District 1-5A teams are scheduled to begin district play Tuesday night.
Parkway (4-2) hosts Benton (14-3) at 7:30, Airline (3-6) visits Natchitoches Central (9-1) at 7:30, Haughton (4-2) hosts Byrd (3-0) at 7:30 and Southwood (8-9) visits Captain Shreve (9-6) at 7.
In a non-district game, Bossier (7-4) travels to Monroe to face Wossman (10-1) at 6:30 in a rematch of last season’s Class 3A state championship game won by the Bearkats 62-61.
Bossier will be looking to end a two-game slide. They won’t be playing against each other, but the Bearkats and Wildcats will both be in action later this week in the Bossier Invitational.
Defending champion Natchitoches Central will play the favorite’s role again in District 1-5A, but the Chiefs could be pushed by several teams.
Kolton Sepulvado has replaced highly successful Micah Coleman as head coach. Coleman is now an assistant principal at the school and is helping Sepulvado as an assistant.
The Chiefs are off to a great start, losing only to defending Class 5A champion Alexandria 48-44.
Airline also has a new head coach. Eddie Hamilton replaced veteran coach Chris White, who retired after last season.
Hamilton came to Airline from Southwood, where he enjoyed a lot of success as head coach the last three seasons. Last season, his Cowboys handed Natchitoches Central its only district loss.
Because of cancellations, it took awhile for the Vikings to get on the court this season. The Vikings are led by returning All-Parish standout Devin Bilbo, who has two games of 30 or more points.
Devarrick Woods, a defensive lineman on the football team, has added some power underneath the basket.
Like Airline, Parkway has had trouble getting on the court. The Panthers haven’t played since Dec. 18. According to the Panthers’ schedule on the LHSAA website, three of their last four games have been postponed or canceled.
Bryce Roberts, another returning All-Parish selection, is Parkway’s top scorer. Trae Ware has also contributed.
Benton has already won two more games than all of last season. The Tigers are riding a five-game winning streak and have won eight of their last nine.
Two of their losses were in overtime. The other was to Bossier.
Coach Todd Martinez has a veteran team. Multiple players have had key roles in the Tigers’ success. Among those are Ryan Ward, Brodie Romero, Dylan Slaid, Jyrell McClendon and Jalen Taylor.
Freshman Greg Manning has been a key addition.
Haughton is just two victories away from its win total of last season. The Bucs have gotten solid play from KJ Allen, Laythan Delaney and Zion Nelson. Ryan Rimmer had a big fourth quarter in one victory.
