Three parish teams advanced to the second round of the playoffs Friday night including one that pulled a big upset.
At No. 28 in the final non-select Division I power rankings, Airline was the lowest ranked team to make playoffs. The Vikings proved they belonged with a major upset. Airline knocked off No. 5 seed and District 7-5A champion Northshore 49-45 in a first-round game in Slidell.
Airline (12-20) will visit No. 12 Covington (20-10) in the second round next week. The Lions defeated No. 21 Slidell 54-50 in the first round.
In another non-select Division I game, No. 15 Parkway rolled past No. 18 Fontainebleau 73-52 at Parkway. The Panthers (20-11) will travel to Baton Rouge to play No. 2 Central (22-4) next week. The Wildcats had a bye in the first round.
In a non-select Division II first-round game, District 1-4A champion and No. 6 seed Bossier defeated No. 27 St. Martinville 72-52 at Bossier. The Bearkats (19-11) will host No. 11 Plaquemine (18-8) in the second round. The Green Devils defeated No. 22 Pearl River 72-49 in the first round.
Haughton, the No. 24 seed in non-select Division I, saw its season end with a 58-28 loss to No. 9 Ouachita Parish in Monroe. The Bucs finished one of their best seasons in years 17-13.
At Northshore, Kevin White Jr. and Jaydan Gladney led Airline with 15 and 13 points, respectively.
Rylon Bailey added nine and Eli Washington eight.
“Big energy and team effort,” Airline Head Coach Cedric Washington said. “We did the little things tonight and pulled together. The entire roster.”
At Parkway, Jake Gaskins and Caleb Evans scored 22 and 20 points, respectively, to lead the Panthers. KB Williams added 13. Antonio Gladney, Dallas Loche and Tristan Sedberry all scored six.
Evans hit two 3-pointers and scored 10 points in the first quarter as Parkway raced to a 12-5 lead.
Williams scored all 11 of the Panthers’ second-quarter points.
Fontainebleau (18-12) fared better offensively in the second quarter, but Parkway led 23-17 at the half.
The third quarter was Gaskins’ time to shine. He sank two 3-pointers and scored 14 points. Parkway extended the lead to 47-37.
The Panthers continued to pull away in the fourth. Evans and Loche both made two from behind the arc. Gaskins added six more points to raise his second half total to 20.
Parkway finished with eight 3-pointers.
At Bossier, David Thomas led eight Bearkats who scored with 20 points. He hit four of his six 3-pointers in the first quarter.
Kam Davenport, who scored 13 points, also knocked down two 3s in the first as the Bearkats rolled to a 24-4 lead.
St. Martinville (15-19) got going offensively in the second quarter, scoring 19 points. But Bossier still had a comfortable 36-23 lead at the half.
Kerel Dean, the Bearkats’ leading scorer on the season, had a quiet first half with two points. But he stepped up in the second with 12. The Bearkats limited the Tigers to six points in the third and extended the lead to 50-29.
Jatravion Bunnery scored eight of his 15 points in the fourth quarter.
St. Martinville scored most of its points from behind the arc with 10. Kristian Batiste led the Tigers with 15 points.