BATON ROUGE - After losing back-to-back games earlier in the season, the Catholic High Bears have looked nearly unstoppable for the rest of the year. In their regular season finale against Zachary, senior linebacker John Russell Demoss helped lead Catholic to a win with two defensive touchdowns.

Demoss recovered a fumble and returned it 15 yards for a touchdown. It was the first touchdown of his high school career. Little did he know, another would come soon after.

Later in the second quarter, Demoss picked off quarterback Willie Johnson and returned it for a 61-yard pick six. That gave the Bears a dominant 34-7 lead at the half and the eventual win, 41-7.

"It was the best feeling I've ever had. I mean, I was just thankful that the Lord gave me the opportunity, and I'm glad I made the most of them," Demoss said.

His efforts throughout the season have helped the Bears hold their opponents to an average of 18 points per game.

"Really consistently, it's how do we make good things happen for our teammates. When they're thinking that way, they usually play a lot better themselves and we do better as a group, so that's been something our team has done a great job of," head coach Hudson Fuller said.

The Bears are now the No. 4 seed in the Division I Select bracket of the LHSAA playoffs. They won a state championship in 2023, but to win another will take everyone to be bought in.

"Our main goal is just to, everybody get right. Be all in. Coach Fuller brought out poker chips. We all signed the poker chips and put a little verse or something on it for us to like be in, and we turned them in. If you're all in, you're all in," Demoss said about the team.

Catholic has a first-round bye in the playoffs. They will face the winner of No. 20 Captain Shreve at No. 13 Hammond next week.