Tom Dodge
A football state championship by the Bobcats will be remembered for a long time by the Eunice High faithful.
But a Class 3-A repeat isn’t possible as the Bobcats are moving up a division for at least the next two years.
In fact, four of the five teams in District 4-4A are moving in classification.
Rayne is the only original team in the district with Eunice, LaGrange, North Vermilion and Washington-Marion joining the Wolves.
Eunice, Washington Marion and North Vermilion- are moving up, while LaGrange is stepping down from Class 5-A.
Eunice closed its last District 4-4A run with three straight district titles in 2006, 2007 and 2008.
This past season, the Bobcats went 8-2 in the regular season with losses to district rivals Church Point and Iota.
Eunice opened the playoffs with wins over No. 31 Brusly, No. 18 Wossman and No, 26 Madison Prep before a 19-0 win over No. 3 Kaplan to advance to the championship game.
No. 2 Eunice then exploded for a 59-47 win over No 4 Sterlington as the Bobcats (13-2) captured their second state championship in program history.
LaGrange went 0-10 last season in a tough schedule that included losses to Notre Dame, Teurlings Catholic, Ferriday, Comeaux, New Iberia, Sam Houston, Sulphur, Lafayette, Acadiana and Barbe.
Washington-Marion finished 4-6 last season with win over Ville Platte, Beau Chene, Westlake and Iowa.
North Vermilion went 5-5 in 2018 with victories over Beau Chene, Franklin, Varnado, Patterson and Abbeville.
Rayne struggled to a 3-8 finish last season with wins over Erath, Northside and a forfeit win over Welsh.
The Wolves entered the playoffs as the No. 31 seed and fell 44-0 to No. 2 Warren Easton in the first round.
Eunice will open the season at Northwest on Sept. 6 before the home opener against rival Jennings.
The Bobcats travel to Ville Platte on Sept. 20 before entertaining Breaux Bridge and Abbeville.
Eunice travels to Rayne on Oct. 11 for the district opener before hosting Washington-Marion.
A non-district visit toTioga on Oct. 25 is followed by district road game at North Vermilion.
The Bobcats close the regular season at home on Nov. 8 against LaGrange.
UP NEXT: A look at District 5-3A