Redisricting drops school to Class 4A

South Lafourche High School is a Class 4A school.

That’s the big local news that came out of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association’s preliminary redistricting meetings this past week in Baton Rouge.

South Lafourche was counted as having 1,112 students ranging from grades 9-12. That number fell below the mark of the 1,159 students needed to be a Class 5A foe.

That means that in the preliminary district alignment plan for the 2015-17 athletic seasons, the Tarpons have been thrown into our area’s Class 4A district, joining Assumption, Ellender, Morgan City, South Terrebonne and Vandebilt.

South Lafourche had previously competed in District 7-5A with H.L. Bourgeois, Central Lafourche, De-strehan, East St. John, Hahnville, Terrebonne and Thibodaux – an alignment that was kept in place during the first district discussions this past week.

Minus South Lafourche, of course, who is looking forward to the future – one that football coach Dennis Skains hopes is filled with Class 4A State Playoff games.

The Tarpons were the only local team to move up or down in class in the latest enrollment figures.

“I say this and people don’t believe me, but I honestly don’t care where we are,” Skains said about the Tarpons’ drop to 4A. “If we’re

in 5A, great. If we’re in 4A, that’s great, too. We’re going to go where they tell us to go, and we’re going to play whoever they tell us to play. Those kinds of things really don’t do much to change the way we think or how we prepare.”

With South Lafourche out of the area’s Class 5A district, that means that a few of our area’s longest standing rivalries may need a little bit of support in order to survive.

The Tarpons’ annual competitions with both cross-parish rivals Thibodaux and Central Lafourche are annually among the fiercest and most anticipated games in Houma-Thi-bodaux-area prep football.

When they were in the same district, the Tarpons’ schedule was automatically set to face the Tigers and Trojans, as all same-district teams face one another inside of the 10-game season.

But now that they are not, a little work was needed to keep the rivalries alive.

Skains said he’s been in contact with both Thibodaux coach Chris Dugas and Central Lafourche coach Keith Menard and the schools have scheduled games to play non-district action.

Both Skains and Menard confirmed that the Tarpons and Trojans will play one another in Week 4. Skains said the Tarpons will take on the Tigers in Week 3.

Dugas and Menard both had high praise of their rivalry with South Lafourche following their games with the Tarpons last season.

Each said it was a game their kids looked forward to each season.

“South Lafourche is a great rival to us,” Dugas said after beating the Tarpons 35-0 last season. “This is a game that the kids look forward to playing.”

“It’s a big rivalry – for sure,” Menard added after falling to South Lafourche 44-27 last season. “The intensity is always high, and the kids never want to lose to their rivals. On both sides, it’s a great game.”

The alignments that have been proposed are not yet final.

The LHSAA will have meetings at future dates to discuss tweaks or adjustments to Louisiana’s prep districts. But one thing that cannot be reversed are enrollment numbers, and those say that South Lafourche is going to Class 4A – at least for the next two years.

“We had a few smaller freshman classes than normal, and that dropped us down to where we are now,” Skains said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if in two years, we’re moving right back up again.”

OTHER LOCAL NEWS The rest of the Houma-Thi-bodaux area will be relatively unchanged if the LHSAA’s preliminary district plan goes into effect.

In Class 5A, the preliminary plan keeps the Bayou District intact minus South Lafourche, who would be going to 4 A in the above-mentioned local district – a league that would also stay the same except for the addition of the Tarpons.

In Class 3A, the preliminary plan would keep District 9-3A completely the same with Berwick, Donald-sonville, E.D. White, Franklin and Patterson making up the five-team league.

In Class 1A, both Houma Christian and Covenant Christian Academy are planned to stay together in the same district for the second-straight redistricting cycle. But the teams competing with the Warriors and Lions may be a little bit different – even if just slightly.

The preliminary redistricting plan places CCA and Houma Christian in District 8-1A, which would also consist of Crescent City, Ecole Classique, Ridgewood, St. Martin’s and Varnado.

The new district would be just a minor tweak for the Lions and Warriors, as the new league would swap-in Varnado and swap-out Country Day – the Metairie-based private school that is currently in the same district as the local private schools.

Country Day is moving up to Class 2A. E3

‘If we’re in 5A, great. If we’re in 4A, that’s great, too.’

Dennis Skains

South Lafourche head football coach

Redisricting drops school to Class 4A