Louisiana
Predicting Day 1 of the Louisiana High School Football State Championships
In a few short days, the 2024 Louisiana high school football season will be in the rearview mirror, and we’ll be reduced to making posts like “90 days until fall camp!”
With that in mind, let’s take a moment to savor what’s been a terrific season with comeback stories such as the trio of Central-BR players who were sidelined by an accident just prior to Week One and have now returned to lead the Wildcats to their first Superdome Classic appearance. More on that game, which will be played Saturday, later….
Here are our predictions for Day 1 of the LHSAA Prep Classic. All games to be played at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.
Thursday, December 11 – 12 PM
OCS wasn’t supposed to be here. This was the northeast Louisiana powerhouse’s down year, at least in terms of seeding. Oh well, when you have an offensive mastermind like coach Steven Fitzhugh and a gutsy quarterback like Luke Vidrine, who called his own number on fourth down to score the winning TD in the semifinals at No. 2 Ascension Catholic, it’s not a shocker to see the Eagles upset undefeated No. 3 Covenant Christian and the Bulldogs.
Vidrine, a junior, has passed for nearly 2,300 yards with 25 TDs and five interceptions. He only has 141 yards but has rushed for seven scores. Makin Lenard (180-1,444 yards, 24 TDs) is the primary running option. Cameron Volion (29-650, nine TDs) and Patrick Turpin (39-642, nine TDs) are the leading receivers.
Defensively, Cooper Russell (6-5, 205, Sr.) has over 100 tackles. Volion and Turpin are tied for the team lead with three interceptions apiece. OCS, which only lost to Oak Grove, has picked off 18 passes.
Vermilion Catholic dresses out approximately half the number of players as the Eagles, who list nearly 60 on the roster.
If you reside in the Lafayette area, you’ve undoubtedly seen Jonathan Dartez’s name mentioned. The senior quarterback has rushed for 2,508 yards on a workmanlike 301 carries with 42 TDs. He can throw it, too (1,600 yards, 22 TDs, two INT). Luke McLain has added another 500 yards rushing.
Receivers Allen McLain and Hudson Hebert have combined for approximately 1,000 yards and 14 TDs. Jyrin Bessard, Ross Dartez, Matthew Mollere and William Simon have all caught TD passes.
Both teams have tremendous coaching staffs. Vermilion Catholic has a young former large school head coach as its defensive coordinator in Brett Blakey (North Vermilion).
PICK: Vermilion Catholic. This just seems like its year. Let’s not forget, the Eagles lost to the OCS Eagles in the 2022 title game. The “Bayou-based Eagles” are hungry. VC”s offensive line has met every challenge this year with Dartez regularly running for 200 yards. He went for nearly 400 yards in a win at Riverside Academy.
Thursday, Dec. 11 – 3:30 PM
This is a rematch from 15 years ago won by the Tornado in a battle of natural disasters. The Hurricanes haven’t been back to the title game since, while Haynesville finished as 2023 runner-up to Oak Grove.
Ethan Henderson and Donnie Critton ran for two scores apiece last week in Haynesville’s blowout of No. 12 General Trass, according to Jimmy Watson of The Shreveport Times. QB Isaiah Washington, Yasmin Meadors and Byruss Burns each added a score.
South Plaquemines and Haynesville (David Franklin) are both coached by alums who won state championships as players at their schools. Lyle Fittte’s Hurricanes are led by QB Rod Parker (1,577 yards passing, 17 TDs), RB JyHeim Williams (102-1,049, 13 TDs) and receiver Alex Phillips (53-764, nine TDs). Parker (85 carries,382, 9 TDs) has a nose for the end zone when the Canes are in the red zone.
PICK: South Plaquemines – Two of the state’s most storied prep football programs finally meet again. Before the three were consolidated into South Plaquemines HS, Port Sulphur, Buras and Boothvillle-Venice all faced Haynesville in classic late round matchups.
If the Hurricanes can strike quickly and get a lead, the Tornado could be in trouble playing catchup with the Wing-T offense.
Thurs., Dec. 13 – 7 PM
A third straight game featuring blue bloods programs from the south and the north? Yes, please.
St. James QB JaJuan Jackson doesn’t have freshman size (6-1, 205) and he hasn’t performed like one, either. The scary thing is the Wildcats will also return RB Kani King-Young and versatile WR/KR Jakias Villaneuva next year. Young scored the game-winner last week to avenge a 2023 loss to Union Parish
Sterlington has won eight of its last nine with the sole loss coming to Union Parish. The Panthers produced two 100-yard rushers last week in Hagen Herring and Gaven Evans. Both have topped the 1,000-yard mark on the season. St. James knocked Sterlington, which has an excellent kicker in Aidan Parker, out of the playoffs in the 2023 semifinals.
PICK: St. James – Villaneuva and King-Young are underrated 2026 prospects who can take it the distance anytime. King-Young (5-9, 190) is getting rave reviews from those getting their first glimpse of the RB. Our crystal ball has Villaneuva returning a punt for the winning TD.
Louisiana
Federal appeals court upholds Texas’ Ten Commandments law. What does it mean for Louisiana?
