4 Big Louisiana HS Matchups Thursday: The Massey Ratings (and Jerit's Take)

Louisiana’s high school football regular season wraps up this weekend with playoff brackets scheduled to be released Sunday.

Because of a combination of teams opting for an extra day of rest before the playoffs and those hoping to avoid weather issues Friday, a particularly loaded Thursday schedule now features about half of the state’s top Week 10 matchups.

Here’s a look at four of the most intriguing.

Archbishop Rummel (8-1, 5-1) at Edna Karr (8-0, 6-0)

Thursday, 7 p.m., at Morris F.X. Jeff Stadium

Rankings: Archbishop Rummel (No. 7 overall Massey, No. 7 LSWA Class 5A, No. 6 Division-I Select power ratings); Edna Karr (No. 1 overall Massey, No. 1 LSWA Class 5A, No. 1 Division-I Select power ratings)

Last week: Rummel beat Jesuit, 42-7, on the road. Edna Karr beat John Curtis, 35-14, at home.

Players to Watch: 2025 Edna Karr DL Corey Adams Jr. (Ole Miss), 2026 Edna Karr DL Richard Anderson (LSU), 2027 Rummel WR Jaylan Ash, 2025 Rummel DT Fred Banks Jr., 2025 Edna Karr LB Arsenio Bolds Jr., 2025 Edna Karr DB/LB Tyrik Brigalia, 2025 Rummel QB Generald Buggage, 2025 Rummel DB Lennis Finister Jr.,2025 Edna Karr WR TaRon Francis (LSU), 2026 Edna Karr DB Aiden Hall (LSU), 2026 Edna Karr DB Hayward Howard Jr., 2026 Edna Karr QB John Johnson Jr., 2025 Rummel DB Lester Johnson, 2025 Rummel OL Ja’Mard Jones (Nicholls State), 2025 Rummel WR Kendrick Joseph, 2025 Edna Karr WR Oliver Mitchell Jr. (Tulane), 2025 Edna Karr RB Bryant Sanchez, 2026 Edna Karr DB Torrence Sanders, 2025 Edna Karr WR Daejawn Smith, 2025 Rummel RB Norman Taylor, 2026 Edna Karr DB Maurice Williams Jr.

Recent History: Edna Karr has gotten the best of the two meetings the past two years since joining the Catholic League, 35-14 in 2022 and 39-31 in 2023.

Massey Prediction: Edna Karr (93%), 38-12.

Jerit Thoughts: The Raiders have appeared to gain steam during the back half of the season as some key players healed up, and they notched a statement win in Week 9 with a rout of rival Jesuit. But Edna Karr appears to be on an absolute tear this year. Second-year starter John Johnson has been running the offense with efficiency and a wealth of weapons, and the defense is loaded at every level. Rummel provided one of the Cougars’ biggest challenges last regular season. And after that close call in Week 9 and 2023 then the frustrating loss to John Curtis, I expect coach Brice Brown’s squad to be locked in, taking nothing for granted and clicking on all cylinders to head into the playoffs.

Catholic-BR (8-0, 4-0) at Zachary (6-2, 3-1)

Thursday, 7 p.m., at “The Corral” (Jerit will be covering from the sidelines)

Rankings: Catholic (No. 6 overall Massey, No. 5 LSWA Class 5A, No. 4 Division-I Select power ratings); Zachary (No. 10 overall Massey, No. 10 LSWA Class 5A, No. 7 Division-I Non-Select power ratings)

Last week: Catholic beat Woodlawn (Baton Rouge), 42-0, at home. Zachary lost at Central (Baton Rouge), 14-3.

Players to Watch: 2026 Catholic S Blaine Bradford, 2025 Catholic DB Jacob Bradford (LSU), 2026 Zachary WR Kristion Brooks, 2025 Catholic WR Amari Clayton (Nicholls State), 2025 Zachary QB Caleb Gonzales, 2025 Zachary DL Sean Hamilton, 2026 Zachary DB Zakarri Hogan, 2025 Catholic DB Cayden Jones, 2025 Catholic WR Cohen LeBlanc, 2027 Catholic RB Jayden Miles, 2025 Catholic RB Rylan Parker, 2025 Zachary RB DaVekio Ruffin, 2026 Zachary LB Dylan Shelmire, 2025 Catholic OT Ervin Smith (Louisiana Tech), 2026 Zachary LB Isaiah Stokes, 2026 Catholic OT Blaise Thomassie.

Recent History: The 2022 district realignment renewed the series that had been four years dormant, and Catholic has so far, with a 24-21 win that year and 35-28 last season, picked up where it left off with wins in 2016, 2017 and 2018. Zachary won, 41-26, in 2015.

Massey Prediction: Catholic (60%), 34-28.

