SULPHUR — In front of a homecoming crowd at Matt Walker Memorial Stadium, St. Louis Catholic stunned Washington-Marion with 19 unanswered points to win 29-22 on Thursday.

It was the first win for head coach Dustin Nothnagel and ended the Saints’ 0-3 start.

“From the beginning of the season, the boys just keep putting in the work and they keep getting better, they keep improving,” Nothnagel said. “They believe in what we’re doing.

“And we keep telling them, ‘Galatians 6:9: you put in that work, if you do not give up, you will reap a harvest.’ And that’s exactly what they did tonight. They just didn’t give up. Just keep following the process, and we’re going to get better and better.”

The Saints started the comeback with a 12-play, 61-yard drive to cut W-M’s lead to 22-17 on a 1-yard run by McKylin Carrier.

St. Louis’ defense forced its third turnover when Ty Willis recovered a fumble to put the Saints on the Charging Indians’ doorstep at the 19-yard line. Two plays later, the Saints had their first lead, 23-22, on a 14-yard run by Charlie Trappey with 8:53 left in the game.

“They stepped up big,” Nothnagel said. “The guys started making plays.

“They’re getting better and better with every bit of experience they get. The more downs they play, the better we are. Guys are starting to step up and have the confidence to make the plays needed.”

St. Louis’ Matthew Hebert had two interceptions.

The defense forced a turnover on downs, and the Saints were able to convert that into insurance points when Tri Do scored on a 21-yard pass from Konner Boudreaux with 3:40 left in the game.

The Saints came up with another defensive stop with another turnover on downs and ran out the rest of the clock.

St. Louis put up a season-high 302 yards of total offense. Carrier scored twice and ran for 63 yards on 22 carries. Boudreaux completed 10 of 18 passes for 110 yards.

“I know the first three games, the offense kind of struggled, but today they seemed to be able to get a more fluid process going,” Nothnagel said. “All the credit to our offensive line. Those guys have balled in, coming off the football. We can’t do it without them five and six guys up front. They’ve balled in, and they’re going to lead our team as far as we want to go.”

W-M’s raced to a 16-0 lead as Monte Farmer caught a 2-yard touchdown pass from Ashton Savoie and hit Dre Bernard for a 21-yarder. But its next two drives ended on a punt and one of Hebert’s picks.

Farmer completed 15 of 25 passes for 246 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 61 yards on 15 carries.