Louisiana

Monroe-area high school football schedules for the 2024 season

Published

1 year ago

August 13, 2024

Monroe-area high school football schedules for the 2024 season

Expect a number of feisty contests when the 2024 Louisiana High School Athletic Association football season kicks off Sept. 6 across Northeast Louisiana.

The Monroe area boasted three state champions last fall and two additional semifinalists with at last that many expecting the same finish this fall.

Ruston High, which completed an undefeated season (14-0), returns a bundle of talent for coach Jerrod Baugh, which has a team seeking a third consecutive trip to the Louisiana Superdome. Tulane commitment Josh Brantley, uncommitted Power 5 recruit Aidan Anding and Louisiana Tech commit Zheric Hill give Bearcat fans plenty to smile about.

Union Parish (10-4) also won a state title in Non-Select Division III and Oak Grove compiled an 12-2 record to win Non-Select Division IV. Semifinal finishes came from Sterlington (11-2) in Non-Select Division III and Ouachita Christian (11-2) in Select Division IV.

OAK GROVE WINS: VIDEO: Oak Grove 62 Haynesville 36: Tigers win fourth state championship in five seasons

ALL-AREA FOOTBALL: Meet The News-Star’s All-Area high school football team for 2023

UNION PARISH WINS: Highlights from Union Parish’s 36-35 win over St. James for the Non-select D-3 state title

Jimmy covers Louisiana sports him for the USA TODAY Network. Email him at jwatson@shreveporttimes.com and follow on Twitter @JimmyWatson6.

Here’s a look at the 2024 schedules for Monroe area football teams:

Class 5A

West Monroe

Sept. 6 vs. Huntington

Sept. 13 Open

Sept. 20 at North DeSoto

Sept. 27 at Catholic B.R.

