re: High school soccer in BR

The high school soccer talent in BR is really diluted among so many schools, so there isn't really one dominant powerhouse program here like there is in much of the state. For example, St. Paul's and Mandeville get almost all of the Mandeville-Covington area talent, St. Louis Catholic gets all of the Lake Charles talent, Jesuit and Brother Martin get the NOLA talent, and Acadiana currently gets most of the Lafayette area talent.

St. Paul's is the best team in the state, and with Jesuit being down, nobody is really challenging them at the moment. They should win their fourth straight D-I title this year. Mandeville and Acadiana are likely their only competition, and I think St. Paul's will still go undefeated against LA competition again this year. Catholic and St. Amant will be good this year in the BR area.

D-II is very wide open. Holy Cross and STM look to be the best teams again, along with Beau Chene. Woodlawn made a nice run to the semifinals last year. Not sure what they bring back this season.

D-III is very competitive in the BR area. University, Parkview, Episcopal, and St. Michael all have solid soccer programs and compete in the same district. We (St. Michael) had a really good team (#2 seed in the playoffs) two seasons ago when we played up in D-II, and we should be a Top 10 team again this year after having a young team last year. University are probably the favorites, but the gap between them and the other 3 isn't as big as last year. St. Louis Catholic though should be favored as state champs until proven otherwise. The Saints have won state titles 6 of the last 7 years, but lost a lot of great seniors from a team that won 31 of 36 matches last year. Vandebilt Catholic in Houma will likely step up if St. Louis finally has a down year.

D-IV was just created last year. Newman and Northlake Chrisitan played for the title last year. Wouldn't be surprised at a repeat.