Saints’ head coach Brock Matherne wants his team to take the next step in its evolution this year.

“We definitely went out this year as a coaching staff and researched and did the things we felt we needed to do to take that next step in Division II,” St. Louis head coach Brock Matherne said. “From the last two years that I have been in this Lake Charles area our goal has been to win a state championship.

“We know the history of St. Louis. We are trying to change that narrative to be consistent contenders. We don’t want to just go out and have that one year. We want to be consistent contenders in Division II that everyone has to respect.”

St. Louis Catholic gave up a single touchdown in the playoffs last year but lost a 6-0 defensive battle with Madison Prep in the regional round.

“We expected to win that game and came up short,” Matherne said. “That game carries a chip for our seniors that were juniors last year. Those guys talk about that and think about that and work because of that every day.”

With its whole front seven intact from 2022, St. Louis defense looks to continue its dominance after holding opponents to 17.3 points last year.

“When you bring back that many guys and you bring back your whole front seven and only lose two defensive backs, we are looking to play some conventional football and lean on our defensive and special teams to carry the load.”

Linebacker Graham Montet exploded for 157 tackles last season and will once again play alongside fellow senior linebackers Luke Mere and Noah Ellendar. Seniors Kade Nugent, Ethan Goss and Nathan Gray will hold the line, while Luke Pierson and Hank Hebert return in the secondary.

“I think he (Montet) is the most underrated players, in my opinion, not only in Southwest Louisiana but the whole state,” Matherne said. “He is probably going to break our school record by week five. He is just a leader.

“He does everything we ask of him. He is full speed. He is a player-coach on the field. His counterpart, Luke Mere the weak side linebacker, is another three-year starter. He just gets everybody lined up. Then our two monsters on the defensive line — Kade Nugent broke multiple school records his last year as a junior and Ethan Goss, the other defensive end. That is our big four on defense, and we are going to lean on them for leadership. We are here to play real good defense. Defense wins championships, and we will go as far as they take us.”

The offense is equally filled with experienced players in senior linemen Jacob Fruge, Jordan Davis and Evan Rodericks. Three seniors return in the skill positions in receivers Trey Tate and Andrew Svarney and running back Kyle Tuener, but the key to the Saints offensive success will be finding replacements for quarterback James Reina, a 1,000-yard passer and rusher, and receiver Grant Evans, who is now playing for Mississippi State. Luke Pierson will take over signal-calling duties.

“Any time you lose a kid to graduation and he moves on to Mississippi State, that is hard to replace,” he said. “We are going to look to replace him, but we know we have a different identity.

“We know we are not going to be able to do the things we have done with those guys the last two years. But with Luke Pierson at quarterback our team believes in that guy. They voted for him as our legacy number. He is just a leader and loves competing. He is the type of guy that you want to have at quarterback. And we have a really good sophomore quarterback behind him that is going to see some playing time in the different packages that we do in Connor Boudreaux. We are really comfortable in our quarterback room right now.”

Kicking specialist Landon Daughdril is back after making 47 of 48 PATs and averaging 35.8 yards per punt.