Oct. 4 vs. Scotlandville

Oct. 11 at Alexandria

Oct. 18 at Ouachita Parish

Oct. 25 vs. Pineville

Nov. 1 at Neville

Nov. 8 vs. Ruston

Ruston

Sept. 6 vs. Acadiana

Sept. 13 vs. Cabot, AR

Sept. 20 at Longview

Sept. 28 vs. Midland Legacy

Oct. 5 vs. Stephenville

Oct. 11 at Ouachita Parish

Oct. 18 vs. Neville

Oct. 25 at Alexandria

Nov. 1 vs. Pineville

Nov. 8 at West Monroe

Ouachita Parish

Sept. 6 at Captain Shreve

Sept. 13 at Wossman

Sept. 20 vs. Sterlington

Sept. 27 Open

Oct. 4 vs. Franklin Parish

Oct. 11 vs. Ruston

Oct. 18 vs. West Monroe

Oct. 25 at Neville

Nov. 1 vs. Alexandria

Nov. 8 at Pineville

West Ouachita

Sept. 6 vs. Richwood

Sept. 13 vs. Jonesboro-Hodge

Sept. 20 at Winnfield

Sept. 27 at Sterlington

Oct. 4 vs. Caldwell Parish

Oct. 11 at Franklin Parish

Oct. 18 vs. Tioga

Oct. 25 at Wossman

Nov. 1 at Peabody

Nov. 8 vs. Grant

Class 4A

Neville

Sept. 6 at Evangel Christian

Sept. 13 at Southside

Sept. 20 vs. Holmes County Central

Sept. 27 vs. St. Thomas More

Oct. 4 at Sterlington

Oct. 11 vs. Pineville

Oct. 18 at Ruston

Oct. 25 vs. Ouachita Parish

Nov. 1 vs. West Monroe

Nov. 8 at Alexandria

Bastrop

Sept. 6 vs. Wossman

Sept. 13 vs. Booker T. Washington

Sept. 20 at Rayville

Sept. 27 vs. Frederick

Oct. 4 vs. General Trass

Oct. 11 at Green Oaks

Oct. 18 at Carroll

Oct. 25 vs. Sterlington

Nov. 1 at Richwood

Nov. 8 vs. North Webster

Franklin Parish

Sept. 6 at West Jefferson

Sept. 13 vs. St. Frederick

Sept. 20 vs. Calvary Baptist

Sept. 26 at Caldwell Parish

Oct. 4 at Ouachita Parish

Oct. 11 vs. West Ouachita

Oct. 18 at Peabody

Oct. 25 vs. Grant

Nov. 1 vs. Wossman

Nov. 8 at Tioga

Class 3A

Sterlington

Sept. 6 vs. Tioga

Sept. 13 at Rayville

Sept. 20 at Ouachita Parish

Sept. 27 vs. West Ouachita

Oct. 4 vs. Neville

Oct. 11 at Richwood

Oct. 18 vs. North Webster

Oct. 25 at Bastrop

Nov. 1 vs. Carroll

Nov. 7 at Union Parish

Union Parish

Sept. 6 at Union Parish

Sept. 13 vs. Alexandria

Sept. 20 at Airline

Sept. 27 at Green Oaks

Oct. 4 vs. Homer

Oct. 11 at North Caddo

Oct. 18 vs. Calvary Baptist

Oct. 25 at D’Arbonne Woods Charter

Nov. 1 vs. Magnolia School of Excellence

Nov. 7 vs. Sterlington

Carroll

Sept. 6 at Parkway

Sept. 13 Open

Sept. 20 vs. Arcadia

Sept. 27 at General Trass

Oct. 4 at Wossman

Oct. 11 at North Webster

Oct. 18 vs. Bastrop

Oct. 25 Open

Nov. 1 at Sterlington

Nov. 8 vs. Richwood

Richwood

Aug. 30 vs. Oak Grove

Sept. 6 at West Ouachita

Sept. 13 vs. Mangham

Sept. 20 vs. Wossman

Sept. 27 at Tioga

Oct. 4 Open

Oct. 11 vs. Sterlington

Oct. 18 at Lake Arthur

Oct. 25 at North Webster

Nov. 1 vs. Bastrop

Nov. 8 at Carroll

Wossman

Sept. 6 at Bastrop

Sept. 13 vs. Ouachita Parish

Sept. 20 at Richwood

Sept. 27 at Iowa

Oct. 4 vs. Carroll

Oct. 11 vs. Tioga

Oct. 18 at Grant

Oct. 25 vs. West Ouachita

Nov. 1 at Franklin Parish

Nov. 8 vs. Peabody

Class 2A

Mangham

Sept. 6 at Jena

Sept. 13 at Richwood

Sept. 20 vs. Caldwell Parish

Sept. 27 vs. Beekman Charter

Oct. 4 at Madison

Oct. 11 vs. Ferriday

Oct. 18 vs. Oak Grove

Oct. 25 at Ouachita Christian

Nov. 1 vs. Rayville

Nov. 8 at Delhi Charter

Ferriday

Sept. 6 at Vidalia

Sept. 13 at Block

Sept. 20 vs. Delta Charter

Sept. 27 vs. Delhi Charter

Oct. 4 at Beekman Charter

Oct. 11 at Mangham

Oct. 18 vs. Madison

Oct. 24 at Oak Grove

Nov. 1 vs. Ouachita Christian

