Boys Player of the Year
Tenchi Otten-Rashad, forward, The Willow School, senior
The senior led the Lions with 16 goals and was second on the squad with six assists while missing four matches on the season. He played multiple positions all over the formation, splitting his time at holding midfielder, attacking midfielder and forward.
The Lions scored 78 goals on the season, with Otten-Rashad accounting for roughly 28 percent of his team’s goals through scoring or assisting. He saved one of his best performances of the season for the Division III championship match against Bossier in February, where he scored the final goal with 19 minutes remaining on the game clock in a 4-1 win and was named the most outstanding player of the match.
Otten-Rashad finished his high school tenure with a 4.0 GPA and received a full academic scholarship to the University of San Francisco and is working on receiving a tryout with the school’s soccer team.
“He was really our engine,” Willow coach Ben Barcelona said. “He started off kind of slow but picked up steam the farther we moved him up the field where he could get our attack going. He’s not super outspoken and let his actions on the field do the talking but was a really fun kid to coach this year and was a really creative and skillful player for us.”
Coach of the Year
Jose Ferrand, Ben Franklin
The longtime coach of the Falcons guided his team to a 21-4-3 record and a Division II state final runner-up finish in February. The 2023 season was the first time the team garnered a No. 1 overall playoff seed in program history, with its previous high of No. 2 coming in 2012.
Ferrand announced he was stepping down as head coach of both the boys and girls teams in March but will continue to coach at the Jefferson Parish Soccer Academy. He took the reins of the boys team in 2009 and coached both squads for the past 10 years.
The girls team won state titles from 2013-16 and was a runner-up in 2020. The boys won in 2014 and were a runner-up in 2012, 2015 and 2023.
The rest of the squad
Andrew Touro, forward, Holy Cross, junior
Braylen Burrell, forward, Ben Franklin, senior
Carter Dusang, forward, Jesuit, senior
Cole Spady, forward, Isidore Newman, sophomore
CJ Koppeis, forward, Rummel, senior
Alex Lupin, forward, The Willow School, junior
Brian Wahl, forward, Haynes, junior
Tobo Takpor, forward, Rummel, senior
Jalen Montgomery, forward, Holy Cross, senior
Dakota Henry, midfielder, Mandeville, junior
Luke Mobley, midfielder, Isidore Newman, junior
Brennan LeBlanc, midfielder, St. Paul’s, senior
Sebastian Salm, midfielder, The Willow School, junior
Dom Zapata, midfielder, Mandeville, senior
Stephen Treadaway, defender, Holy Cross, senior
Kearney Nieset, defender, Isidore Newman, senior
Lucas Piazza, defender, St. Paul’s, senior
Alex Michael, defender, Ben Franklin, senior
Booker Henry, goalkeeper, The Willow School, sophomore
Andrew Garvey, goalkeeper, Holy Cross, senior
Girls Player of the Year
Morgan LeBourgeois, forward, Isidore Newman, senior
The senior striker scored 22 goals and dished out five assists last season en route to leading the Greenies to the Division IV state crown in February against Episcopal. The win capped off the Greenies ending the year with 17-straight matches without a loss.
This was the first season LeBourgeois played up top and was the focal point of the Newman attack, as she played as a winger in previous seasons. Newman coach Doug Freese said the team captain had the highest work rate in every match last year.
LeBourgeois also helped lead the volleyball team to a Division IV state championship in November and was part of the winning 4x100 and 4x200 relay teams at the LHSAA state track and field championships in May at Bernie Moore Stadium in Baton Rouge that helped Newman to a runner-up finish.
“She had a good voice and not only communicated well with her peers but also with the freshmen and sophomores,” Freese said. “We had a very talented freshman and sophomore class this year, and they integrated so well with the team in large part to (LeBourgeois) and our other team captain. She was always happy to give up playing time to younger players to get them more minutes, which frankly isn’t always the case with soccer players.”
Coach of the Year
Wes Leake, Lakeshore
Leake piloted the Titans to a third-straight Division II state runner-up finish as a No. 2 seed with an 18-9-5 record. Lakeshore ran through the postseason and outscored its opponents 16-1 before falling in the championship match to top seed St. Thomas More 4-0.
Lakeshore has made the finals in six of the past eight years, including a 2017 state championship.
The rest of the squad
Grace Green, forward, Northshore, senior
Alex Bremond, forward, Pope John Paul II, senior
Ella Goings, forward, Dominican, senior
Gianna Harris, forward, Louise McGehee, freshman
Aidan Carpenter, forward, St. Scholastica, senior
Maddie Scott, forward, Ben Franklin, senior
Samantha Perque, forward, Pope John Paul II, senior
Catie Maheu, midfielder, Mount Carmel, senior
Hannah Plaisance, midfielder, Isidore Newman, junior
Katelyn Schneider, midfielder, Hannan, senior
Stella Martin, midfielder, Dominican, senior
Claire Charpentier, midfielder, Isidore Newman, sophomore
C.C. Johnson, midfielder, Sacred Heart, senior
Kaitlyn Brady, midfielder, Hannan, sophomore
Caroline Fielding, defender, Mandeville, senior
Veta Kinchen, defender, Lakeshore, senior
Shea Lacombe, defender, Lakeshore, junior
Sydney Gallagher, defender, Isidore Newman, sophomore
Adele Talbot, defender, Mount Carmel, senior
Rylie Kuyper, goalkeeper, Northlake Christian, sophomore
Charlotte Murray, goalkeeper, Lakeshore, senior