High School Sports

Sports Headline

Sports Headline

Sacred Heart, PPHS begin road to Sulphur on home turf

News Staff
Thursday, April 18, 2024
By: RHETT MANUEL and TONY MARKS LSN Sports Editors Now that the baseball regular season is wrapped up, there’s only one thing left to focus on. That’s the road to Sulphur, where the state baseball tournament will be played in approximately three weeks beginning on May 7.
Tyler Newman and Landon Fontenot, both of Basile, are pictured as they compete in the 110m hurdles during the parish track meet held at Pine Prairie High School. (Gazette photo by Rhett Manuel)

Tyler Newman and Landon Fontenot, both of Basile, are pictured as they compete in the 110m hurdles during the parish track meet held at Pine Prairie High School. (Gazette photo by Rhett Manuel)

Thirty Top-3s vaults Basile to parish meet sweep

News Staff
Thursday, April 18, 2024
By: RHETT MANUEL Sports Editor PINE PRAIRIE – Sometimes it’s just your year. For the Basile Bearcats track and field program, it was theirs as they swept the Evangeline Parish track meet in winning both the overall boys and girls parish championships.
Make no mistake about it. When the Bulldogs needed a big bucket, they relied on their two-time Parish MVP for it. Sage Papillion has been a prolific scorer for years now, but was relied on for even more leadership than he was in past years this season. (Gazette photo by Rhett Manuel)

Make no mistake about it. When the Bulldogs needed a big bucket, they relied on their two-time Parish MVP for it. Sage Papillion has been a prolific scorer for years now, but was relied on for even more leadership than he was in past years this season. (Gazette photo by Rhett Manuel)

Personal connections, tragedy fueled Papillion

News Staff
Monday, April 15, 2024
By: RHETT MANUEL Sports Editor Evangeline Parish boys’ basketball MVP Sage Papillion thrives on connection. Yes, he doesn’t say much.
Sacred Heart coach Cody Jones guided his Trojans to a win over Ouachita Christian in the opening round of the playoffs and has been named the boys’ coach of the year in Evangeline Parish after igniting a positive culture in the school’s program. (Photo courtesy of Cody Jones)

Sacred Heart coach Cody Jones guided his Trojans to a win over Ouachita Christian in the opening round of the playoffs and has been named the boys’ coach of the year in Evangeline Parish after igniting a positive culture in the school’s program. (Photo courtesy of Cody Jones)

COY Jones ignited positive culture in SHS basketball

News Staff
Monday, April 15, 2024
By: RHETT MANUEL Sports Editor A good motivator is hard to find these days. With the world changing, the voice of a good coach and mentor is all the more important. In high school sports, that leadership can be the difference between wins and losses.
Bertrand

Bertrand

Bearcat head coach accepts job at Oakdale

News Staff
Thursday, April 11, 2024
By: DARREL LEJEUNE LSN Editor Basile High School and its close-knit community were surprised last week as Coach Kevin Bertrand, the school’s athletic director and head football and softball coach, announced his departure for Oakdale High in Allen Parish next school year.
Sydney Fontenot (20) connects with a pitch in a Pine Prairie Lady Panther game against Mamou. (Gazette photo by Rhett Manuel)

Sydney Fontenot (20) connects with a pitch in a Pine Prairie Lady Panther game against Mamou. (Gazette photo by Rhett Manuel)

Lady Panthers close out second consecutive unbeaten district title

News Staff
Thursday, April 11, 2024
By: RHETT MANUEL Sports Editor The Pine Prairie Lady Panthers completed a second-straight run in District 4-3A title run in an unbeaten fashion last Thursday, defeating the Port Barre Lady Devils by a 2-1 margin to extend its winning streak to 15-straight games.
Sports Headline

Sports Headline

Softball teams look toward Sulphur

News Staff
Thursday, April 11, 2024
By: TONY MARKS Editor Softball teams from Evangeline Parish now have their eyes set on reaching North Frasch Softball Complex in Sulphur. These teams learned which roads to take to get there once the brackets were released on Wednesday, April 10.
Suzy Fontenot (right) presents new Ville Platte High School head football coach Chris Bland (center) with a copy of Sharpened Iron: The Tee Cotton Bowl Story. Pictured on the left is Tee Cotton Bowl co-founder Tim Fontenot. (Gazette photo by Tony Marks)

Suzy Fontenot (right) presents new Ville Platte High School head football coach Chris Bland (center) with a copy of Sharpened Iron: The Tee Cotton Bowl Story. Pictured on the left is Tee Cotton Bowl co-founder Tim Fontenot. (Gazette photo by Tony Marks)

An oxymoronic hire

News Staff
Monday, April 8, 2024
By: TONY MARKS Editor Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines “oxymoron” as “a combination of contradictory or incongruous words (such as cruel kindness).” In a broader sense, the word is also defined as “something (such as a concept) that is made up of contradictory or incongruous elements.
Breanna Ardoin (left) and Kali Shiver (right) were named Evangeline Parish’s Co-Most Valuable Players in girls’ basketball after helping lead their Sacred Heart Lady Trojan team to a state tournament appearance at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond. (Gazette photo by Rhett Manuel)

Breanna Ardoin (left) and Kali Shiver (right) were named Evangeline Parish’s Co-Most Valuable Players in girls’ basketball after helping lead their Sacred Heart Lady Trojan team to a state tournament appearance at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond. (Gazette photo by Rhett Manuel)

The court’s finest

News Staff
Monday, April 8, 2024
By: RHETT MANUEL Sports Editor In business, when a leader is walking out of the door a succession plan is put into place. They are, in a nutshell, how an organization plans to continue to thrive with new leadership in place.
Craig Whittington is pictured as he cuts down the net during his team’s run to its first state tournament appearance. (Photo courtesy of Craig Whittington))

Craig Whittington is pictured as he cuts down the net during his team’s run to its first state tournament appearance. (Photo courtesy of Craig Whittington))

Whittington flips culture at SHS, honored as COY

News Staff
Monday, April 8, 2024
By: RHETT MANUEL Sports Editor The process to get Sacred Heart to where Evangeline Parish Coach of the Year Craig Whittington wanted them to get to wasn’t necessarily an easy one. It was a 180-degree philosophy shift.
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