Nov. 8 at Rayville

General Trass

Sept. 6 vs. Rayville

Sept. 13 vs. Ouachita Christian

Sept. 20 at Madison

Sept. 27 vs. Carroll

Oct. 4 at Bastrop

Oct. 10 at Tensas

Oct. 18 vs. Block

Oct. 25 at Delta Charter

Nov. 1 vs. St. Frederick

Nov. 8 at Delhi

Rayville

Sept. 6 at General Trass

Sept. 13 vs. Sterlington

Sept. 20 vs. Bastrop

Sept. 27 at Oak Grove

Oct. 4 at Ouachita Christian

Oct. 11 vs. Madison

Oct. 17 vs. Delhi Charter

Oct. 25 vs. Beekman Charter

Nov. 1 at Mangham

Nov. 8 vs. Ferriday

Delhi Charter

Sept. 6 Cedar Creek

Sept. 13 at Lakeview

Sept. 20 vs. Jonesboro-Hodge

Sept. 27 at Ferriday

Oct. 4 vs. Oak Grove

Oct. 11 at Ouachita Christian

Oct. 17 at Rayville

Oct. 24 Open

Nov. 1 at Beekman Charter

Nov. 8 vs. Mangham

Vidalia

Aug. 30 at West Ouachita

Sept. 6 vs. Ferriday

Sept. 13 at Delta Charter

Sept. 20 at Block

Sept. 27 at Grant

Oct. 4 vs. Delhi

Oct. 11 at Buckeye

Oct. 18 vs. Jena

Oct. 25 vs. Marksville

Nov. 1 at Bunkie

Nov. 8 vs. Caldwell Parish

Beekman Charter

Aug. 30 at Bastrop

Sept. 6 at Delhi

Sept. 13 vs. Tensas

Sept. 19 vs. Lincoln Preparatory School

Sept. 27 at Mangham

Oct. 4 vs. Ferriday

Oct. 11 at Oak Grove

Oct. 18 vs. Ouachita Christian

Oct. 25 at Rayville

Nov. 1 vs. Delhi Charter

Nov. 8 at Madison

Madison Parish

Sept. 6 at Ringgold

Sept. 13 at Fontainebleau

Sept. 20 vs. General Trass

Sept. 26 vs. Ouachita Christian

Oct. 4 vs. Mangham

Oct. 11 at Rayville

Oct. 18 at Ferriday

Oct. 24 Open

Nov. 1 vs. Oak Grove

Nov. 8 vs. Beekman Charter

D’Arbonne Woods Charter

Sept. 6 vs. Lincoln Preparatory School

Sept. 13 vs. Bearden, AR

Sept. 20 at Grant

Sept. 27 at Calvary Baptist

Oct. 4 vs. Green Oaks

Oct. 11 at Magnolia School of Excellence

Oct. 18 vs. North Caddo

Oct. 25 vs. Union Parish

Nov. 1 Open TBA

Nov. 8 at Homer

Class 1A

Ouachita Christian

Aug. 30 at Cedar Creek

Sept. 6 at Caldwell Parish

Sept. 13 at General Trass

Sept. 20 vs. Delhi

Sept. 26 at Madison

Oct. 4 vs. Rayville

Oct. 11 vs. Delhi Charter

Oct. 18 at Beekman Charter

Oct. 25 vs. Mangham

Nov. 1 at Ferriday

Nov. 7 vs. Oak Grove

Oak Grove

Aug. 30 at Richwood

Sept. 6 at Calvary Baptist

Sept. 13 vs. Crossett

Sept. 20 vs. Red River

Sept. 27 vs. Rayville

Oct. 4 at Delhi Charter

Oct. 11 vs. Beekman Charter

Oct. 18 at Mangham

Oct. 24 vs. Ferriday

Nov. 1 at Madison

Nov. 7 at Ouachita Christian

St. Frederick

Sept. 5 vs. Loyola College Prep

Sept. 13 at Franklin Parish

Sept. 20 vs. Jena

Sept. 27 at Bastrop

Oct. 4 vs. St. Mary’s

Oct. 11 vs. Block

Oct. 18 at Delhi

Oct. 25 vs. Tensas

Nov. 1 at General Trass

Nov. 7 vs. Delta Charter

Cedar Creek

Aug. 30 vs. Ouachita Christian

Sept. 6 at Delhi Charter

Sept. 13 vs. Delhi

Sept. 20 vs. Loyola Prep

Sept. 27 at Glenbrook

Oct. 11 at Plain Dealing

Oct. 18 vs. Haynesville

Oct. 25 at Lincoln Prep

Nov. 1 vs. Arcadia

Nov. 8 vs. Jonesboro-Hodge

Delhi

Sept. 6 vs. Beekman Charter

Sept. 13 at Cedar Creek

Sept. 20 at Ouachita Christian

Sept. 27 at Southern Lab

Oct. 4 at Vidalia

Oct. 11 at Delta Charter

Oct. 18 vs. St. Frederick

Oct. 26 at Block

Nov. 1 vs. Tensas

Nov. 8 vs. General Trass

River Oaks

Aug. 16 at Porter’s Chapel Academy

Aug. 23 vs. Magnolia

Aug. 30 at Tensas

Sept. 6 vs. Claiborne Academy

Sept. 13 vs. Franklin Academy

Sept. 20 at Prairie View Academy

Sept. 27 vs. Riverdale Academy