A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a Texas law requiring public schools to post the Ten Commandments, just weeks after the same court allowed a similar Louisiana law to take effect.
A majority of judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Texas’ law, which is nearly identical to Louisiana’s, is constitutional and does not violate students’ religious freedom. In February, the court lifted an injunction on Louisiana’s law, which cleared schools to put up the posters, but the judges said it was too early to rule on that law’s constitutionality.
Tuesday’s ruling could bode well for Louisiana’s law if it eventually returns to the 5th Circuit, considered the country’s most conservative federal court of appeals.
In their majority opinion, the judges rejected the argument that posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms would pressure students to honor the biblical mandates or adopt particular beliefs.
“To plaintiffs, merely exposing children to religious language is enough to make the displays engines of coercive indoctrination. We disagree,” the majority wrote about the Texas law, known as S.B. 10. A minority of the court’s active judges dissented.
Even though Tuesday’s ruling only addressed the Texas case, defenders of Louisiana’s legislation celebrated it as a victory. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said the 5th Circuit’s argument in upholding Texas’ law was identical to the one Louisiana made in defense of its law.
“Our law clearly was always constitutional,” she posted on X, “and I am grateful that the Fifth Circuit has now definitively agreed with us.”
Louisiana’s Republican-controlled Legislature passed the law in 2024, which requires all public K-12 schools and colleges to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom. A group of parents quickly challenged the law in court, and a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction that stopped the state from enforcing the law.
In February, the 5th Circuit reversed the lower court’s decision, saying it had been premature to block the law before it took effect. The judges said they could not rule on the law’s constitutionality before seeing how it played out in schools.
But in the case of Texas’ law, which that state’s Republican-led Legislature passed in 2025, the court did rule on the merits.
Rejecting arguments made by attorneys for the Texas families who challenged the law, the 5th Circuit majority said that requiring public schools to post the Ten Commandments does not amount to the government endorsing a particular religion, which the U.S. Constitution forbids. The law also does not impose religious beliefs on students, the judges wrote.
“As noted, S.B. 10 authorizes no religious instruction and gives teachers no license to contradict children’s religious beliefs (or their parents’),” the majority opinion says. “No child is made to recite the Commandments, believe them, or affirm their divine origin.”
The Texas families were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Texas, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, with the law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP serving as pro bono counsel. The same groups, including Louisiana’s ACLU chapter, represented the Louisiana families.
In a statement Tuesday, the organizations said they are “extremely disappointed” by the 5th Circuit’s ruling, adding that they expect to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“The First Amendment safeguards the separation of church and state, and the freedom of families to choose how, when and if to provide their children with religious instruction,” the groups said. “This decision tramples those rights.”
Nearly all major industries in Louisiana added jobs over the past year, signaling momentum for a stronger future, according to a recent report from Leaders for a Better Louisiana.
The organizat…
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SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — Police say a man shot and killed eight children, including seven of his own, following a domestic dispute in Shreveport.
The incident took place early Sunday morning, April 19, on West 79th Street in the Cedar Grove neighborhood. According to the Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office, the victims included three boys and five girls, aged between three and 11-years-old. Seven of the children were siblings, while one was a cousin. Two adult females were also injured, including one who was shot at a home located in the 500 block of Harrison Street.
One of the adults was inside the home on West 79th Street when the children were killed. She managed to escape through a window with two of the children and reached the roof. The woman jumped down with one of the children. Unfortunately, the other child did not manage to escape. Police later found his body on the roof with a gunshot wound. The surviving child was taken to the hospital with a broken leg.
The children were identified by their mothers as Jayla (age 3), Shayla (age 5), Kayla (age 6), Layla (age 7), Markaydon (age 10), Sariahh (age 11), Khedarrion (age 6), and Braylon (age 5).
Authorities say the suspect and father of the victims, Shamar Elkins, was the only person who fired shots that led to the juveniles’ deaths.
Authorities noted that Elkins stole a vehicle near West 79th Street after he shot the victims. He was pursued by patrol officers into Bossier Parish, where they discharged their weapons and fatally shot him on Brompton Lane. Louisiana State Police will take over the investigation involving the officers.
Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux expressed his thoughts on the matter, saying, “We have a hurting community. We have hurting families. We have hurting police officers, coroner’s personnel, fire department, sheriff people, and this affects the entire community. We all mourn with these families. I ask, it’s a Sunday morning. I ask all of you who are, who are listening, who might be able to. Pray at your services this morning for not just this family, for all the victims, for the victims who are at the hospital, and for the Cedar Grove community and for the community at large.”
Attorney General Liz Murrill also commented on the tragic shooting, stating, “Multiple law enforcement agencies are investigating this tragic situation. We do not yet know all the details, but I am deeply saddened by the senseless loss of life. I’m praying for the victims and their family members in the wake of this devastating violence.”
According to the Director of Strategy and Communications, Mary Nash-Wood, two of the children attended Summer Grove, and at least four attended Linwood Charter School.
The police have not determined a motive. More updates will be provided as the information becomes available.
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