After securing a victory in its opening round playoff game against visiting Slidell last week, No. 11 Hahnville will hit the road to Bossier City this week as it travels to face No. 6 Parkway in round two of the Division I non-select playoffs.
This will be the first road playoff game of the Greg Boyne era at Hahnville – the Tigers’ first three with Boyne as head coach were at Tiger Stadium. Awaiting the Tigers is a very proficient offensive team that plays in a district full of wide open attacks.
Parkway defeated Covington 51-30 on Friday to advance to round two, and that point total is the norm for the Panthers, who have topped 50 points six times this season, including outings of 66 and 69 points.
The Panthers (10-1) began the season 9-0 before dropping their final regular season game to Evangel. Parkway went 8-3 last season, ultimately bowing out in round one of the playoffs against West Monroe.
“Obviously, this is a very talented Parkway team,” said Boyne. “I think they are unconventional in a lot of what they do. They don’t punt a lot and they go for it a lot of the time on fourth down.”
Perhaps the most unconventional approach comes in the kicking game.
“They onside kick almost every time they score – and they score a lot,” said Boyne. “They don’t really kick a lot of extra points when they score, they go for two almost every time.”
All of that goes hand-in-hand with Parkway’s primary focus – to force opponents into an extremely high-pace game environment that the Panthers are much more conditioned to.
“The scheme is very fast-paced,” Boyne said. “They run three or four guys on and off the field sometimes in the middle of a drive. They try to catch you off guard with personnel, so that’s a challenge.
“But it’s the playoffs. It’s 5A in Louisiana. It’s not supposed to be easy.”
As one might expect given the scores posted by the Parkway offense, senior quarterback Kaleb Williams is a standout. He works behind a big, experienced offensive line.
“(Williams) is really good, obviously,” Boyne said. “He’s thrown for a ton of yards and he can also run it. He’s got a great arm.”
Williams’ junior season was cut short due to injury, but he’s made up for lost time in 2025. He finished the regular season with 2,413 passing yards to go with 34 touchdowns and just two interceptions.
His top receivers, Gary Burney, Antonio Gladney and Gabriel Gray are big play threats led by Burney, who has topped the 1,000-yard marker this season. This team likes to throw, but running backs Damian Decaldecal and Braxton Black are dangerous as well.
“(Williams) has weapons all over the field,” Boyne said. “(Burney) is probably the next best receiver besides Jabari (Mack, of Destrehan) that we’ll have seen this year. They have two or three running backs that can hurt you.”
Last week, Parkway was in a tight game with Covington throughout the first half, but it finished the second quarter by scoring a touchdown, then opened the third quarter by doing the same. That created the separation the Panthers needed to control things from there.
Boyne said Hahnville will have to be mentally sharp on Friday – staying on top of personnel changes and maintaining focus as Parkway runs its offense at warp speed.
“They’re looking to overwhelm you with volume,” said Boyne. “They’re looking for you to make a mistake. I can’t remember another team, maybe Barbe in the mid-2000s, that went with this kind of pace.”
The Covington game, Boyne noted, provides an example of how quickly Parkway can turn the lights out on an opponent.
“I thought Covington had a really good game plan … they were able to slow it down for a half, used up half a quarter on one of their drives. And when you’re a rhythm offense, you want the ball. So, I thought that was a good game plan, but then (Parkway) got some turnovers, forced some three-and-outs,” Boyne said.
Defensively, Parkway shows a lot of two-high safety looks, but like Slidell it disguises and shifts coverages throughout the game.
“They play maybe a little more man-to-man defense than Slidell, but they play two-high for the most part and they’re big and strong up front. They feel like they can play with five or six in the box and stop the run early. They also play a lot of kids both ways – they may not start both ways, but they contribute on both sides and that’s impressive considering the number of plays,” Boyne said.
