Louisiana High School Football Week 1 Preview
Written by Charlie Beuttel
Parkway @ Bastrop
Parkway has a bad taste in their mouth from last year. The Panthers were stripped of five victories and ruled ineligible for the playoffs after playing an ineligible player. Senior quarterback Keondre Wudtee, a Louisiana Tech commit, and the rest of the team are ready to put last year behind them with a victory on Friday.
Bastrop is also very experienced and are coming off a 6-5 season. The leader of their offense is senior wide receiver Isaiah Graham. The senior star had over 1,000 receiving yards and 20 touchdowns last year and will put on another offensive show in his final season starting in the opener.
Calvary Baptist @ Teurlings Catholic
The big matchup to watch in this game will the high-scoring offense of Teurlings Catholic led by senior quarterback Cole Kelley, an Arkansas commit, against a lock down Calvary Baptist secondary led by the Williams brothers, Andraez, a LSU commit, and Rodarius, an Oklahoma State commit.
Quarterback Jake Bartley will be making his first start for Calvary Baptist after Shea Patterson left for IMG Academy and will want to prove that he can lead this explosive offense.
Another storyline will be to see how Calvary Baptist responds after Head Coach John Bachman Sr. took a voluntary leave of absence from the team last week and has yet to return. Principal Rhonda Honea had this to say to the Shreveport Times, “It is voluntary. He is our head coach.” Principal Honea did not give a reason for the leave of absence.
St. Joseph Prep (Pennsylvania) @ Evangel Christian Academy
St. Joseph Prep are the defending back-to-back 4A champs of Pennsylvania and will be making the long trip to Shreveport to face the Evangel Eagles.
The Hawks offensive star is junior running back D’Andre Swift (5’10”, 195) who is rated as the No. 1 high school player in the state of Pennsylvania in the Class of 2017 by 247sports.com. Swift already has 23 Division-I offers including offers from Florida State and LSU.
An interesting key matchup: How Evangel’s defense led by linebacker A.C. Gilliam and cornerback Orlando Puryear try to contain and limit Swift’s damage.
Evangel’s offense is led by junior quarterback Connor Curry and senior wide receiver Corey Henderson, a Tennessee commit. Curry threw for 1,792 yards and 22 touchdowns in his sophomore season. Henderson had 700 receiving yards and 18 touchdowns in 2014.
Other Louisiana High School Games
Fair Park @ Booker T. Washington
Mansfield @ Huntington
Barbe @ Byrd
Union Parish @ Airline
Minden @ Southwood
Plain Dealing @ Haughton
Green Oaks @ Benton
Rayville @ Woodlawn
Natchitoches Central @ North DeSoto
North Webster @ Haynesville
Captain Shreve @ Pineville
Ruston @ Neville
Archbishop Rummel @ University High
John Curtis @ Landry-Walker
Northside @ Acadiana
Wossman @ West Monroe
Photo credit: The Bossier Press Tribune; Parkway Quarterback Keondre Wudtee