By T. Scott Boatright
Choudrant and Simsboro High School will see format changes for the sports of basketball, baseball and softball for the 2024-25 academic year after votes by Louisiana High School Athletic Association member schools Thursday during the LHSAA Convention in Baton Rouge.
The move will reunite what since 2012 has been a divided select and nonselect school played format for Classes B and C, bringing traditional public schools and nontraditional (select) schools back into a single playoff bracket.
That vote will affect postseason play in the three sports for Choudrant and Simsboro, both Class B schools.
The principals from those two Lincoln Parish Schools — Choudrant’s Chris Jones and Simsboro’s Lacey Holcomb — both said they voted no to recombining the select and nonselect schools for postseason play.
“I voted no because we really liked the way Division V was set up for us (under the current format adopted in 2012) across the board,” Jones said. “The biggest concern was really for Class C schools, which sometimes have to play significantly larger schools.
“Because of the disparity in the sizes of Class C schools, I understand that. And I understand that some of the Class B schools were concerned because some of them also might have to potentially play larger schools.”
Jones said the difference between public and private schools wasn’t a concern for him or CHS coaches.
“As far as public or private schools, we’ll play anybody any day, any time for schools our size,” Jones said. “Right now I think there’s only six or seven or seven that will be in Class B.
“For us, I don’t see it being a make or break thing. We’re definitely not scared to play anybody. But I also see that for Class C, they were really interested in protecting schools and having a sense of fair play for those guys, too, so that’s how it all worked out.”
Holcomb said she and Simsboro’s coaches for those three sports also felt strongly about staying separated from nonselect schools in the playoffs.
“I talked to my coaches and we all agreed that we would have liked to have seen (the LHSAA) keep the divisions the way they were,” Holcomb said. “When we got down there today and we met with Class C, you could see there really were pros and cons either way.
“If we didn’t do a similar proposal to Class C, there was the potential down the road for us to possibly have to play football (significantly larger) schools. So that wasn’t a great option for us either, making it tough to decide which was the better option. The vote in Class B was really close, but we’re going to go back to the combined format and roll with it the best we can. I voted no to be consistent with the talks I had with my coaches before going down (to Baton Rouge).”
Holcomb said she did see at least one benefit in the recombined playoffs format.
“At least there’s certainty with this,” Holcomb said. “If it had gone the other way, there was a little bit of uncertainty, even from the LHSAA, as to what schools would end up being in Division V moving forward.
Thursday’s meetings also affected bigger schools, especially in baseball, which will now move to a best-of-three series throughout the playoffs.
Because of that, the 2025 baseball season will begin a week earlier, with each championship in Divisions I, II, and III ending with a best-of-3 championship series while Divisions IV and V will continue their traditional playoff format.
