Want to see the most prolific scorer in league history?
How about one of the top face-off players in the NATION?
Could be a possible three-peat.
Or the “last dance” for one of the most successful coaches the LHSLL has ever had.
Just some of the storylines that will be on full display over the weekend at Catholic High in Baton Rouge.
Yes, after a season’s worth of thrilling lacrosse action that has featured both great games and great players, we have arrived at the Louisiana High School Lacrosse League Final Four.
And quite frankly, it may be the most competitive LHSLL Final Four that Varsity Sports Now has broadcast since it partnered with the league for the 2019 season.
The two-time defending champs Jesuit enters as the No.1 seed, and is loaded again but will have plenty of competition for the title.
Jesuit coach Zach Pall has tempered the team’s talk of a possible three-peat.
“Our thoughts about a three-peat is that we haven’t really been talking about it,” said Pall. “We’re going day-by-day making sure that the team is getting as ready as possible for the first game Friday night and not looking past any game this past season. The boys work hard every day and the team has been preparing for this weekend all year sticking to our system and playing our game is the key for us and what we are focusing on.”
The last team to win the state title not named Jesuit is Catholic. The No.2 Bears enter the Final Four after back-to-back excruciating one-goal state championship losses to the Blue Jays. And their winningest coach in school history George K.D. Hopkins is in his last dance announcing he will be returning to coach at his alma mater in Baltimore, Maryland after his ninth season at Catholic.
“I’m very proud of our team and the success our players have earned thus far this season, returning to Championship Weekend for the sixth consecutive time,” said Hopkins. “No other team in Louisiana has done that in this same time frame. It seems to be the same four teams making it year after year, although St. Paul’s has now replaced STM on the other side of the bracket.”
No.3 seed Newman is primed to make a run at getting past the elusive semifinals hurdle after taking both the top seeds to the limit in late March losing to Jesuit 9-7 and after scoring an incredible three goals in 30-seconds flurry to force overtime with Catholic, lost in overtime 11-10 to the Bears. And oh yeah, the Greenies have Max Kukuy who has led the LHSLL in scoring three straight seasons and enters the Final Four with a jaw-dropping 78 goals in 12 games.
“This is the best team we’ve ever carried into Final Four Weekend,” said Newman coach Aaron Burns. “We have incredible leadership, more depth than usual, and talent at every position. Beyond that, these boys are mature, focused and committed. They understand the moment and won’t let it get too big for themselves. We still have to get the job done and Catholic has ended our season now three years in a row, but we’ve never been in a better position to get through to Sunday.”
And do not sleep on No.4 St Paul’s. The Wolves are not just content on making it back to the Final Four for the first time since 2019, coach Aaron Falkenstein feels his team can win it all. And from what I saw in St. Paul’s 14-8 Quarterfinals win over a very good St. Thomas More team I believe they are absolutely capable of hanging with anyone.
“This is the first time since 2019 that Saint Paul’s will be back in the Final Four and although it is a great feeling, at the same time, it’s not enough,” said Falkenstein. “We are still hungry and are not satisfied with only making it to the semifinals. We believe that we can win it all, and we want a chance to prove just how special this team is.”
Like every year since 2019 (except for 2020 when it was canceled due to the pandemic) VSN will be broadcast live streaming all games from the Division I Final Four including the Division II State Championship on Saturday. The games will be available to live stream at varsitysportsnow.com and also by searching “Varsity Sports Now” on our five apps: iOS, Android, Amazon Fire TV, ROKU, and Apple TV. All of our games are also available on demand.
