Kinder is trying to protect its perfect record while St. Louis Catholic looks to rebound from its first loss.

The two will meet tonight at John C. Buck Memorial Stadium in the District 3-3A opener for both teams.

Five of the seven teams in the district are 2-1 or 3-0. Other first matchups in the district tonight include Lake Charles College Prep (1-2, 0-0) at South Beauregard (2- 1, 0-0), while Jennings (2-1, 0-0) hosts last year’s district champ, Iowa (1-2, 0-0).

Both teams are ranked in the top 15 in their respective divisions in the state’s power ratings. Kinder is No. 9 in nonselect Division III, while St. Louis is No. 12 in select Division II.

Kinder is 3-0 for the first time since 2014 after a few modifications to its offense and defense under first-year head coach Justin Reed, and it has quickly paid dividends. The offense averages 31.3 points a game led by first-year junior quarterback Landon Rice and junior running back Logan Lebeouf (454 yards, 5 TDs). Defensively, the Yellow Jackets have improved from allowing 30.6 points a game to 11.3.

“They have rallied around their coach,” St. Louis head coach Brock Matherne said. “They seem to have a new sense of urgency. They are a very fiery team. Watching them on film, they come off the ball really well. They play hard-nosed football. They have changed some things on both sides of the football compared to the old, traditional Kinder.

“From what Coach (Bret) Fuselier did in the past to what they are doing now is similar but different. Their coaching staff is doing a great job with their kids. They play hard, and they play four quarters of football, so we know it is going to be a challenge if those guys play a full 48 minutes of high school football.”

St. Louis lives on its defense, led by seniors Graham Montet (29 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss), Kade Nugent (23 tackles, 5 TFL) and Luke Mere (22 tackles). The Saints allow 9.3 points a game, the best in Southwest Louisiana and held Kinder to 14 points last year.

“They are a really good group,” Reed said. “They were good last year, and one of the better defenses we played all of last year. They return most of their starters from that group.

“We know it is going to be a challenge. I feel like our kids are looking forward to it. It is a deal where we have to go out and execute, worry about what we do and not get too concerned with what they are doing. They are big. They are fast. They are physical. They are well coached. They are good up front. Their linebackers, I think, the same two linebackers from last year who are at the top of their school record books as far as tackles are concerned.

“I think every time Vidor (Texas) threw a pass, their secondary intercepted it. All those things lead to the fact that they are just a very good team defense with not a lot of weaknesses. We are going to have to be on top of our game to compete with them.”

While the Saints are formidable on defense, Matherne said he is looking for more from the offense side to give the Saints the total package. The Saints were driving for the go-ahead touchdown in the closing minutes last week before Vidor picked off a pass to secure the 21-17 win.

“We have just been working on trying to finish everything we do offensively,” Matherne said. “We haven’t been able to finish a drive all year long.

“Thankfully we have a great defense and great special teams that get us into some good field positions. But we know if we want to get to where we want to go, we have to be able to sustain drives and get first downs on offense. We put a heavy emphasis on scenarios this week in practice — first-and-10s, working on the first play of each drive, some third-and-4s, third-and-mediums.”

Elsewhere

Sam Houston and Sulphur look to stay in the District 3-5A race, but the Tors (2-1, 1-1) have the tougher draw in Carencro (3-0, 2-0), ranked sixth in the Louisiana Sports Writers Association Class 5A poll.

The Tors and Bears have explosive offenses with each scoring more than 40 points twice in the first three weeks.

Sulphur is coming off its best offensive game with 492 yards against Lafayette where senior quarterback Addison Constance threw for 351 yards and four touchdowns.

Carencro survived a defensive battle last week with a last-second touchdown to beat Southside 19-14, and quarterback Chantz Babineaux threw six touchdown passes in a Week 2 win over Barbe.

Sam Houston (3-0, 2-0) travels to Lafayette to play winless Comeaux (0-3, 0-1), while Barbe (1-2) takes a break from the District 3-5A race to host Pineville (1-2).

The District 5-1A race started Thursday night with Oberlin (2-1) traveling to Merryville (1-2). Tonight will feature the first key battle for the district title when Elton (2-1) travels to defending district champion Basile (1-2). Basile has been up and down, losing by two points to Lake Arthur in Week 1, plus a road loss in Week 3 to Sacred Heart after going 10-2 in 2022. But the Bearcats do have a strong backfield tandem in Tucker Leblanc (267 yards, 3 TDs) and Bryan Hardy (325 yards, 4 TDs).

Elton junior running back Tristan Leblanc is No. 2 in Southwest Louisiana with 485 yards and five touchdowns.