There may still be two weeks left in the football regular season, but two Vernon Parish teams are angling for first-round playoff byes while the third is looking for a farewell salute with its season ending Friday.
Both Leesville (7-1) and Rosepine (7-1) stand at No. 6 in their respective divisions as they angle for a top-four spot and a first-round playoff bye.
Leesville will have to earn it as they head to Jena (6-2) on Friday before finishing up at Lake Charles College Prep, the latter of which will determine a district champion.
Rosepine (7-1) had its unbeaten season ended in a 43-26 loss to Vinton, but the Eagles will look to rebound on the road against a resurgent East Beauregard (5-3) team.
Pickering (1-7) saw its playoff hopes dashed in a loss to DeQuincy, but the Red Devils will salute their seniors one final time in home game against Vinton (8-0).
LEESVILLE
The Wampus Cats have run roughshod over the first three weeks of District 3-4A action with a trio of wins by at least 40 points.
This last one was Leesville’s biggest win of the year in 62-0 fashion over LaGrange.
Two career records fell in the first quarter, which also is as long as LaGrange lasted in this one.
Julius Brown caught five passes to become Leesville’s all-time receptions leader, passing Levander Liggins. Brown has 121 for his career and finished the game with five catches for 84 yards and two touchdowns.
Needing three touchdown tosses to claim Leesville’s top spot, Broom threw for four scores before the running clock started in the second half. Broom finished with 138 yards on 8-13 passing. He has
Now for the real test – a two-game sprint to complete the regular season with Jena and Lake Charles College Prep.
It’ll likely be Leesville’s toughest tests yet and an indication of how far the Wampus Cats might go in the Division II Non-Select playoffs.
Jena is a program desperately trying to crack the glass ceiling of a state championship, and the Giants appeared in the game for the first time in school history in a loss to Sterlington, which followed semifinal exits in 2023 and 2024.
The Giants, who are No. 3 in the Class 3A poll while Class 4A Leesville checks in at No. 9, have waded through tough competition with wins against Sterlington, Marksville and Bunkie with losses to Westgate and Tioga.
It’s a Tioga bunch that Leesville beat, 46-36, in Week 3, and should serve as a gauge of where the Wampus Cats are after a stretch of inferior competition.
ROSEPINE
The Eagles didn’t come out with the win or district title against Vinton, but they can say that they left with something else – validation.
Rosepine has dominated a fairly weak schedule through their 7-0 start, but their performance against Vinton showed that they do belong among the state’s best Division III and Division IV teams.
After Vinton scored the first two touchdowns, Rosepine cut the deficit to nine or 10 points on three separate occasions.
A better start perhaps could have ended with a different result, but the Eagles showed they belong.
And to show how far the Eagles have come, they get to host a surging East Beauregard team in their own right.
Throughout Rosepine’s pair of one-win seasons before the 2026 campaign, the one constant was beating the Trojans.
But East Beauregard has undergone somewhat of a transformation of their own. Their five wins easily outpace their combined three wins over the past two seasons.
Rosepine has won every meeting dating back to 2017 – can the Eagles make it 10 in a row?
PICKERING
While the first season back in district and playoff contention is likely not how Pickering would have pictured it, the Red Devils can still end the season on a positive note by staying competitive against Vinton.
Vinton (8-0) protected its undefeated record with a 43-26 win against previously undefeated Rosepine and will secure at least a share of the district title by beating Pickering.
Last week’s 41-0 loss to fellow one-win DeQuincy highlighted that Pickering still has a ways to go to be competitive in this district again.
But Pickering can show its 11 seniors that they have respect from their school and community for putting in the work to rebuild the program under third-year coach John Daugherty.
Seniors like Taylon Osorio, Hunter Noel, and Caleb Falls have laid a foundation from which the Red Devils can grow back into a playoff program.
While the scoreboard Friday may not reflect Pickering’s progress in returning back to district play following a two-year hiatus, the fight the Red Devils show in their final game against an opponent poised to make a deep playoff run could be another signal in the program’s turnaround.