Congrats to N. LA

[hdkjga]

I think this is the first time I can remember that there were two Shreveport teams left in the final 8 of Division I and neither of them is a big underdog. Both Caddo and Shreve could easily win their respective games and it wouldn't be that big of an upset. District 4 brings their powerhouse, Catholic......district 5 sends their champion St. Paul, districts 3 and 9 send the usual suspects of the last few years, and then district 1, who usually gets at least 1 team to this round but rarely further, has 2 fighting their way toward the prize. I just thought that it was worth mentioning since we southerners give the northern part of the state grief. Both Shreve and Caddo came south to tournaments and showed well, both are ranked in the top 10, neither team is a real dark horse and both are solid teams playing at home in the quarters. Good luck to all 8 teams left, and congrats to district 1 for making it this far and hopefully starting a trend in Division I.


Not to be left out, Loyola in D2 is also in the quarters and, IMHO, favored to win their game and move to the semis.

St. Fred in D3 from Monroe, is also in the quarters playing St. Louis.


Just wanted to send a much dserved congrats to the northern teams.

[DREDG03]

It'll snow in July but Shreve and Magnet will meet in the finals.
thats my story and i'm stickin to it

mahalo

[naked30]

yay! ne la

[mrdashriprock]

hdkjga said:

Just wanted to send a much dserved congrats to the northern teams.

That's a classy thing to post hdkjga. This N. Louisianian is most appreciative.

[Deleted]

H, that was very classy. We don't get much recognition as it is up here but someone finally posts something good about us Northeners. We have some good teams this year and I hope they all go far. As for the South, I would like to see some of my favorites go far too but my homeland comes first. Good luck to all of the rest of the teams and I hope you all do well in the playoffs.

[keeper25]

naked30 said:

yay! ne la

actually its northwest La but that's cool.
These two teams are great teams and both very deserving of what has happened thus far. Best of luck to both of them as the playoffs continue.

[ShreveDad]

After looking at the past brackets www.lahssoccer.com/past_playoffs.htm Division I - District 1 in the last 10 years has only had 4 teams reach the quarterfinal round, 03 Shreve, 00 Caddo, 99 Byrd, and 98 Caddo. Of these 4, only the Byrd team won their match and then they lost in the semifinal. In the years before that we had several years where 2 teams made the semis but LHSAA used a more regional approach to bracketing and several of those teams only needed to win 1 match against another area team to make the quarters. It is much tougher now and I for one couldn't be prouder of the our kids who have done so well this year.

I need to look closer at the brackets but I doubt if there has ever been a year where we knocked 2 Lafayette area teams out of the playoffs. That has usually been the stumbling block for our teams getting past the first round, much less the second. Shreve, Magnet, and this year Loyola all made an effort to go down south to play the best teams in the state to improve and get used to the pace of play you get when you play good teams. All 3 are reaping the rewards of that right now. The only time you get that up here is when Shreve and Magnet play each other.

Both of the teams should be proud of what they have done and pretty excited to see a semifinal berth sitting there for them. Both teams have a great shot to get there. Neither has ever advanced that far before. Both of these games should be close, low scoring contests. I won’t be surprised if we win both or lose both. I think both are really pick-em contests. It will be a great night for soccer up here no matter what happens. I hope the fans turn out in force and stay for both games.

I can’t speak for Magnet, but I think reaching the quarters has always been a goal for this Shreve team. Winning state has always been the unspoken goal, but getting as far as the 02-03 team was something this team needed to do for themselves. Everything now is gravy and I expect to see some great soccer from them on Tuesday.

Thanks h for the kind words. Some say we don’t get any respect up here, but respect must be earned. This year, finally, we really have something to crow about. Maybe, just maybe on Wednesday we will have something even better to talk about.