Bossier Press-Tribune Online

Five of the six Bossier Parish high school football teams won seven or more games in the 2012 season, but only one set a school record.
Parkway’s 11-2 record is not only the best in Bossier Parish this season, but it is the best in the school’s history. It was the Panthers’ first 11-win season.
Airline wound up with a 10-3 record, but that isn’t a school record. The Vikings were 12-1 in 1992.
Louisiana New Tech (Plain Dealing) finished its season at 8-4, the Lions’ best record since the 1991`team was 9-3.
Haughton’s Bucs were 7-4 this season, and own the longest current streak of winning seasons in Bossier Parish. It was the 11th straight winning season for the Bucs. The second longest current streak in the parish is eight, by Parkway.
But the beat goes on for a longer, less impressive streak. Ever since the Louisiana High School Athletic Association moved its championship games to the Superdome in 1981, no Bossier Parish school has ended a season in the Dome.  That is 32 years — and counting.
Airline quarterback Hayden Hildebrand  broke his own year-old school record for passing yardage by nearly 300 yards this season, completing 59.6 percent of his passes (201 of 337) for 2,995 yards and 25 touchdowns, with nine interceptions.
His favorite targets were Laterious Pouncy with 60 catches for 1,032 yards (17.5 per reception) and seven touchdowns, and Trey Turner with 39 catches for 629 yards and 16 touchdowns, an average of 16.1 yards per reception.
Michael Nunnery led the Vikings in rushing yardage with 662 in 155 carries, an average of 4.3 yards per attempt. He ran for nine touchdowns. Nunnery also had 17 catches for  231 yards and one touchdown.
Two parish teams reached the state quarterfinals, but that was the end of the line for both teams. Airline dropped a 34-14 decision to defending state champion West Monroe and Parkway came out on the short end of a 45-35 shootout with No. 2 seed Barbe (Lake Charles). Louisiana New Tech reached the second round of Class A playoffs, falling to Basile 25-14.
To wrap it up, 2012 was another very good football season for parish schools. Some members of these teams will continue their football careers at higher levels next year, while others will be coming back for another year of high school football.
Elsewhere around the state, Class 5A Rummel (New Orleans) is 13-0 after its 17-14 semifinal win over No. 13 seed Mandeville and Class 4A Neville is 13-0 after its 28-8 win over No. 21 seed McDonogh 35.  The other Class 4A finalist,  Edna Karr, is 13-0 after its 28-16 semifinal win over Holy Cross (New Orleans).  
The only Caddo Parish team still playing football  is perennial power Evangel, which is 12-2 after a 52-45 win over No. 3 seed University Lab in Shreveport Friday night.  The other Class 2A private school power in Shreveport, Calvary Baptist, was eliminated a week earlier  by University Lab, 19-7.
Byrd shared the District 1-5A title with Airline and Parkway, but the Yellow Jackets and Panthers both fell to Barbe in the playoffs.
So the wait goes on in Bossier Parish for a trip to the Dome.

Jerry Byrd is the former sports editor of the Bossier Press-Tribune and an award-winning columnist. You can contact him by E-mail at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it