While it may be the biggest because of what it means to the District 1-5A race, the Parkway-Airline game isn’t the only significant game involving parish teams tonight.
Haughton will try to end a two-game slide and improve its power rating in a District 1-5A home matchup against Captain Shreve.
Bossier opens defense of its District 1-3A title against Loyola at Messmer Stadium.
Benton can move into a tie for the District 1-4A lead with a win over leader Woodlawn at home.
Louisiana New Tech at Plain Dealing travels to Ruston to face Cedar Creek, the sixth-ranked team in Class 1A.
Here is a look at tonight’s games. For a preview of the Parkway-Airline game, see Page 1.
Bossier (4-3) at Loyola (3-4)
The Bearkats will be looking for their fourth straight victory.
The Flyers have lost four straight games against some tough opponents, including undefeated Class 5A team Parkway, Class 2A No. 4 University and Class 1A No. 1 Ouachita Christian.
Last week, the Flyers played well through most of the first half against Ouachita Christian but gave up three touchdowns in the final three minutes.
The Bossier secondary will face a challenge from Loyola quarterback Matt Norton, the school’s all-time passing yardage leader.
Norton has completed 77 of 142 passes for 1,194 yards and 14 touchdowns with six interceptions.
The Bearkats will try to keep the ball away from Norton and Co. with their Wing-T running attack led by quarterback Samuel Dudley and running backs Jaquarious Tutt and Xavier Chism.
Captain Shreve (4-3) at Haughton (5-2)
Haughton is coming off district losses to Byrd and Airline, but Bucs coach Rodney Guin is anything but down on his team.
“One thing is they’re both pretty good teams,” Guin said of Byrd and Airline. “We didn’t lose to bad teams and we should’ve won one of them.
“Airline was better than us the other night, but the Byrd game we kind of gave it away. We’re not playing bad but we’re not playing quite good enough to win.”
The Bucs led Byrd 21-7 at the half before a kickoff return for a touchdown sparked the Jackets in the second half.
Haughton lost to Airline 38-14, but it would’ve been a six-point game at the half if the Bucs hadn’t had a touchdown called back because of a holding penalty.
“We moved the ball pretty good against them the whole game,” Guin said.
Haughton lost a fumble on the opening kickoff and didn’t score on a drive to the Airline 10.
“We’re going to put it together one of these nights and have a good game hopefully,” Guin said. “We just haven’t ever clicked a whole game. It’s frustrating.”
Guin expects Shreve to be another test. The Gators are coming off a 24-0 victory over Southwood. They lost to Airline 40-13 in their district opener.
Woodlawn (2-5) at Benton (3-4)
Benton had a forgettable last outing in a 56-20 loss to Northwood, and Tigers coach Caleb Guidry said there’s nothing to do but move on.
The last time Benton played poorly, in a loss to North DeSoto in Week 3, the Tigers rebounded with perhaps their best effort of the year in a victory over Southwood.
“It’s hard to regroup after something like that,” Guidry said of the Northwood game. “But we’ve had to rebound from a poor performance earlier in the year. We kind of went back to what we did right that following week and beat Southwood after we fell apart at North DeSoto.
“We’re just trying to go one period at a time, and one step at a time. That’s the only way we know how — plug away at it, try to get better every day.”
Woodlawn is the only team in 1-4A without a district loss. The Knights have defeated Northwood (15-12) and Minden (20-2).
If Benton wins tonight, it’s possible there will be a four-way tie for the District 1-4A lead with two games to play.
In the other district games, Fair Park (1-6, 1-1) visits Northwood (5-2, 1-1) and Huntington (4-3, 1-1) is at Minden (0-7, 0-2).
Woodlawn could be without one of its top players. According to media reports, wide receiver and defensive back Richard Bell was arrested Thursday in Shreveport and charged with illegal use of a weapon.
La. New Tech at Plain Dealing (5-2) at Cedar Creek (6-1)
Cedar Creek’s only loss was to fifth-ranked Haynesville 42-21 in Week 4.
New Tech is coming off a 38-7 loss to the Golden Tornado.
Cedar Creek has routed its last three opponents by an average of 35 .7 points.
New Tech currently has a power rating of No. 28 in Class 1A. An upset victory would likely move the Lions up several spots.
Cedar Creek won 61-20 last year.
