Westgate seeks 1st football championship today at Superdome

Published 6:00 am Friday, December 10, 2021

If last week’s Class 4A football semifinal playoff game at Edna Karr was any indication, there may be some truth to the old football saying about small town support when a local team is on the road — “last one out of town turn out the lights.”

Westgate High School drew a huge crowd to Algiers last week, filling the visiting stands, and WHS head football coach Ryan Antoine said he and his players and staff were appreciative of that fact.

Those supporters, and ones who watched the game televised statewide on Cox cable’s YurView Louisiana, were pleased to see the Tigers advance to this week’s state championship game, the team’s first trip to the Louisiana High School Athletic Association Prep Football Classic in the Caesars Superdome.

Tonight, fifth-seeded Westgate (12-2) takes on third-seeded Warren Easton for what would be not only the first state football championship for WHS, but the first for an Iberia Parish public school.

Westgate advanced to the semifinals three times between 2007-2010. New Iberia Senior High also reached the state championship game in 1979, playing St. Augustine at Cajun Field in Lafayette in the AAAA final.

Kickoff for tonight’s game is at 7 p.m. in the third and final game of the Prep Classic for the day. In the earlier games, Ouachita Christian is to face Southern Lab at noon in the Division IV final and Many faces Amite at 3:30 p.m. in the Class 2A championship game.

On Saturday, the Superdome schedule sees Logansport play Homer at noon for the Class A title, Sterlington playing Union Parish at 3:30 p.m. for the 3A crown and Zachary taking on Ponchatoula at 7 p.m. for the 5A title.

With the split in 2013 for select and non-select playoffs, most of the select school playoffs have concluded. On Dec. 4 at at Tulane’s Yulman Stadium, Catholic of Baton Rouge beat Jesuit 14-10 for the Division I title, and St. Charles Catholic beat Lafayette Christian 32-27 for the Division III title. E.D. White is scheduled to play University Lab at 7 p.m. today at Cajun Field for the Division II title.

The Division IV championship is the only select school championship played as part of the Prep Classic.