SULPHUR — St. Louis Catholic’s defense chewed up another offense Thursday as the Saints beat Iota 20-7 to remain undefeated.

St. Louis (2-0) held the Bulldogs to 152 yards of total offense, forced two turnovers and allowed the Bulldogs (1-1) to cross midfield only three times. St. Louis shutout Crowley in Week 1.

“I am a lot happier than two weeks ago,” St. Louis Catholic head coach Brock Matherne said.

“This is the type of football we want to play.

“We got to clean it up on offense. I said it a million times we are a defensive football team. We are going to go as our defense takes us. They played a hell of a game tonight.”

Senior defensive lineman Kade Nugent had a big night with a pair of sacks, a tackle for a loss and an interception. Fellow senior Graham Montet made an impact on both sides of the ball with an interception on defense and a rushing touchdown.

The last time the Saints faced Iota running back Jacob Cormier at Matt Walker Memorial Stadium, he ran for 305 yards and three touchdowns. This time, the Saints kept Cormier out of the end zone and held him to 41 yards on 14 carries.

With 10:41 left in the game and a 13-7 lead, St. Louis pinned the Bulldogs at their 3-yard line on a perfect punt by Landon Daughdril. The defense then forced a three-and-out. Despite some early problems with bad snaps that caused big losses and penalties (10 for 70 yards), the Saints’ offense sealed the game with a 7-play, 63-yard drive, capped by a 7-yard pass from Luke Pierson to Noah Ellender on third down with 4:49 left in the game. Pierson went 8 for 16 for 103 yards.

“I am proud of our offense for sticking with it and finishing it right there at the end,” Matherne said. “But again, we believe defense wins championships and they showed that tonight.

“Our special teams played awesome. I am just so proud of our guys. This is the type of football we want to play, smash-mouth football and good defense. They did that tonight, and that is Saints football. We just have to look at it on film and correct mistakes. It is something we have to work on. We are a young offense. We might be old by age, but it is a lot of new starters, guys in new positions. We just have to look at the film and clean it up. I trust these guys. They come to work every day and ready to get better each and every day.”

St. Louis jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter on a 35-yard field goal by Daughdril and Montet’s 2-yard touchdown run.

Iota opened the second quarter with their only score of the game to cut the Saints lead to 10-7. Quarterback Peyton Renfro was scrambling in the pocket when he noticed a wide-open Ezekiel Wall, who turned it into a 52-yard touchdown reception. Renfro completed 8 of 19 passes for 100 yards.

St. Louis’ Kyle Turner ran for 79 yards on 12 carries, and Trey Tate caught two passes for 51 yards.

St. Louis 20

Iota 7

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Iota 0 7 0 0 — 7

St. Louis 10 3 0 7 — 20

SCORING SUMMARY

S: FG Landon Daughdril 35

S: Graham Montet 2 run (Daughdril kick)

I: Ezekial Wall 52 pass from Peyton Renfro (Patrick Aton kick)

S: FG Daughdril 28

S: Noah Ellender 7 pass from Luke Pierson (Daughdril kick)

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING — Iota: Peyton Renfro 3-(minus-20), Jacob Cormier 14-41, Connor Fruge 4-20, Dylan Callahan 1-12, Landon Doucet 1-(minus-1). St. Louis Catholic: Brayden Schwertner 2-6, Luke Pierson 11-29, Trey Tate 1-(minus-2), Graham Montet 9-36, Kyle Turner 12-79, Luke Mere 2-0, Noah Ellender 1-(minus-1).

PASSING — Iota: Renfro 8-19-2—100. St. Louis Catholic: Pierson 8-16-1—103.

RECEIVING — Iota: Austin Hebert 3-32, Cormier 4-16, Ezekiel Wall 1-52. St. Louis Catholic: Andrew Svarney 2-15, B.J. Willis 2-25, Tate 2-51, Turner 1-5, Ellender 1-7.