” policies.

“A strong and progressive leader”

During the interview, Letlow called herself “a strong and progressive leader” and said UL Monroe’s next president needed to provide powerful support for DEI because the university didn’t have enough women and women of color on the faculty.

“We have 8 percent African-American faculty women on this campus,” she said. “That is not enough. That does not reflect our student population.”

She added, “We don’t have enough women at the top. We don’t have enough women of color at the top. I would be committed to that. I believe the president needs to have diversity on their senior council, just like you said. You avoid groupthink when you have more diverse voices at the table.”

Pearson Cross, a political science professor at UL Monroe, said central to Cassidy’s efforts is an attempt to neutralize or wrestle away from Letlow her chief campaign calling card: Trump’s endorsement of her on Jan. 17.

“Given the strident anti-DEI efforts by Trump and Landry, being a supporter of DEI makes it seem like you’re terribly out of step,” Cross said. “That’s a point the Cassidy campaign is making. It’s evidence that Letlow is not one of us.”

Ed Chervenak, a UNO political science professor, said Cassidy’s tactics are clear.

“He wants to reassure conservative voters that he’s the conservative candidate in the race, not Letlow,” Chervenak said.

Undermine Cassidy’s narrative

The Letlow campaign is seeking to undermine that narrative by reminding voters that Cassidy voted to convict Trump on impeachment charges after the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol, and by noting that Cassidy, in August 2023, said Trump should drop out of the presidential race because he was facing criminal charges from four indictments. (Trump was convicted by a jury in New York City in May 2024 of paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels to hide a sex scandal that threatened to derail his 2016 presidential campaign.)

The Letlow campaign is also zeroing in on several bills where Cassidy joined some Republicans in voting with Democrats to pass bills when President Joe Biden was in office. Tucked into these sprawling bills were measures that promoted DEI.

“Cassidy,” Letlow said in her statement, “voted with Democrats to fund and expand the DEI machine. So the contrast in this race is simple: I fought it, and he helped bankroll it.”

There are three candidates in the May 16 Democratic primary. They are Nick Albares, Jamie Davis and Gary Crockett. None currently hold elected office.

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