By Doug Ireland
Glenbrook’s Chase Sentell is one of 15 graduating seniors from north Louisiana that have been selected as finalists for the 2024 Scholar-Athlete Awards presented by the S.M. McNaughton Chapter of the National Football Foundation.
The 15 student-athletes have been identified from a pool of nominees submitted by high school football coaches from the 318 area code, which encompasses all of north Louisiana. As many as nine may be selected to receive $1,000 scholarships for their first year in college.
Sentell was named the the Louisiana Football Coaches Association’s Class 1A All-State second team. He helped the Apaches go 8-3 and reach the second round of the select Division IV playoffs.
As many as eight scholarships will be awarded by the McNaughton Chapter with an additional one from KTBS TV of Shreveport as the Johnny’s Pizza/Griffin’s Game Ball Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
KTBS honors the memory and legacy of former NFF Board member Bob Griffin, the iconic sportscaster at KSLA and then KTBS for over 50 years, by weekly in-season presentations and profiles of a Griffin’s Game Ball to a player on the NFF Scholar-Athlete Watch List, which last fall included 38 outstanding senior competitors.
The 2024 scholarship finalists all earned at least first-team all-district honors for their on-field performance last fall, and also carry a cumulative grade point average of 3.2 or better (on a 4.0 scale; 4.0 or better on a 5.0 scale). They all have participated in non-athletic extracurricular activities.
Finalists and the ultimate scholarship award recipients are chosen by the chapter’s board of directors based on the NFF’s recommended criteria for applications with 40 percent of scoring on academic achievement and GPA, 40 percent on football achievement, and 20 percent on leadership, school and community involvement.
The McNaughton Chapter’s 15 scholar-athlete finalists for 2024 are (name, school):
Mixon Bankston, St. Mary’s
Lake Bates, North DeSoto
Amaray Brown, Parkway
Christopher Carper, Red River
Reagan Coyle, Loyola
Grant Edmondson, West Monroe
Travis Flowers, Benton
Heath Gross, Calvary
Hutson Hearron, Northwood
Jackson Hedrick, Grant
Nate Johnson, Ruston
Delarrious Marshall, Green Oaks
Chase Sentell, Glenbrook
Sincere Walker, Airline
Nathan Wheless, Logansport
Scholarship recipients will be announced soon. They will be the featured guests at the Thursday, March 28 S.M. McNaughton Chapter Scholar-Athlete Awards Banquet at East Ridge Country Club in Shreveport.