Jerit Thoughts: This matchup has become a mainstay of the Week 10 Thursday since the Baton Rouge powerhouses joined the same district in 2022. Zachary’s loss last week to Central (Baton Rouge) dinged a bit of the luster off this year’s edition, but only slightly. The Bears and Broncos remain two of Louisiana’s top Class 5A programs with plenty of familiarity and desire to beat one other even if no stakes were in place. And even with the curveball last week, plenty of district-title and playoff-seeding implications remain on the line. Catholic has held the advantage each of the past two years’ meetings and rightfully enters Thursday the favored team. I expect the Bears to win again — and to likely not need a late field goal or an overtime period this year to do it.

John Curtis (4-4, 3-3) at St. Augustine (5-4, 3-3)

Thursday, 7 p.m., at Tad Gormley Stadium

Rankings: John Curtis (No. 14 overall Massey, 18th-most votes LSWA Class 5A, No. 16 Division-I Select power ratings); St. Augustine (No. 12 overall Massey, 13th-most votes LSWA Class 5A, No. 10 Division-I Select power ratings).

Last week: John Curtis lost at Edna Karr, 35-14. St. Augustine won at Holy Cross, 18-13.

Players to Watch: 2025 John Curtis DL Logan Barnes, 2025 John Curtis DB Trey Brown, 2025 John Curtis DB Jason Curtis, 2025 John Curtis LB Hayden Delatte, 2025 John Curtis TE JoJo Fagin, 2025 John Curtis QB Reggie Johnson, 2026 John Curtis LB Lane Lecron, 2025 John Curtis RB Anthony Smith Jr.

Recent History: John Curtis has won 10 straight against St. Augustine, including a playoff matchup last season, since joining the Catholic League. Last season’s matchups were decided by a 36-26 score in the regular season and 49-42 in the second round. The Purple Knights won a 2014 non-district game, 15-13.

Massey Prediction: St. Augustine (50%), 21-20.

Jerit Thoughts: As the Massey projection indicates, this matchup could easily go either way — a case that could be made for most of the season’s Catholic League battles. John Curtis has owned the series for a decade, despite how closely the Purple Knights have often played in those meetings. The Patriots have had their most up-and-down season in recent years, but have the ability up front defensively to create some problems. But if there was a year that felt like St. Augustine should finally get back over the hump here, this would be it with a solid team overall and the weapons to get a couple explosive plays to the end zone and win a relatively low-scoring battle.

Evangel Christian (4-5, 3-4) at Parkway (8-1, 6-1)

Thursday, 7 p.m., at Preston Crownover Stadum

Rankings: Evangel Christian (No. 69 overall Massey, No. 24 Division-I Select power ratings), Parkway (No. 26 overall Massey, 13th-most votes LSWA Class 5A, No. 5 Division-I Non-Select power ratings)

Last week: Evangel beat Lafayette Christian, 56-42, at home. Parkway beat Benton, 57-21, at home.

Players to Watch: 2026 Evangel Christian WR/DB Johnny Casey Jr., 2025 Parkway RB C.J. Dudley, 2026 Evangel Christian RB/LB Damari Drake, 2026 Evangel Christian ATH DeMarkus Evans, 2025 Parkway QB Gavin Ferrington (Centenary lacrosse), 2026 Evangel Christian WR/ATH Nathan Green, 2025 Parkway LB Christian Harris, 2027 Evangel Christian QB Peyton Houston, 2025 Evangel Christian RB/ATH Joshua Isaac Jr., 2025 Parkway DB Carmaro Mayo, 2025 Parkway DL Devon Oliver, 2025 Parkway OL Ethan Plunkett, 2026 Parkway DL Korde’ Sharp, 2026 Evangel Christian OL Christian Speight, 2026 Evangel Christian OL Jackson Speer.

Recent History: The teams will meet for the first time since four straight big wins by Evangel from 2015-2018 by an average margin of 40 points.

Massey Prediction: Parkway (64%), 42-34.

Jerit Thoughts: This matchup is actually less highly ranked and high-profile than one or two of its District 1-5A counterparts Thursday, but may still be higher-intrigue and higher-stakes. The Eagles and record-setting 2027 quarterback Peyton Houston, the state’s leading passer, enter their final regular-season contest clinging to the last playoff spot in the Division-I Select bracket. And they head across the river to face one of the local public schools to have had at least one talented athlete transfer to the Eagles this offseason. The stage is set for some tension and fireworks. Parkway has been the better, more complete and more balanced team throughout nine weeks thus far. But Evangel has now won three straight. And maybe it’s more a matter of a gut feeling that Houston and company will be in these playoffs as a dangerous low seed than a matter of logically feeling like the matchup favors the Eagles, but I think we may get the upset in this one.