When it is time to pin an opponent deep or get crucial points at the end of a drive, St. Louis Catholic head coach Brock Matherne knows who to call on, senior Landon Daughdril.

One of those moments happened last week in the Saints’ District 3-3A opener at Kinder. The Yellow Jackets went 80 yards on their opening drive and took a 7-0 lead. The Saints’ first drive stalled and Daughdril boomed a 47- yard punt to pin Kinder at its 24-yard line. The next drive stalled as well, so Daughdril calmly walked back onto the field. After a timeout, he drilled a career-long 52-yard field goal with room to spare.

“It is big-pressure moments sometimes, and I kind of like that,” Daughdril said. “When we went out there, we were missing a guy, so we had to call timeout, so I was just trying to keep cool and stay collected and then went out there and just tried to kick it.

“Some people told me it could have been 55ish. I have kicked a 53 before. It was perfect conditions and a good wind at my back. It was going to the right a little bit, and it just came back to center. I was just trying to play the wind.”

That helped spark a 31-point scoring spree and the Saints won 45-20. He also had a 50-yard punt with 53 seconds left in the first half, leaving Kinder at its own 6-yard line, down 10-7.

“Coming away with points, especially knowing what type of defense we have, is a confidence booster for us,” Matherne said. “We preach every day that we want to come away from each drive with a kick, whether it be a punt, field goal or extra point.

“We kind of got stalemated. Being able to run him out there and get three points was big for us and a momentum changer for us.”

Daughdril has become one of the top kicking specialists in the state. Through four games, he is perfect on 12 point-after attempts and five field goal attempts after going 3 of 8 with a long of 37 yards. In four seasons he has missed one PAT (58 of 59).

“It is really consistency is the main thing that I have been working on,” Daughdril said. “I have been working pretty much every day just keeping it simple.

“It really helps the team’s field position both ways, like pinning them down inside the 20 on a punt or when we are doing kickoffs, kicking touchbacks and stopping them at the 20.”

He has worked under the tutelage of former St. Louis and McNeese State kicker Alex Kjellsten, who was hired as special teams coordinator three years ago. In the last year, he has upped his punt average almost 10 yards to 44.7 yards per kick.

“Coach Kjellsten is one of the best special teams coaches I have ever been around,” Matherne said. “He and Coach (Pat) Neck (a former McNeese punter) do a great job. That one-on-one work that Coach Kjellsten does with those guys, I can’t express that enough.

“I have been to five different schools and I have never seen anybody work with kids one-on-one the way Coach Kjellsten does. I believe it plays a huge part in our success so far.

“We want to come out of every possession with a kick, not a turnover, and he does a great job punting and kicking for us. It is really a secret weapon for us, and I don’t think it is too much of a secret anymore. He has bought into our strength-and-conditioning program, then the work he does with Coach Kjellsten every day builds our confidence and trust in him to go out there and make that field goal.”

In the Saints’ lone loss, Daughdril hit a 45-yard field goal with 3:39 left in a nondistrict game against Vidor, Texas, in Week 3 before the Pirates regained the lead on a 47-yarder by Dane Villadsen.

“Our defense is really good this year,” Daughdril said. “We returned all of our guys.

“Our offense is just starting (to gel). They have been doing pretty good. They did their thing against Kinder. Against Vidor, we were close. We were about to win it and it just slipped away. Consistency is a big thing we like to say for everybody — offense, defense and special teams.”