LHSLL Final Four from Catholic High
Live Streaming on Varsitysportsnow.com
Friday May 2
Division I Semifinals
4:00pm No.4 St. Paul’s at No.1 Jesuit
7:00pm No.3 Newman at No.2 Catholic
Saturday May 3
Division II State Championship
2:00pm Parkway vs Catholic (at St. Paul’s)
Sunday May 4
Division I State Championship
1:00pm
Let’s take a closer took at each of the Division I Final Four Teams
No.1 Jesuit 8-1
Leading goal scorers:
Zachary Raymond 21 goals, 14 assists
Wilson Frischhertz 22 goals 8 assists on Attack
Goalkeeper:
Henry Aucoin 73% save percentage
Top defensive players:
Max Sutherland, Tavo Rivera and Brighton Penedo
Face-off player(s):
Cameron Devine and Blake Couvillon
Coach’s Comments on playing St. Paul’s in the Semifinals:
“St Pauls is a very talented team with very good players and as well coached. They have a very strong Faceoff guy who can help control the game if successful. We played a very close game during the regular season against them and know that we have to bring our best out on the field Friday night. I think that if we play the way that we are capable of and execute our game plan and play blue Bluejay lacrosse it’ll be a great night for the Blue Jays.” Zach Pall
No.2 Catholic 10-3
2022 State Champs
2021, 2023, 2024 State Runner-Up
Final Four: 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
Leading goal scorers:
Erikson Auxt 30 goals, 26 assists, 56 points
William Mickal 29 goals, 14 assists, 43 points
Mason Christensen 28 goals, 8 assists, 37 points
Brennan Rosendahl 18 goals, 11 assists, 29 points
Goalkeeper: Sophomore #53 Brooks Bares 60% save percentage during regular-season league play
Top Defensive Players:
Senior Defenseman Gabe Beyer #43
Senior Defenseman Holden Sawyer #4
Senior Short-Stick Defensive Midfielder (SSDM) David Latil #8
Senior SSDM Barat Landry #10
Face-off Player(s)
Sophomore Will Stewart #34 and Junior Cole Mathern #1
Coach’s comments on playing Newman in the Semifinals:
“Our Final Four matchup against Newman is the fourth year in a row we have had to play Newman in order to advance to the state championship game, so we’re very familiar with this team and their players. It is not a game we take lightly, and the last one in the regular season was as close as it gets. I have a lot of respect for Coach Burns and Newman’s team. It promises to be a competitive game.” George K.D. Hopkins
No.3 Newman
Overall record this season:
10-2 Overall, 5-2 in the LHSLL (Only losses to Catholic and Jesuit)
Leading goal scorers:
Max Kukuy 78 Goals (44 LHSLL), 8 Assists ( 5 LHSLL)
Price Demeyers 29 Goals (20 LHSLL), 12 Assists (6 LHSLL)
William Mahfouz 27 Goals (19 LHSLL), 16 Assists (13 LHSLL)
Eli Friend 25 Goals ( 17 LHSLL), 28 Assists (21 LHSLL)
Goalkeeper:
Emeric LaBorde
Top defensive players:
Patrick Landry, James Ryan, Griffin Maxwell, Corbett Parrino
Face-off player:
Voss Finkelstein, Eli Friend
Coach’s comments on playing Catholic:
“Catholic makes it incredibly hard to operate on schedule. They have big strong athletic boys who are tenacious and are very well versed in the system Coach Hopkins runs, especially on defense. We are doing our very best to prepare our boys to execute without much time to think, and with very little breathing room. With respect to all of our competitors, we feel that ours is the best offense in the state. Almost every team gave up their highest goal total of the season to our boys, and we know that to win, we will need to force them to play our game a bit more than we did the last time. A high scoring game favors us for sure, and we like our chances if we can force the pace a bit more. Our last game ended with us scoring 3 goals in under a minute to force overtime, before they were able to score the game winner. We’d like to pick up where we left off and move quickly to the goal to try and make them play catchup with us.” Aaron Burns
No.4 St. Paul’s 8-3
State Champs 2017, 2019 State Runner-Up 2018
Leading goal scorers:
Griffin Brownell 43 goals, 13 assists
Connor Donohue 22 goals, 41 assists
Kyle Olsen 20 goals, 17 assists
Landon Zornes 15 goals, 24 assists
Rhett Hebert 19 goals, 13 assists
Goalkeeper: Cole Walmsley 60% save percentage
Face-off Player: Kyle Olsen 92% win percentage season/89% for career
Top defensive players:
Matthew Kleinschmidt
Turner Michel
Ben Johnson
Coach’s comments on playing Jesuit:
“I actually feel like we match up well with Jesuit. We have grown a lot since our first game against them. Jesuit has talent, there’s no denying that, but I we have all the tools and personnel to compete against them. I believe that if we can execute our game plan and play our style of lacrosse, we can walk away with the win.” Aaron Falkenstein
Other storylines:
Back at the mic again
VSN’s Paul Boron will be back at the mic calling his fourth consecutive LHSLL Final Four. Boron who calls a wide-range of sports for VSN including football, baseball, basketball, volleyball, beach volleyball, and soccer also does play-by-play for Tulane women’s basketball, and various other ESPN+ games.
