Westgate High School’s regular season home finale Friday against Carencro will feature two of the top teams in Class 4A by any metric.

Carencro (6-1 overall, 2-1 District 5-4A) is ranked third in the latest Class 4A poll conducted by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association, and Westgate (5-2, 2-1) is No. 10. Carencro is second in the latest unofficial Class 4A non-select power rankings at both MaxPreps.com and GeauxPreps.com, while Westgate is sixth according to Max Preps and 11th according to Geaux Preps. Each has only one loss in district, to 7-0 St. Thomas More, which is ranked No. 1 in the Class 4A statewide LSWA poll and is ranked first in the Max Preps Division II select school power rankings and second in the Geaux Preps Division II power rankings. The LHSAA did not release its rankings before deadline for today’s newspaper.

Westgate head football coach Ryan Antoine knows the Tigers face a strong challenge from the Golden Bears.

“It’s a playoff-style game, a playoff atmosphere,” Antoine said. “We may see them later on down the line in the playoffs. They’re definitely one of the top teams in the state. We consider ourselves one of the top teams in the state in 4A as well. We feel it will be a great matchup to see where we are heading into the playoffs.”

Westgate overwhelmed Northside this past week, 55-0, but still didn’t play at a peak, Antoine said.

“I still don’t think we played our best game yet,” Antoine said. “We limited our penalties and scored however many times we scored, but I still think we came out flat. We had two chances in the red zone at the beginning of the game and we didn’t get in the end zone on the fourth down, and on the next drive we fumbled the snap. I was kind of disappointed with that.”

But the defense played well, and so did the special teams.

“We’ve just got to be able to put teams down early and when we have those chances we have to be able to capitalize on that,” he said. “I was pleased with the way we played. We played hard, but I still don’t think we’re playing at the level we’re capable of.”

The Bears run a veer offense, one of only a couple of teams in Acadiana that does so, along with Acadiana High School, which presents challenges to any defense, Antoine said.

“They run it well,” he said. “They’ve got a huge offensive line and they have a huge running back that runs well. The quarterback does a good job of managing. They have another good back as well that runs the ball well.

“You’ve got to be physical and match their physicality to be able to stop those guys from scoring every series on you. We’re going to have to go out there and play one of our better games defensively to have a chance, for sure.”

UL Lafayette commit Kendrell Williams (5-foot-11, 210 pounds) leads the veer running attack for the Bears, joined by Traylon Prejean.

“You don’t see it around here, except for Acadiana and now Carencro,” Antoine said of the veer. “It’s hard to simulate in practice. It’s just something that we’ve got to be disciplined, we’ve got to be focused, and we’ve definitely got to be physical.

“We’ve got to be able to read our keys and fly around, and when we’ve got the opportunity to make plays, we’ve got to make them.”

Offensively the Tigers will have to execute and get points every chance they have to score, he said.

“Definitely don’t turn the ball over and limit their (possessions) as much as possible,” Antoine said. “We have a young defense, so leaving those guys on the field to play a lot of downs could hurt us. Offense has to be our best defense Friday.”

Antoine said defensive lineman Bradley Lewis has been playing well.

“He’s been working hard, a kid who’s just getting better every week, a kid that’s starting to make a lot of plays for us, and we’ve been able to count on him a lot,” the coach said. “Definitely the most improved player we’ve got right now on defense.”

Linebacker Henry Binion also has been playing well, Antoine said. Both he and Lewis are juniors.

“He was one of our JV guys to start the year off, but now he’s assumed a role as a starter, and is playing real well for us right now,” Antoine said. “He’s a guy we’re starting to count on.”

Kickoff Friday is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Westgate (5-2) and Carencro (6-1) are each ranked in both the statewide sportswriters’ poll and in unofficial power rankings for Class 4A. The teams meet Friday at Tiger Stadium in New Iberia in a District 5-4A game. Here are their rankings. The LHSAA did not release its rankings before deadling for today’s newspaper.

LSWA Class 4A Poll

Carencro — No. 2

Westgate — No. 10

Max Preps Power Rankings

Carencro — No. 2

Westgate — No. 6

Geaux Preps Power Rankings

Carencro — No. 2

Westgate — No. 11