For 4 years, South Lafourche football coach BJ Young could walk into the locker room and see a lot of the same dudes — guys like Terrance Pitre, Josh Mack, Meathead Dardar, Tucker Dantin, Joao Araujo, Ress Duet and others — just to name a few.

On Friday night, those program stalwarts all put on the pads for the final time, ending a successful career at one of the most storied venues in all of high school football.

West Monroe beat South Lafourche 49-21 on Saturday night, ending the Tarpons’ season in the opening round of the Division I Non-Select State Playoffs.

Coach BJ Young said he ‘couldn’t be prouder’ of his team, but also said he was sad for his senior leaders.

Young said on Friday night that he “didn’t want to even think about” running a program without those kids, then added on Saturday that it was one of the most special groups he’s ever coached.

Several players in the Class of 2026 were 3 and even 4-year starters with many breaking school records for their output.

“It’s hard, man. It’s hard,” Young said. “We’ve seen these kids grow up in our program. We’ve had them pretty much the entire time we’ve been here it feels like. You watch them grow. You watch them become men. It’s hard. We’ll always love them. But look for a lot of them, we now get to go and support them in their other sports, so that makes it easier — getting to see them work hard and finish their high school careers with a bang.”

The Tarpons faced a tall task on Friday.

West Monroe has an enrollment of north of 2,000. South Lafourche’s is less than 1,000.

The Rebels depth was on display and they jumped out early, taking a 35-7 advantage at halftime and looked poised to put the game well out of reach.

But the Tarpons didn’t blink.

South Lafourche dominated the third quarter and played maybe their best football of the entire season, getting 2-straight stops then 2-straight touchdown drives to make the game 35-21.

Mack his Pitre for a touchdown and Dardar got another on the ground.

The Rebels settled back in during the fourth quarter and took back control, getting a pair of touchdowns to make the game 49-21.

The Tarpons drove late with a chance to get closer, but turned the ball over on downs to ice it for the win.

The Tarpons were 6-5 on the season.

The Rebels will host Barbe in the second round of the playoffs.

The Tarpons will be losing pieces, but gaining an advantage next year in that they will be in Division II — the bracket they probably should have been in the past 3-4 years. The Tarpons are one of just a handful of 4A schools in Division I.

THIBODAUX OVERWHELMED BY MANDEVILLE

All season, Thibodaux’s defense has been a dominant force — a group that powered the team to an 8-2 regular season and a spot hosting in Division I Non-Select.

But on Friday night, the Tigers met their match in an explosive, high-powered Mandeville team that will live to play another day.

Mandeville beat Thibodaux 48-21 on Friday night, punching a ticket to the second round of the Division I Non-Select State Playoffs.

The Tigers competed, but just didn’t quite have their best.

Mandeville was sharp and dominant with their passing game, stretching the field and making plays.

Thibodaux kept it close early, but the Skippers dominated the second and third quarters to put it out of reach and put it out of reach for good.

The loss ends the Tigers’ season with an 8-3 record.

Coach Lowell Narcisse said after the game that he couldn’t be prouder of his team. He said the loss is disappointing, but his first season at Thibodaux was a good one.

The Tigers were picked to be a middle of the pack team in our local 5A district, but started hot and finished strong to exceed prognosticators’ projections.

The team also is young and will have several key pieces back in 2026.

E.D. WHITE ENJOYS BYE

While South Lafourche and Thibodaux bowed out, E.D. White watched Round 1 from the comforts of home.

The Cardinals had an opening-round bye in Division II Select, which let them rest this week and get ready for the final stretch run.

E.D. White is the No. 8 seed. They will face No. 9 St. Michael on Friday night in Thibodaux.

Coach Kyle Lasseigne and his staff saw St. Michael play this weekend and said it will be a challenge, but that he believes the Cardinals will be ready.

“We believe we’re playing our best football right now,” Lasseigne said. “We had a good week. We got some guys some rest who needed it. But we got on the field and cleaned up some things we needed to work on. And we got a little bit of a jump and a head start on our opponent. It’s the time of the year where everyone is good. We know we have to play well to beat these guys, but we think we’re peaking at the right time. We enjoy the challenge.”