Four parish teams qualified for the state playoffs.
The Airline Vikings, Parkway Panthers and Benton Tigers will all be on the road in non-select Division I first-round games Friday.
No. 17 seed Airline (14-15) visit No. 16 Covington (20-8) at 6 p.m. No. 23 Parkway (13-15) is also headed to the southeast part of the state for a matchup against No. 10 Slidell (24-7) at 6:39. No. 26 Benton (14-13) visits No. 7 Sulphur (27-4)). The time for the Benton-Sulphur game hadn’t been posted on the LHSAA website at the time of this post.
Airline fell to Covington 65-60 in the second round last year at Covington.
A late surge helped Benton make the playoffs for the first time since 2021. The Tigers won five of their last seven games, including victories over parish rivals Airline and Parkway. Benton closed the regular season with a 61-52 victory over Quitman Saturday.
District 1-4A champion Bossier (20-9), the No. 4 seed, received a first-round bye in non-select Division II. The Bearkats will host the winner between No. 13 Assumption (23-9) and No. 20 St. Martinville (14-16) in the second round next week.
Bossier reached the state championship game last year, falling to No. 1 seed Wossman 50-44. Wossman is the No. 1 seed again this season.
Bossier closed the regular season Saturday with a 73-48 loss to Calvary Baptist, the No. 1 seed in select Division III, at Calvary.
The Bearkats trailed by just five at the half but were outscored 27-11 in the third quarter. JD