While it wasn’t the first prep football game played in the Superdome, the 1978 title game between Jesuit and St. Augustine was the first state championship on Dome turf. The Louisiana Prep Classic on December 15, 1978, attracted nearly 45,000 spectators.

That Class 4A title, won by St. Augustine, 13-7, also attracted the eyes of LHSAA commissioner Tommy Henry and Superdome director of public relations Bill Curl. Three years later, negotiations between Superdome Management Group (SMG) and the LHSAA were settled. The Dome has been the home of the annual Prep Classic football game since 1981, except in 2005 following Hurricane Katrina damage.

Although the Jays, led by quarterback Tim Parenton ’80 (#12), were unable to pull off the historic victory, the game itself was historic. It started a conversation that led to a longstanding location, one in which prep football players around the state dream of playing.