Catholic High head football coach Brent Indest, second from right, talks with players at a recent practice. The Panthers play at Dunham Friday in a Division III playoff game featuring Derek Stingley Jr., who Indest calls one of the most pro-ready high school player he’s ever seen. Stingley, who plays receiver and defensive back for Dunham, is committed to sign with LSU.

When Catholic High heads to Baton Rouge Friday to face Dunham in the Division III football quarterfinals, the challenge for the Panthers will mainly come from what head coach Brent Indest calls the most pro-ready player he’s seen in his coaching career.

Dunham senior Derek Stingley Jr. plays both offense and defense for the Tigers and is a player who can take over a game on either side of the ball.

“Stingley is without a doubt the best player I’ve faced as a coach and one of the most NFL-ready high school players that I’ve ever seen.” said Indest. “If he’d be on LSU’s team right now he’d be a starter and a dominant player.

“He’s a 5-star player on either side of the ball. They play him everywhere.”

The Tigers (9-0) enter the game as the No. 3 seed in Division III and had a bye in the first round. Dunham rolled through the regular season, scoring an average of 47 points per game and in the process beat a Class 5A school (Central), 4A school (St. Michael) and a 3A school (Baker) before dominating District 8-2A.

Stingley plays a big role in that effort. On offense, the senior caught 20 passes for 573 yards and seven touchdowns. On the year, he’s scored 16 touchdowns and added two 2-point conversions for 102 total points.

On defense, he roams from sideline to sideline from his safety position and no one gets behind him.

“He’s been laser-timed 4.3 (second) 40 yard dash,” Indest said. “This is a guy that you can’t cover with one guy and it’s sometimes a mismatch when you cover him with two guys.

“Then you add the fact that the other three receivers are good, the running back is good and the quarterback is good and they can all run.”

Prepping for a player like Stingley can be a challenge.

“What we’re going is taking turns where Peter LeBlanc and Trey Amos is that guy,” said Indest. “That’s the best we can do, take out two best athletes and let them play the role of Stingley.”

About all you can do is try to take away what they do best and make them do something else and even that can be problematic.

“You figure they are going to get their points,” the CHS coach said. “You have to find a way to get some stops and make sure you don’t turn it over and you keep scoring when you have the ball.”

So Friday’s contest could turn into a high school version of Arena Football, where you score everytime you have the ball and get a couple of defensive stops.

“I’d like to think that we can get more than a couple of stops,” said Indest. “Our goal is to kep them under 28 points and if we do that we’ll have a chance to win the game.”

But can the Panthers score against the Tigers with Stingley patrolling the middle of the field from his secondary spot?

“I feel that we can move the ball on these guys,” Indest said. 

“But we just have to come out and play really good football.”

Friday’s winner gets the winner of No. 2 seed Country Day and No. 7 seed Ascension Episcopal in the semifinals the following week.