Seven teams from Louisiana are headed to the Carsars Superdome to play for state championships.
They are North DeSoto, Ruston, Homer, Oak Grove, Many, Union Parish and Ouachita Christian.
North DeSoto, the No. 4 seed, routed No. Iowa 39-8 in the non-select Division II semifinals Friday. The Griffins (12-1) face No. 6 Lutcher (13-1), a 35-21 winner over No. 2 West Feliciana, for the title at noon Saturday.
Ruston, the No. 1 seed, defeated No. 5 Zachary 37-22 in the non-select Division I semifinals. The Bearcats (12-1) play No. 3 Destrehan (13-0), a 21-6 winner over No. 10 Westgate, at 7 Friday.
Homer (10-3), the No. 2 seed, and No. 8 Oak Grove (11-3) face off for the non-select Division IV championship at 3:30 Thursday. The Pelicans defeated No. 3 Mangham 38-18 in the semifinals, and the Tigers dropped No. 5 Haynesville 48-7.
Many (13-0), the No. 1 seed, and No. 3 Union Parish (12-1) meet for the non-select Division III championship at 3:30 Saturday. The Tigers defeated No. 4 St. James 32-13 in the semifinals, and the Farmers downed No. 2 Amite 28-8.
Ouachita Christian, the No. 3 seed, defeated No. 10 Ascension Catholic 42-14 in the select Division IV semifinals. The Eagles (12-1) play No. 1 Vermilion Catholic for the championship at 7 Thursday.
District 1-5A champion faced North DeSoto and Union Parish in Weeks 1 and 2. The Vikings lost to the Griffins 46-21 and the Farmers 26-22.
Bossier fell to North DeSoto 56-16 in a District 1-4A game in Week 9.
Haughton lost to Many 35-3 in Week 3.
This is the first year of the LHSAA’s new playoff format which features four non-select divisions instead of five classes. The format was instituted after the LHSAA changed the definition of a select school. That caused several former non-select schools, including Captain Shreve, Northwood and Huntington, to move from the non-select to select category.
Of the eight non-select and eight select semifinal games, only three were decided by less than 14 points.
