The next two weeks will make or break Iowa High School’s quest to defend its District 3-3A championship.

First, the Yellow Jackets (5-2, 4-0) have a road game at Cougar Stadium against Lake Charles College Prep (3-4, 2-1), one of two teams a game back, and Class 3A No. 8 St. Louis Catholic (6-1, 4-0) in the district standings. Iowa will host St. Louis next week.

LCCP won four consecutive district championships from 2018 to 2021 and can get back into the race with a win. The last two meetings have been decided by a single point. Iowa won 17-16 last year, while the Trailblazers claimed a 27-26 win in 2021.

“They are skilled and they are big,” Iowa head coach Tommy Johns said. “It always seems the way it works with the schedule that it is late in the year.

“There is always something on the line, which is what you want. It has become a little of a rivalry so to speak. Both teams are going to be excited for it. It is always a good game.”

St. Louis will travel to Cut Off for a nondistrict game with South Lafourche (4-3).

The Trailblazers’ schedule has made their 3-4 record to be a bit deceiving. All four losses were to teams ranked in the top 10 of the Louisiana Sports Writers Association poll or the Louisiana High School Athletic Association power ratings.

“You look at who they have played — St. James, St. Louis, Westgate and Opelousas. Opelousas is in Division II and they are a top six or seven seed, and I think they have a shot to make a run,” Johns said. “St. James is in the top of the bracket in Division III.

“They have played a hell of a schedule. The record does not indicate how good they really are.”

After starting the season 1-2, the Yellow Jackets are surging at the right time with a four-game win streak.

“We are just finally playing more consistently,” Johns said. “We got beat by Iota (in) Week 1, and I was telling the kids today that we came back and beat Rayne, then didn’t play very well against Leesville, which they had a lot to do with it, don’t get me wrong.

“We were just very inconsistent. That was the story early on, but we have kind of gotten away from that, which is good. We have to keep that going. You have to keep positioning yourself to get where you want to be.”

Senior quarterback Josiah Bushnell (59-107-2, 928 yards, 10 TDs) is starting to master the Yellow Jackets offense with eight passing touchdowns to one interception in the last three weeks. He leads Iowa’s ground game too with 378 yards and nine touchdowns.

“He has been playing really well,” Johns said of Bushnell. “He has gotten more and more comfortable every game, which is good to see.

“Early on it was all new to him. Like anybody else, as the season gets along he has gotten better, which is what you want.”

The defense, which started the season with four returning starters, is coming around, too.

“We had only four returning starters, it is both linebacker (Hayden Lebleu, Austin Latour) and both safeties (Cohen Charles, Joe Natali),” Johns said. “Those have been our most consistent players right now.

“We are really young up front. We actually have two freshmen that have played for us. Both have started a game. They are coming around. It has taken some time to put the pieces together. We had to move a lot of guys around in the secondary to get what we want.”

Elsewhere

There is a four-way logjam at the top of District 5-1A between Elton (5-2, 3-1), Oberlin (5-2, 3-2), Basile (4-3, 3-1) and East Beauregard (4-3, 2-1). It will be narrowed when Elton hosts Oberlin.

Oberlin has won four of its last five games and had a pair of 100-yard backs in last week’s 20-16 win over Basile in Deshaun Deville (124 yds.) and quarterback Seth Lyons (105 yds., 2 TDs).

Elton running back Tristan Leblanc is second in the area with 1,121 yards and 14 touchdowns.

Two of the area’s Class 5A teams will face ranked undefeated teams.

Sam Houston (6-1, 5-1) will host No. 5 Carencro (7-0, 6-0) for homecoming, while Sulphur (2-5) will make the more than 3-hour drive east for a nondistrict game at No. 2 Destrehan (7-0).

Barbe (4-3, 2-3) hosts Lafayette (3-4, 1-4), looking to extend its win streak to three games.