Oct. 4 vs Union Christian Academy

Oct. 11 at Briarfield Academy

Oct. 18 at Tallulah Academy

Tensas Parish

Sept. 6 at Plain Dealing

Sept. 13 at Beekman Charter

Sept. 20 vs. Ringgold

Sept. 27 vs. Montgomery

Oct. 4 at Northwood-Lena

Oct. 10 vs. General Trass

Oct. 18 vs. Delta Charter

Oct. 25 at St. Frederick

Nov. 1 vs. Delhi

Nov. 8 at Block

Delta Charter

Sept. 6 at LaSalle

Sept. 13 vs. Vidalia

Sept. 20 at Ferriday

Sept. 27 TBD

Oct. 3 vs. Cedar Creek

Oct. 11 vs. Delhi

Oct. 18 at Tensas

Oct. 25 vs. General Trass

Nov. 1 vs. Block

Nov. 7 at St. Frederick

Lincoln Prep

Sept. 6 at D’Arbonne Woods Charter

Sept. 13 vs. Magnolia School of Excellence

Sept. 19 at Beekman Charter

Sept. 26 at Jonesboro-Hodge

Oct. 4 at Haynesville

Oct. 11 vs. Ringgold

Oct. 18 vs. Glenbrook

Oct. 25 vs. Cedar Creek

Nov. 1 at Plain Dealing

Nov. 8 vs. Arcadia

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Louisiana

McGlinchey Stafford vote to shut down reshuffles Louisiana legal landscape

Published

5 hours ago

January 10, 2026

Press Room

McGlinchey Stafford vote to shut down reshuffles Louisiana legal landscape

The decision by McGlinchey Stafford PLLC leaders this week to shutter their powerhouse law firm after more than 50 years sent shock waves across south Louisiana’s legal community, and even took some of the firm’s attorneys by surprise.

It also began reshaping the local legal landscape. In the days since the announcement, at least two firms have announced that McGlinchey attorneys will be joining them, bringing lucrative practices and longtime clients along.

New Orleans-based Adams and Reese said Thursday it is hiring nearly a third of McGlinchey’s Baton Rouge office — 11 attorneys and two paralegals — from the real estate and corporate transactions group. More announcements are expected to follow, as firms try to snag top McGlinchey talent before the competition does.

Amid the reshuffling, the full picture of what caused McGlinchey’s partners who own the firm, known as equity members, to vote to dissolve is starting to emerge. According to attorneys familiar with the situation and a statement from the firm’s managing partner, Michael Ferachi, McGlinchey had been struggling for a while. It had lost several highly skilled attorneys that had lucrative client lists, announcements from rival firms show, and departures had accelerated in recent months.

Now, dozens of secretaries and back-office staff are scrambling for positions, according to social media posts. Some younger attorneys or attorneys without large books of business are also looking for work.

Loyola University law professor Dane Ciolino said they’ll be doing so in a Louisiana legal market that’s more competitive and less lucrative than it used to be.

“Big cases with high billable hours are fewer and father between than 30 or 40 years ago because we don’t have the big companies that generated that kind of work,” said Ciolino. “As the business community goes, so goes the legal community.”

Big dreams

It’s not unusual for mid-sized law firms like McGlinchey to experience ups and down, lose groups of attorneys and merge or sell to other firms. But according to 10 other attorneys in New Orleans and Baton Rouge who agreed to be interviewed for this is story but declined to give their names, it was surprising that McGlinchey’s owners voted to dissolve.

