The Saints may have not made it back to this year's Super Bowl, but there was still reason to celebrate in New Orleans on Sunday when the Pittsburgh Steelers earned the right to face the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XLV.
Steelers Keenan Lewis and Mike Wallace were teammates at New Orleans' O. Perry Walker High School in the 2003 season and have now advanced to the Super Bowl together after Pittsburgh's 24-19 win over the New York Jets.
Although originally planning to attend college together, Lewis and Wallace went their separate ways after high school. Lewis attended Oregon State while Wallace attended Ole Miss. Wallace originally planned to attend Oregon State, according to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, but instead chose Mississippi when a former high school coach took a job at the school.
The two became teammates again two years ago when Wallace was taken with the 84th pick in the draft by the Steelers and Lewis was chosen with the 96th selection.
Lewis and Wallace are the only two players in this year's Super Bowl that also played together in high school.
Louisiana has nine players in the Super Bowl who prepped in that state. Texas leads the way with 12 high school alumni followed by Florida with 10, Louisiana with nine and Georgia and California with eight apiece.
Following are the high schools of each of the players on the active roster for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers.
Green Bay Packers
Desmond Bishop, LB, Fairfield (Calif.)
Diyral Briggs, LB, Mount Healthy (Cincinnati)
Bryan Bulaga, T, Marian Central Catholic (Woodstock, Ill.)
Jarrett Bush, CB, Will. C. Wood (Vacaville, Calif.)
Chad Clifton, T, Westview (Martin, Tenn.)
Daryn Colledge, G, North Pole (Alaska)
Nick Collins, FS, Dixie County (Cross City, Fla.)
Tom Crabtree, TE, Bloom Carroll (Carroll, Ohio)
Mason Crosby, K, Georgetown (Texas)
Evan Dietrich-Smith, G, Salinas (Calif.)
Donald Driver, WR, Milby (Houston)
Matt Flynn, QB, Robert E. Lee (Tyler, Texas)
Rob Francois, LB, Sterling (Baytown, Texas)
Brett Goode, LS, Northside (Fort Smith, Ark.)
Josh Gordy, DB, Washington County (Sandersville, Ga.)
Howard Green, DE, Donaldsonville (La.)
Korey Hall, FB, Glenns Ferry (Idaho)
Graham Harrell, QB, Ennis (Texas)
AJ Hawk, LB, Centerville (Ohio)
Brandon Jackson, RB, Horn Lake (Miss.)
Cullen Jenkins, DE, Belleville (Mich.)
Greg Jennings, WR, Kalamazoo Central (Mich.)
Quinn Johnson, FB, West St. John (Edgard, La.)
James Jones, WR, Gunderson (San Jose, Calif.)
John Kuhn, FB, Dover (Pa.)
TJ Lang, T, Brother Rice (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.)
Donald Lee, TE, Maben (Miss.)
Pat Lee, CB, Columbus (Miami)
Tim Masthay, P, Murray (Ky.)
Clay Matthews, OLB, Agoura (Agoura Hills, Calif.)
Nick McDonald, G, Henry Ford (Sterling Heights, Mich.)
Dimitri Nance, RB, Trinity (Euless, Texas)
Jordy Nelson, WR, Riley County (Riley, Kan.)
Charlie Peprah, SS, East Plano (Texas)
Ryan Pickett, DE, Zephyrhills (Fla.)
Andrew Quarless, TE, Uniondale (N.Y.)
B.J. Raji, NT, Westwood (N.J.)
Aaron Rodgers, QB, Pleasant Valley (Chico, Calif.)
Sam Shields, CB, Booker (Sarasota, Fla.)
Josh Sitton, G, Pensacola Catholic (Fla.)
Jason Spitz, C, Bolles (Jacksonville, Fla.)
James Starks, RB, Niagra Falls (N.Y.)
Brett Swain, WR, Carlsbad (Calif.)
Brandon Underwood, CB, Hamilton (Ohio)
Erik Wladen, LB, Dublin (Ga.)
