The Catholic High Panthers are ninth in the unofficial select schools Division III power rankings, but are struggling through two games in District 7-2A heading into today’s home game against the Loreauville Tigers.

The Tigers are looking to take another step toward an undefeated season Friday night when the team heads to New Iberia to take on its longtime rival in a key district contest for both teams.

At 5-0, the Tigers are undefeated this late in the season for the first time since going 7-0 to open the in 2013, when LHS advanced all the way to the Class 2A semifinals.

Now Loreauville is looking to go 2-0 in district against the Panthers to keep pace with another undefeated district team — Ascension Episcopal, which is also 2-0 as the two teams continue toward their clash in week 9 at LHS.

Catholic High, meanwhile, has struggled in its first two district games.

The Panthers started out 2-1 but dropped their district opener in overtime to Delcambre and then were shut out last week 29-0 by AES. It was the first time that CHS has been shut out since a 49-0 loss to Notre Dame in the fourth week of the 2018 season.

LHS coach Terry Martin is not really concerned about the game as much as he would like to get in a good week of practice without distractions.

“It always seems like something is going on,” Martin said. “Last week we had to go inside for a couple of days due to rain. Then we had something else before that. It just seems like every week there has been something going on that has disrupted what we’ve been doing and it’s affected how we’ve played.

“We know that we need to get better and play better if we want to keep going.”

In the most recent, unofficial LHSAA power rankings released Wednesday, Loreauville is third in Class 2A in the non-select schools while Catholic High is ninth in select Division III.