The trust that Catholic High School coaches put in Chris Landry when moving him from safety to linebacker for his senior season paid big dividends for the Panthers in 2018.

Catholic High returned to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome for the second straight season with a rematch against Notre Dame in the finals after having beaten the Pios for the Division IV championship in 2017. Though the Pioneers handed CHS both of its losses in a 12-2 season, including a 42-21 win in the championship game, Catholic High again proved overwhelming on offense for most of the season and tough on defense, outscoring opponents 52.5-17.7 in the 12 wins.

Landry played a pivotal role for the defense, one that evolved as the season went on. It all started with the move to a new position.

Indest said Landry stood out on defense because of his consistency. That earned him Defensive Most Valuable Player honors in District 7-2A after the Panthers swept through the league without a loss, and has earned him Defensive MVP honors for The Daily Iberian’s Best of the Teche team in 2018 as well.

“Chris was just so consistent every week,” Indest said. “What he brought as a former safety is that speed. We played a lot of spread teams. That nickel linebacker/defensive back is an extra guy that can cover space.”

At 6-foot-2 with a long arm span, Landry made it difficult for opposing offenses to find open areas, the coach said. Initially in the Panthers’ three-linebacker defense he played the Will (weak side) position because of his ability to run, but that evolved to putting Landry on the field side on each play, Indest said, to take advantage of his speed.

“I guess he saw more than I did in myself,” Landry said. “Last year I didn’t do anything, I felt, at safety. It boosted my confidence a lot.”

It was a perfect fit, Landry said. Coaches asked him “just to be more physical than I had been when I was a safety. A lot of it was no hesitation — trust my reads.”

Playing teams that were more pass oriented, the need was there for speed at the position, he said.

“I’m a little more quick than the other linebackers,” Landry said. “A lot of teams were trying to stretch us out and make us run to the ball.”

Initially he knew absolutely nothing about playing linebacker, but Landry said the position was a lot more instinct based and he wasn’t overthinking as he might have done at safety.

The result was he made plays all over the field, and helped give CHS a chance to repeat as state champion despite losing a big chunk of the 2017 team to graduation. The run the Panthers made in the playoffs was satisfying given the doubts from outside the team and its supporters.

“That’s incredible, especially since a lot of people counted us out going into the playoffs as the No. 6 seed, playing guys like Derek Stingley (the top recruit in the nation out of the Dunham School) and Country Day,” Landry said. “Not believeing teams were better than us was a big part of it.”

CHS also picked it up in practice for the playoffs, he said.

“Going through the season practices were kind of mediocre,” Landry said. “When the playoffs started, everybody was more focused.”

Joining Landry on the Best of the Teche defense selected by the sports staff of The Daily Iberian are defensive linemen Marlon Brown of Catholic High, Royal Jackson of Franklin and Justin Bourque of St. Martinville; linebackers Thor Boudreaux of New Iberia, Markell Chambers of St. Martinville and Keith Lopez of Westgate; defensive backs Toddrick Paul of Jeanerette, Javon Wiltz of St. Martinville, Nicholas Borne of Catholic High and William Black of New Iberia; athletes Ron Madison of Westgate and Kyjuan Biggles of West St. Mary; and punter Noah Rollins of Jeanerette.

Honorable mentions include Caleb Fage of Assembly Christian; Ja’Braylon Spencer and Taylor Williams of New Iberia; Blayne Delahoussaye, Cartez Joseph, Scotty Comeaux and Keydrain Calligan of Westgate; Noah Luke of St. Martinville; Gharin Stansbury of Franklin; Tucker Derise and Lane Toups of Erath; and Amarion Chatman and Xavier Armstrong of Centerville.