Scott Wells, C, Brentwood Academy (Tenn.)
Matt Wilhelm, LB, Elyria Catholic (Ohio)
Tramon Williams, CB, Assumption (Napoleonville, La.)
CJ Wilson, DE, Northside (Pinetown, N.C.)
Charles Woodson, CB, Ross (Fremont, Ohio)
Jarius Wynn, DE, Lincoln County (Lincolnton, Ga.)
Frank Zombo, LB, Stevenson (Stirling Heights, Mich.)
Pittsburgh Steelers
Flozell Adams, T, Proviso West (Hillside, Ill.)
Will Allen, DB, Wayne (Huber Heights, Ohio)
Charlie Batch, QB, Steel Valley (Munhall, Pa.)
Arnaz Battle, WR, C.E Byrd (Shreveport, La.)
Antonio Brown, WR, Miami Norland (Fla.)
Crezdon Butler, DB, Asheville (N.C.)
Ryan Clark, FS, Shaw (Marrero, La.)
Jonathan Dwyer, RB, Kell (Marietta, Ga.)
Nick Eason, DE, Toombs County (Lyons, Ga.)
Trai Essex, G, Paul Harding (Fort Wayne, Ind.)
James Farrior, LB, Matoaca (Ettrick, Va.)
Larry Foote, LB, Pershing (Detroit)
Ramon Foster, G, Ripley (Tenn.)
Keyaron Fox, LB, Westlake (Atlanta)
William Gay, CB, James R. Rickards (Tallahassee, Fla.)
Casey Hampton, NT, Ball (Galveston, Texas)
James Harrison, LB, Coventry (Akron, Ohio)
Tony Hills, T, Alief Elsik (Houston)
Chris Hoke, NT, Foothill (Santa Ana, Calif.)
Ziggy Hood, DE, Palo Duro (Amarillo, Texas)
David Johnson, TE, Pine Bluff (Ark.)
Jeremy Kapinos, P, West Springfield (Va.)
Brett Keisel, DE, Greybull (Wy.)
Chris Kemoeatu, G, Kahuku (Hawaii)
Byron Leftwich, QB, Howard Woodson (Washington D.C.)
Doug Legursky, G, Woodrow Wilson (Beckley, W.V.)
Keenan Lewis, CB, O. Perry Walker (New Orleans)
Anthony Madison, DB, Thomasville (Ala.)
Bryant McFadden, CB, McArthur (Hollywood, Fla.)
Steve McLendon, DT, Carroll (Ozark, Ala.)
Rashard Mendenhall, RB, Niles West (Skokie, Ill.)
Heath Miller, TE, Honaker (Va.)
Mewelde Moore, RB, Belaire (Baton Rouge, La.)
Ryan Mundy, SS, Woodland Hills (Pittsburgh)
Troy Polamalu, SS, Douglas (Winston, Ore.)
Maurkice Pouncey, C, Lakeland (Fla.)
Antwaan Randle El, WR, Thornton Township (Harvey, Ill.)
Isaac Redman, RB, Paulsboro (N.J.)
Ben Roethlisberger, QB, Findlay (Ohio)
Emmanuel Sanders, WR, Belville (Texas)
Chris Scott, T, Lovejoy (Riverdale, Ga.)
Jonathan Scott, T, Carter (Dallas)
Aaron Smith, DE, Hubbard (Ohio)
Matt Spaeth, TE, St. Michael-Albertville (St. Michael, Minn.)
Shaun Suisham, K, Wallaceburg (Canada)
Stevenson Sylvester, LB, Valley (Las Vegas)
Ike Taylor, CB, Marion Abramson (New Orleans)
Lawrence Timmons, LB, Wilson (Florence, S.C.)
Mike Wallace, WR, O. Perry Walker (New Orleans)
Hines Ward, WR, Forest Park (Ga.)
Greg Warren, LS, Southern Wayne (Dudley, N.C.)
LaMarr Woodley, LB, Saginaw (Mich.)
Jason Worilds, LB, Carteret (N.J.)
