Louisiana Division I High School Football Quarterfinal Playoff Preview
Written by Charlie Beuttel
Twitter: @charlie_cds3
Three teams clinched their spot in the Division I quarterfinals last Friday night as No. 9 Jesuit, No. 6 St. Augustine, and No. 7 John Curtis are all heading on to the next round. All the teams who had first-round byes have been preparing to open their postseason play this Friday when the playoff heat turns up another notch.
Some players in these four quarterfinal matchups to be aware of includes Jesuit senior wide receiver Luke Besh, who caught eight passes for 173 yards and three touchdowns last week. Brother Martin junior quarterback Garrett Mmahat is another. Mmahat was the engineer of the offense leading the Crusaders to the No. 1 seed.
Archbishop Rummel senior running back Logan Diggs (Notre Dame commit) and Catholic-Baton Rouge safety Michael Cerniauskas (Army commit) are leading their programs into battle setting up a rematch of last year’s Division I Championship Game. St. Augustine senior defensive end Byron Turner Jr. (Florida State commit) and his teammates are traveling to Shreveport to take on C.E. Byrd senior back Venzell Thompson (Air Force commit) and the Yellow Jackets.
Finally, Scotlandville and 4-star running back Marlon Gunn Jr. will host John Curtis and star cornerback Caleb Spann (Central Michigan commit).
Eight teams will fight for a semifinals berth and it will be exciting to see which teams move on and which squads have to head home.
Division I Quarterfinal Matchups
No. 9 Jesuit vs No. 1 Brother Martin
Jesuit demolished St. Paul’s 35-6, Brother Martin had a bye
No. 5 Archbishop Rummel vs No. 4 Catholic-Baton Rouge
Both teams had first-round byes
No. 6 St. Augustine vs No. 3 C.E. Byrd
St. Augustine destroyed Holy Cross, 41-14, C.E. Byrd had a bye
No. 7 John Curtis vs No. 2 Scotlandville
John Curtis advanced after Archbishop Shaw cancelled (COVID), Scotlandville had a bye
Photo credit: Crescent City Sports; Archbishop Rummel RB Logan Diggs