BATON ROUGE - It’s one of the most important days in the high school bowling season as the brackets for the three championship divisions are announced and the singles qualifiers who are eligible to bowl for the state championship next month are revealed.

The Louisiana High School Athletic Association announced the three 16-team brackets which will next week bowl the round of 16 and round of eight to get down to the last four teams in each group that will compete for the state title April 9 and 10 at Premier Lanes in Gonzales.

A total of 13 Baton Rouge area schools advanced to the playoffs in one of the three divisions.

Starting with the girls where two-time defending state champion Dutchtown is the top seed and one of four undefeated squads in the field. Dutchtown will face No. 16 Teurlings Catholic (7-3) in its quarterfinal match on April 3 at Acadiana Lanes in Lafayette.

Denham Springs, the 2022 champion, whose only loss is to Dutchtown, is the No. 5 seed, with Albany (9-2) at No. 9 and St. Amant (8-4) No. 13.

In boys Division I (5A schools), Brother Martin, the winner-of-seven-of-the-last-nine state titles, is the No. 1 seed and may have an easy on paper road to the semifinals facing No. 16 Parkway (8-4) in its opening round and either Southside or Acadiana (both 10-2) in the quarterfinals. Those matches will be in New Orleans in front of the local fans at Bowlero Kenner on April 1.

East Ascension (11-1) is the No. 5 seed with Catholic-BR (10-2) at No. 10, St Amant (10-2) at No. 11. Defending state champion Denham Springs (9-3) is seeded 14th and will have undefeated and No. 3 seed Captain Shreve in the opener. Dutchtown (8-3) advanced as the No. 15 seed.

In Division II (4A and below), Archbishop Shaw is the prohibitive favorite as the only undefeated team in the bracket and a power rating more than one full point over second place. They will face the No. 16 seed from Baton Rouge, St. Michael the Archangel (6-5).

University High is the No. 6 school at 9-1 with French Settlement and Madison Prep meeting in the 8-9 first round match. French Settlement is 10-1 and Madison Prep is 9-1. Madison Prep won the only meeting against French Settlement in the regular season.

Here are the complete first round matchups for the high school team playoffs:

Division II Boys (March 31, Acadiana Lanes, Lafayette)

• 10 a.m. matches

5 Patrick Taylor vs. 12 Loranger

6 University Lab vs. 11 Houma Christian

7 Vanderbilt Catholic vs. 10 Belle Chasse

8 French Settlement vs. 9 Madison Prep

• 12:45 p.m. matches

1 Archbishop Shaw vs. 16 St. Michael The Archangel

2 St. Thomas More vs. 15 Holy Savior Menard

3 David Thibodaux vs. 14 Berwick

4 South Terrebonne vs. 13 Teurlings Catholic

• 3:15 p.m. – Quarterfinal Round Matches

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Division I Boys (April 1, Bowlero Kenner)

• 1 p.m. matches

1 Brother Martin vs. 16 Parkway

2 Slidell vs. 15 Dutchtown

3 Captain Shreve vs. 14 Denham Springs

4 Central Lafourche vs. 13 C.E. Byrd

5 East Ascension vs. 12 Archbishop Rummel

6 Jesuit vs. 11 St. Amant

7 Alexandria vs. 10 Catholic-BR

8 Southside vs. 9 Acadiana

• 3:15 p.m. – Quarterfinal Round Matches

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Girls (April 3, Acadiana Lanes, Lafayette)

• 10 a.m. matches

5 Denham Springs vs. 12 Captain Shreve

6 Lafayette vs. 11 Central Lafourche

7 Patrick Taylor vs. 10 Berwick

8 Alexandria vs. 9 Albany

• 12:45 p.m. matches

1 Dutchtown vs. 16 Teurlings Catholic

2 Archbishop Chapelle vs. 15 H.L. Bourgeois

3 St. Scholastica vs. 14 Central Catholic

4 South Terrebonne vs. 13 St. Amant

• 3:15 p.m. – Quarterfinal Round Matches

In singles, it took a 146 qualifying average to make it to the girl’s event with Baton Rouge featured up top with Gracie Dawson of Denham Springs averaging 213, Sydney Lee at 210 and Caroline Engeron of Albany (203) the top three in the state.

Four other bowlers from Baton Rouge were in the top 10 – Ava Doucet (St. Joseph’s) at 196, Annie Laurence of Denham Springs at 191 along with Parker Blanchard of St. Michael and Anna Aucoin of Central (185).

It took a 187 average to make the top 80 cut for the boy’s competition with Luke Chapman having the high Baton Rouge area average of 221 for East Ascension. Chase Cagnolatti of St. Amant averaged 220 and Braiden Torres of Dutchtown was at 218.

I think it’s going to be a fun playoff bracket this year and this is the spot to get all the results each evening after the competition here at WBRZ.com.

USBC Open Update

Have to give a quick update for the first 300 and 800 series rolled at the Raising Canes River Center by Gregory Thompson, Jr., of Tempe, Arizona over the weekend (300-264-246, 810). Amazingly, so the story goes, about 11 years ago he had a horrific arm injury when he broke his arm throwing a pitch for his team in the National Adult Baseball Association.

Also the first big team score is in with the Strike It Rich Pro Shop 1 team of St. Charles, Missouri, rolling a five-man score of 3,270.

Back next Monday with opening results from the high school playoffs.

                                                  Until then, good luck and good bowling,

                                                                                               Kent Lowe