Head games, St. Louis takes cerebral approach to being state contender

Published 11:15 am Tuesday, January 13, 2026

First-year head coach Zach Malik has been pushing the St. Louis Catholic boys soccer team to expand their knowledge of the game to handle all kinds of situations. And they are starting to see the results of Malik’s tutelage.

The Saints have earned wins over five top-10 teams — Central Lafourche, Bossier, Ascension Episcopal, Catholic-Baton Rouge and Archbishop Hannan.

“We try to be intuitive,” Malik said. “I think that’s the toughest thing to teach — to try to get the kids to think on their own and play what you see.

“If the long ball’s on, play the long ball. But if it’s not on anymore, you’ve got to be able to play short. A lot of teams clog up the midfield, so we’ve got to be able to play around. For me, the three main options are: play wide, play over or play through. We’ve got to know when the time is to do each of those three.

“I know I’ve put a big cognitive load on them, but I am really impressed with how quickly they have learned how to read when to play wide, through or over.”

St. Louis (9-4) won four of its first seven games but has won six of its last seven matches as they have become more comfortable with playing a short game and are ranked No. 2 in the Division III power ratings.

“We were asking them to play short, try to build up from deep, try to be brave and try to play out,” Malik said. “That’s something that is tough to do.

“I’m not saying we do that every time, but you have to have the capability to do that. You can’t just say every ball is long. They drop off, the opponent drops off. And if they drop off, then all the space is going to be short. And if you can’t play short, then you’re playing into the opponents’ hands.

“Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Lafayette, and all these other places are getting more advanced soccer. We’ve got to keep up with that. I think being able to play short has really helped these guys. And they have the IQ. They have the ability and technical quality to be able to do it too, for the most part.”

Four of those wins came against teams that played in the semifinals or finals last season. It started with a 1-0 win over Bossier, the team that knocked the Saints out of the playoffs last year, 3-2, in the quarterfinals. At the Teurlings Catholic tournament, the Saints beat Division IV semifinalist Ascension Episcopal 2-1 and Division I runner-up Catholic-Baton Rouge 1-0. The Saints beat Division III No. 6 Archbishop Hannan 4-1 on Friday.

Malik said chemistry has been key with 10 returning starters — midfielders Drake Hinton, Tucker Williams, Bryce Foreman, Patrick Namie, forwards Ty Pousson and Griffin Hanks, defenders Jack Bartlett and Harrison Hurt, and goalkeeper Nick Jackson. Malik said he hopes to have junior forward Will Flavin (hamstring) back in the next couple of weeks.

“Even in the summer, you could tell these guys have chemistry, like the combination play,” Malik said. “We had a moment against Ascension Episcopal where we strung almost 15 passes in a row and went from our own box to their box.

“You can put someone in the right environment, but when you see the type of movements they are doing together, as a group, it just speaks to the chemistry of the group. Just one touch, two touch, all the way up the field. That is technical quality. Once we win the ball in deep areas, we can counter quickly through combination play.”

Cameron Dufresne, a sophomore midfielder, leads with six goals, while Williams and Hurt have four each, and Hinton has scored three times. Pousson has seven assists. St. Louis won its 10th game Monday evening with a 4-0 shutout of Sam Houston in Moss Bluff. Poussson scored twice and assisted on another goal. Cameron Dufresne and Abram Green scored the other two goals, while Hanks, Hinton, and Max Hoffoss were credited with assists.

Keeper Jackson has seven shutouts and made several big stops, including a penalty kick with 30 seconds left in the win against Catholic-Baton Rouge.

“He’s been huge,” Malik said. “He’s saved a bunch of one-v-ones. His distribution has been fantastic. He finds a wide player, and we sprint up and score. Not every keeper is able to do that. He is able to find our outlets and start attacks, so a lot of times our attacks start with him.”

One thing that Malik said he hopes the Saints can polish on before the postseason arrives in February is finishing more scoring chances.

“The main thing lately is finishing the attack,” he said. “We have so many good attacks. We’re moving the ball, we’re switching it. We just need to take chances, too. I think what sets teams apart is when you take chances and then they finish chances.”