Four Vermilion Parish basketball teams make the playoffs

Four Vermilion Parish boys’ basketball teams earned bids to the LHSAA playoffs, and two of them start their journeys to Marsh Madness at home.
The Abbeville High Wildcats (14-12) are the No. 16 seed in the non-select Division II playoff bracket and will open at home against No. 17 seed South Beauregard (20-12).
The game time is 7 p.m. on Friday.
Vermilion Catholic (14-6) is the No. 10 seed in the select Division IV bracket and plays its opener at home against No. 23 Magnolia School of Excellence (7-16) in Shreveport. Game time is at 6:30 on Friday.
Two other Vermilion Parish teams will open the postseason on the road, both in the non-select Division II bracket.
Erath (15-11) is seeded 26th and opens the playoffs at No. 7 Brusly (21-8). It’s Erath’s first playoff bid since 2006, according to EHS athletic director Eric LeBlanc. The game time is 7 p.m. on Friday in Brusly.
North Vermilion (10-14) is the No. 27 seed and travels to No. 6 Breaux Bridge (19-8) to open the playoffs.
First-round games must be played by Friday.
The LHSAA reconfigured its playoffs this season from 32 teams in most non-select brackets (Classes 5A, 4A, 3A, 2A, A, B and C) to 28 teams in Divisions I, II, III, IV and V.
With 28 teams in each division, the top four earn byes in the first round.
The select brackets feature 24 teams in Divisions I-IV and 14 teams in Division V. The top eight teams in Divisions I-IV have first-round byes. Division V starts with the regional round and the top two teams have a bye.
Abbeville had been seeded in the top five earlier this season but had to forfeit four games after using an ineligible player who had transferred in from Lafayette Parish. The resulting drop to No. 16 in the power ratings means the Wildcats will travel to No. 1 Wossman (27-4) for the second round if they win their playoff opener.
The winner of Vermilion Catholic’s game with Magnolia School travels to No. 7 Southern Lab (16-9) in the second round.
The winner of the Erath-Brusly game will face the winner of No. 10 LaGrange (20-7) and No. 23 Iota (18-10).
The North Vermilion-Breaux Bridge winner faces the winner of the first-round game between No. 11 Loranger (18-7) and No. 22 Pearl River (18-14).
The higher-seeded team is at home through the quarterfinals in the basketball playoff brackets.
The LHSAA’s state tournament, dubbed Marsh Madness, will be held March 6-11, at Burton Coliseum in Lake Charles.
Three teams in the parish did not make the playoffs — Kaplan (9-18), Delcambre (8-20), and Gueydan (1-21).