2017 Louisiana High School Football Week 1 Preview

Written by Charlie Beuttel

Twitter: @charlie_cds3

Summer is over and the season that fans, players, and coaches have been looking forward to is finally here, and that is high school football season. The countdown to the playoffs begin with schools across the Bayou State set to kick off their season on Friday night.

With the start of the season comes many questions including which school will succeed with their new head coach, which senior will step up in their final year to lead their team to a state title, and can any of the 2016 state champions successfully defend their crown? Week 1 of the season is the first step towards the state playoffs. It will be exciting to watch which teams can shake off the rust of the offseason, contain the jitters of opening night, and win their first game of the season.

Highlighted Week One Matchups

Calvary Baptist Cavaliers at C.E. Byrd Yellow Jackets

The big news coming into this game will be the new leadership at the top of the Calvary Baptist program as former Haughton High head coach, Rodney Guin, has taken over the reins for two-time state champion coach, John Bachman Sr. The Cavaliers will rely heavily on star running back Kordavion Washington all season.

The C.E. Byrd Yellow Jackets had a very young team last year and had a season that fans will want to soon forget. Byrd will look to use its impressive rushing attack which averaged 191.2 yards per game last year to knock off Calvary Baptist and show that they will once again contend in a tough District 1-5A. A player to watch on the Yellow Jackets will be senior running back Javien Wilson.

Green Oaks Green Giants at Captain Shreve Gators

Green Oaks suffered through a 1-9 season in 2016 but then they hired Coach Terrence Isaac Sr. as their new head coach. Coach Isaac brought his spread offense to Green Oaks and has worked really hard with his new team to get them ready for this tough season opener against an experienced Captain Shreve squad. One of the leaders of the team is senior cornerback Damien Crawford who is drawing interest from LSU and Arkansas.

Captain Shreve is coming off a 5-6 season where they fell in the first round of the playoffs and are expecting to have a better record this year. The Gators will be led by senior quarterback Lucas Grubb on offense and senior defensive end Colyn Givens on defense.

Evangel Christian Academy Eagles (LA) at East St. Louis Flyers (IL)

Evangel won their 14th state title in 2016 and return much of a very experienced squad including three LSU commits on defense; cornerback Ardarius Washington, linebacker Micah Baskerville, and defensive tackle Davin Cotton.

East. St. Louis started their season last week with a 40-28 win over Providence Catholic. The Flyers are led on offense by senior quarterback Christian Perez who completed 20-of-26 passes for 332 yards. One of the playmakers on their defense is sophomore Demonta Witherspoon who had eight total tackles, two interceptions and one sack last week.

Other Louisiana Week One Top Matchups

Booker T. Washington at Parkway

Woodlawn-Shreveport at Carroll

Huntington at Mansfield

John Ehret at West Monroe

Minden at Haughton

Loyola College Prep at Cedar Creek

North Webster at Haynesville

Wossman at Benton

North Caddo at Northwood

Warren Easton at Jesuit

John Curtis at Landry-Walker

McDonogh 35 at St. Augustine

Northshore at Zachary

Ponchatoula at Barbe

Slidell at Destrehan

University Lab at Mandeville

Archbishop Rummel at Gulfport (MS)

Live Oak at Woodlawn-B.R.

Comeaux at Cecilia

Homer at Delta Charter

Ruston at Neville

University Academy at Plain Dealing

Sterlington at West Ouachita

Lafayette at St. Thomas More

Union Parish at Airline

 

Photo Credit: 247sports.com; Evangel Christian DT Davin Cotton lines up against Southwood