LHSAA approves districts for new year

Get ready, Tri-parish prep fans – the river parishes are ready to invade the bayous of Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes.

The LHSAA’s executive committee approved district plans for high school athletics this week at a meeting in Baton Rouge.

The biggest change locally will come in our 5A district where river parish foes Hahnville, Destrehan and East St. John will join H.L. Bourgeois, Central Lafourche, South Lafourche, Terrebonne and Thibodaux in the Bayou District.

Those three schools will replace Westgate and New Iberia, who were in our local district for the past two seasons.

New Iberia will move into District 3-5A – a more Lafayette-based district.

Westgate did not have the enrollment to remain in 5A and will join District 5-4A.

This will not be the river parish trio’s first rodeo in the Tri-parishes.

They were in the Bayou District throughout the 1990s and 2000s before joining a more New Orleans-based district in the last redistricting plan.

During their run, the schools had success. Hahnville won a state championship and Destrehan and East St. John each had deep playoff runs.

But with Westgate making the move down to 4A, the logistics of having just one New Iberia-based school in the locally based district did not add up, which thrust the three river teams back into our area.

While Class 5A was being reshaped, our local 4A district will remain completely in tact with Assumption, Ellender, Morgan City, South Terrebonne and Vandebilt rounding out District 7-4A.

Initial plans had Westgate joining the district and also the Academy of Our Lady – a girls-only school.

But Westgate petitioned to join the more Lafayette-based District 5-4A – a request that was granted and kept the Tri-parish 4A district completely in tact.

In Class 3A, both E.D. White and Patterson will see changes in 2013.

The Cardinals and Lumberjacks will head up a five-team district comprised of the two local schools, Berwick, Donaldsonville and Franklin.

The finalized district is vastly different from original projections, which pitted E.D. White in a district superdistrict that featured both John Curtis and St. Charles Catholic, while Patterson would remain in a Lafayette-based district.

In Class 1A, Houma Christian and Covenant Christian will compete together in a district that will also feature Crescent City, Ecole Classique, Metairie Park Country Day, Ridgewood and St. Martin’s.

The two local schools were split this past year, because the Lions joined the LHSAA before a districting cycle had taken place.

E.D. White defenders wrap up a ball carrier during a game this season. The Cardinals are one of the local teams who will see a new district this fall. The Cardinals will compete in a local-based district with both Patterson and Berwick. 

CASEY GISCLAIR | TRI-PARISH TIMES