The biggest change in recent years to the overall structure of Louisiana’s prep athletics will be applied to the upcoming school year, as the LHSAA has reclassified what is considered to be select and non-select schools.
As many as 89 schools would move from non-select to select under the LHSAA’s shift, which now defines a select school as “Lab schools, magnet schools, schools with magnet components, charter schools, parishes that allow open enrollment at all its public schools and tuition-based schools.“
The move was made after discussions at the LHSAA’s summer meetings.
Locally, Hahnville and Destrehan will remain in the non-select division. Many of their rivals and competitors from around the state will not, barring more changes, and the end result of the move would create a near 50-50 division among the state’s schools, bringing the select side up in numbers.
Among notable movers is Acadiana, a longtime football playoff rival of both Destrehan and Hahnville – in recent years, the Wreckin’ Rams have been pitted against one of the Wildcats or Tigers in the postseason near annually. Karr is another. The Cougars are moving up to Class 5A this season – the team’s spring game against Destrehan looked to be a potential postseason preview – but currently project to play on the select side now. Landry-Walker, John Ehret and Alexandria are other notable 5A football forces set to make the move, which would bring ripple effects through the majority of prep sports including baseball, softball, volleyball, basketball and more.
Schools are expected to be able to appeal their classification, however, so the shuffling may not be completely done.
Select and non-select schools will once again play at the same championship events next school year. For the past three years football and basketball have hosted separate championship events. Baseball and softball played separate events in 2022.
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