“I love calling these because I love lacrosse,” said Boron. “I really took to the game living in Denver where one of my best friends was a former player. Not to mention we had professional indoor and outdoor Lacrosse teams, not mention an NCAA power in University of Denver. Going to the NCAA Lacrosse Championship on Memorial Day is a bucket list thing I want to do one of these days.”
Boron primarily called Newman games this season, but has seen Jesuit firsthand. His thoughts on both teams:
Jesuit
—This Jesuit team feels like they don’t have any holes. They have a great goalie in Henry Aucoin. Great goal scoring from the likes of Wilson Frischhertz and Zachary Raymond. Strong defense as well.
Newman
—This team has shown this year that they are right there with the two heavyweights in the state, it’s just a matter of getting past them. This is Coach Burns best team with more depth than he has ever had. Obviously Kukuy, Mahfouz, and Friend are the stars. But what Coach has told me me is they need someone like Price Demeyers to step up as another goal scoring option if Kukuy and Mahfouz are neutralized. Their biggest concern going into season was their young net minder Emeric Laborde but he has been solid.
Joining Boron in the broadcast booth to work color for the semifinal games will be Casey McDonald. Greg Anderson will work color for the finals on Sunday with McDonald working as the sideline reporter.
Scoring banshee
With 78 goals Newman’s Max Kukuy will be the LHSLL’s leading scorer for the third straight season.
Newman coach Aaron Burns adds more perspective.
“Senior Captain Max Kukuy is primed to graduate as possibly the most decorated lacrosse player in LHSLL history,” said Burns. “He is already a 2-time All-American, and has led the league in goals for 3 years in a row. In our final regular season game against St. Thomas More, he scored his 200th career goal which is quite a feat.”
Kukuy has committed to play college lacrosse at Franklin and Marshall College.
Face-off specialist/FOGO
Watching St Paul’s quarterfinals win over St. Thomas More, it didn’t take long to find out what an impact player face-off specialist Kyle Olsen was.
Six seconds.
That’s how long it took Olsen to win the face-off, drive, and score the game’s first goal. It was the first of three goals the Wolves scored seconds after Olsen won the face-off. More from St Paul’s coach Aaron Falkenstein.
“Kyle Olsen is a one of a kind talent. I truly believe that he could play on any team, in any state, in the country and be a dominant force. Kyle has not just won face-offs (92% win% on the season and an 89% win % in his career), but he has also become a legitimate offensive threat. Kyle’s ability to win face-offs has allowed us to be truly competitive in every game that we are in. We can always trust that we will get the ball no matter the situation, and this allows us to play a little more riskily at times, which has paid off a lot this season.”
Third time’s a charm?
Yes Jesuit has won the last two LHSLL Division I State Championships. And scoring the winning goal in each of those thrilling title games was Wilson Frischhertz. As a sophomore in 2023 Frischhertz scored the game-winner seconds into overtime for a 6-5 win over Catholic. Last season it was Frischhertz again coming through in the clutch breaking a tie in the closing minutes to give the Blue Jays yet another one goal win over the Bears 9-8.
Last Dance
After nine of the most successful seasons in Catholic coach George Hopkins announced back in March that this would be his final year at the helm of the Bears. Hopkins will be returning to his home and will be coaching at his alma mater in Baltimore, Maryland.
Hopkins is the winningest coach in program history, compiling a career record of 109-40 (.732) thus far. During his tenure, the Bears won their first Louisiana High School Lacrosse League State Championship and have made four consecutive appearances in the LHSLL title game. With the 2025 season, the Bears make their sixth consecutive appearance as a state semifinalist and will play for their fifth chance at a state championship. Catholic has advanced to post-season play every year during Hopkins’ tenure, except in 2020 due to COVID-19, making it the most of any LHSLL team in that timeframe. The Hopkins era has seen the Bears win 10 or more games every year except one, again excluding the COVID season.
Throughout his coaching career at Catholic, Hopkins has mentored 23 All-State players, 5 USA Lacrosse All-Academic players, 2 USA Lacrosse Bob Scott Award winners, and 1 USA two-time Lacrosse All-American. He was also honored twice as the USA Lacrosse Coach of the Year for Louisiana (2019, 2022).