The New Orleans-based firm was among the most aspirational and aggressive in the city when it was founded in 1974. Back then, the city’s legal community was dominated by a handful of old-line firms populated by socially prominent attorneys.

McGlinchey sought to be different.

Founding partners Graham Stafford and Dermott McGlinchey were young, ambitious and smart, those who knew them remember. They wanted their firm to be taken seriously, setting up offices in One Shell Square, now the Hancock Whitney Center, then the city’s newest and tallest skyscraper.

The firm started out doing mostly insurance defense, which bills at a lower hourly rate and isn’t as prestigious as corporate transactions. But it quickly expanded as attorneys logged long hours and pursued out-of-state clients, which was less common then than today. They also sought to recruit the best and brightest young talent coming out of law school.

By the late 1980s, the firm had bought its own office building on Magazine Street in the newly trendy Warehouse District. In a nod to the New York-style firms it sought to emulate, McGlinchey had its own cafeteria, gym and showers, signaling that its attorneys were expected to live at the office.

Both founding partners died young. Stafford in 1987; McGlinchey, at age 60, in 1993. The firm continued to grow in their absence, but some longtime competitors said it didn’t hum with the same intensity.

String of departures

In a statement released Tuesday, Ferachi, a Baton Rouge-based commercial litigation specialist who became the firm’s managing member in 2021, said that no single factor had led to the vote to dissolve. Rather, troubles had been building.

“This is not because of any specific attorney’s departure, or any individual financial decision or leadership action that led us to this point,” he said. “This is the result of a combination of market factors, such as lagging collections, compounded with various internal factors over several years.”

The statement also said the firm’s leaders made the decision after “assessing several strategic alternatives.”

Ferachi declined to make additional comment or respond to additional questions. His predecessor, Rudy Aguilar, also a Baton Rouge attorney who is leading the group going to Adams and Reese, also did not respond to requests seeking comment.

Prominent departures have been ongoing for at least a decade and began building in recent months.

In 2015, two prominent attorneys in the real estate and commercial transactions division took their practice to Kean Miller, according to an announcement from Kean Miller at the time. In 2020, five partners from McGlinchey’s consumer finance litigation practice went to Hinshaw, a national firm based in Chicago with more than 500 attorneys across the country, a release from Hinshaw shows.

Around the same time, the firm downsized its footprint in the Pan American Life Center in New Orleans, where it had moved in 2008 after vacating the Magazine Street building, according to real estate sources familiar with the move.

According to Law.com, an online trade publication for the legal industry, the firm’s head count declined from 199 in 2016 to 37 in 2021, though it was back up to between 150-160 attorneys the time of the announcement.

In 2024, defense attorney Ally Byrd left McGlinchey for Jones Walker. More recently, in late November 2025, Deirdre McGlinchey, daughter of the late founding partner, moved her successful corporate litigation practice, which represented national clients and included three attorneys, to Jones Walker.

By then, the Baton Rouge McGlinchey office was already in serious talks with Adams and Reese, according to a statement from Adams and Reese.

On Jan. 2, three days before the McGlinchey vote, Hinshaw announced it had hired four attorneys from McGlinchey’s Washington D.C, and Fort Lauderdale, Florida offices, the firm announced. All specialize in defending consumer financial services companies in high stakes lawsuits.

At the same time it was losing some of its top rainmakers, the firm was continuing to sign new leases for offices. In 2023, it moved its Boston office into One Beacon Street, among the city’s most prestigious office towers, with estimated rents of near $50 per square foot.

In May, it moved its Baton Rouge offices from their longtime headquarters in One American Place to the newly renovated II Rivermark Centre down the street.

Late last year, the firm announced it had created four new administrative positions, hiring from within. The move, the firm said at the time, was designed to strengthen and improve back-office functions.

The firm had also “reconfigured its governance structure and compensation system,” Ferachi said in his statement.

‘Dignity and grace’

The effect of McGlinchey’s closure is already reverberating across the markets where it operated.

