South La. teams dominate 3A poll
Parkview, Livonia among area teams in group
e_SDLqI don’t think the drop-off from the top teams this year is nearly as large as it has been. There are a lot of really good Class 3A teams in this part of the state.” David Brewerton, Livonia football coach
Made up entirely of south Louisiana teams for another week, the latest Louisiana Sports Writers Association Class 3A high school football poll is again topped by Parkview Baptist.
Parkview Baptist (6-0), second-ranked Eunice (7-0), fourth-ranked Loranger (6-0) and sixth-ranked Rayne (7-0) are the undefeated teams. Class 3A teams with one loss include third-ranked Notre Dame (5-1), seventh-ranked Brusly (6-1), eighth-ranked West Feliciana (6-1) and 10th-ranked Iowa (6-1).
The two-loss teams are fifth-ranked and defending state champion St. Charles Catholic (4-2) and ninth-ranked Livonia (5-2).
“Parkview Baptist, Notre Dame and Eunice are the cream of the crop in Class 3A on a yearly basis,” Livonia coach David Brewerton said. “They have great traditions. Everybody else is trying to get to those points. I don’t think the drop-off from the top teams this year is nearly as large as it has been. There are a lot of really good Class 3A teams in this part of the state.”
Parkview Baptist coach Kenny Guillot tries to schedule as many pre-district games against Class 5A teams as possible to get ready for the playoffs, while Brewerton played one Class 5A team in Live Oak (Livonia won 7-6) and stacks up more games against Class 3A teams. Livonia is 1-2 against ranked Class 3A teams.
“We don’t get to see other Class 3A teams in the regular season, but we know they are good,” Guillot said. “It’s an honor to be ranked No. 1 again. It does put a big target on our chest. The kids are humble about it and have kept practicing and playing hard.”
District 5-3A has three ranked teams with Eunice, Rayne and unranked Church Point (5-2) all 2-0 in league play. Livonia, Northwest (5-2) and Port Barre (1-6) are 0-2. At one point in the season, four league teams were ranked in the top 11.
“It’s been a brutal stretch with three games against top- 10 teams,” Brewerton said. “We beat Brusly, then lost to Rayne and Eunice in close games. We had the opportunity late to win both of them and we didn’t get it done. Being part of those games will help us down the line.”
District 6-3A, with Parkview Baptist and West Feliciana, District 7-3A, with Brusly and St. Charles Catholic and District 4-3A, with Notre Dame and Iowa, also have two ranked teams. Brusly entertains St. Charles on Friday.
“We’re playing really well right now,” Brusly coach Erik Willis said. “We’re excited about the challenge of playing St. Charles. It’ll really show where we’re at as a team. We’ll work hard this week and see what happens.”
The other top-ranked teams remained the same for the fifth straight week. Rummel (6-0) sits atop Class 5A, Neville (7-0) leads Class 4A, John Curtis (7-0) paces Class 2A and Ouachita Christian (7-0) leads Class 1A.
Dutchtown (5-1) moved up a spot to fifth in Class 5A, Lutcher (6-0) is fourth in Class 4A, University (6-1) is fourth in Class 2A and Southern Lab (6-1) is eighth in Class 1A.
Other local-area teams outside the top 10 but receiving votes were Central, Catholic and St. Amant in Class 5A, Plaquemine in Class 4A, Independence and East Feliciana in Class 3A and Springfield in Class 2A.