Adams and Reese Managing Partner Gyf Thornton said bringing on McGlinchey’s real estate practice in Baton Rouge will not only benefit the individual attorneys from both firms but create new opportunities.

“With these kinds of combinations, we have found that we typically get a one plus one equals three,” he said. “We start with their current book of business and together we grow to something bigger than the sum of the two parts.”

Partners may bring their associates and paralegals with them when they move, though they don’t typically bring back-office staff.

In a LinkedIn post, McGlinchey’s Chief Business Development Officer Heather Morse posted on behalf of her colleagues, saying “There are people, the #McGlinchey Family, who need to find their next beginning. Many of us are blessed with wide networks, but others are not.”

She tagged 20 colleagues from the firm’s administrative staff, noting she also was “open to new opportunities.”

There’s no word on how long the wind down will take, but Ferachi said the firm “was committed to comporting ourselves with dignity and grace during this process.”

Ciolino said it’s hard to say what exactly the departure of McGlinchey will mean for the market, noting it “does seem odd the way it all went down.”

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Louisiana

DOJ ends another desegregation consent decree in Louisiana

Published

17 hours ago

January 9, 2026

Press Room

DOJ ends another desegregation consent decree in Louisiana

Donald Trump is leading the most openly pro-segregation administration in recent American history, and it advanced that agenda this week when it killed yet another school desegregation agreement with a Louisiana parish.

The Associated Press reported Thursday that the Trump administration got a George W. Bush-appointed judge to lift another decades-old anti-segregation consent decree in the Bayou State.

Per the AP:

A federal judge on Monday approved a joint motion from Louisiana and the U.S. Justice Department to dismiss a 1967 lawsuit in DeSoto Parish schools, a district of about 5,000 students in the state’s northwest. It’s the second such dismissal since the Justice Department began working to overturn desegregation cases it once championed. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill thanked President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi on Wednesday for ‘helping us to finally end some of these cases.’

The AP quoted Murrill saying, “DeSoto Parish has its school system back,” and that “for the last 10 years, there have been no disputes among the parties, yet the consent decree remained.”

Of course, the absence of disputes under a consent decree is not exactly proof that the consent decree is no longer needed. To borrow an analogy from the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in her dissent from Shelby County, to throw out a consent decree because there’s been no resegregation or discrimination “is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.”

This follows the administration in February removing language that banned federal contractors from operating segregated facilities, and its decision last spring to quash a different consent decree with Louisiana’s Plaquemines Parish.

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Louisiana

Louisiana task force confronts future of Greek life, pushes new hazing safeguards

Published

1 day ago

January 9, 2026

Press Room

Louisiana task force confronts future of Greek life, pushes new hazing safeguards

BATON ROUGE, La (Louisiana First) — The final meeting for the Caleb Wilson Hazing Prevention Task Force took place Thursday.

The committee, organized by the Louisiana Board of Regents, brought together lawmakers, university leaders, student advisors, and hazing prevention stakeholders to make sure no Louisiana family loses another student to hazing.

State representative Vanessa LaFleur, a leading voice on this task force, said, “We don’t want there to ever be another Max [Gruver], or another Caleb in the state of Louisiana.”

Her statement referenced two high-profile hazing deaths that reshaped the conversation around student organizations in the state. Members echoed the sentiment that this isn’t just an isolated issue; it’s a culture issue.

“There are things that shift culture, things that create culture,” said Winton Anderson. “And what we were doing today was not only dealing with the prevention piece as much as dealing with the accountability piece.”

Task force leaders said Thursday’s meeting was about closing gaps in oversight, enforcement, and advisor responsibility for all Louisiana schools.

“Today, what you saw is closing the gap of our attempt to close the gap on what we believe are going to be the next phase of policies to help us ensure that there’s accountability at every level,” said Anderson.

The policy reform is key, but leaders said education is the foundation.

“The key to this is education,” said LaFleur. “And I think we’ve put in the safeguards for that. Safeguards will be there when the legislation drops. We’ve got to show them why hazing does not create sisterhood, why hazing does not create. But what it does is it destroys.”