It didn’t take Catholic High head football coach Brent Indest long to figure out what he had with senior running back JaDan Stokes when he saw him playing football in middle school.

“One of the fun things here at Catholic High is that you can watch these kids evolve as sixth, seventh and eighth graders,” said the CHS coach. “I think when I got here JaDan was a seventh-grader. So you get to watch him play middle school football and one thing that he showed was that what he lacked in size, he made up for in vision and balance.

“People over the years have seen him making tight-rope runs along the sidelines and making people miss with uncanny moves. I saw him do that as an eighth-grader and I knew that if he grew a little bit that he’d be a heck of a player for us.”

So Stokes got into the starting lineup as a sophomore and never really left. Now in his senior year, he’s shown just what Indest thought he’d be.

“JaDan has had a fabulous year,” said Indest. “His numbers could be exponentially better if we’d have played in closer ballgames.

“His numbers are a reflection of playing about 2 ½ quarters a game. He’s averaging well over 12 yards per carry which is a school-record but has got to be some kind of record as well. And what was exciting about Friday night was that he showed how he can help us in the passing game as well.”

Against Calvary in the quarterfinals, Stokes only caught two passes for 78 yards, but one of those receptions went for 75 yards and a score in which he showed some nifty cutback moves that left Calvary defenders grasping for air.

“Like I said, he has great vision and balance,” said Indest. “Those are two of the things that everybody said the great Barry Sanders had. When you have those two things, it makes you wonder when you see some of those cuts, ‘how the heck did he do that.’”

On the season, Stokes numbers are impressive despite the “lack” of playing time.

Through 11 games, he has rushed for 1,236 yards and 19 touchdowns, an impressive 12.1 yards per carry.

“It’s been a great season so far,” said Stokes. “Going into the season ,we knew that it was going to be a good season. As a team we knew that we’d make the semifinals, we just didn’t know what seed we’d end up when the playoffs started.”

Catholic High tries for its second appearance in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome and the LHSAA Division III state championship game when it travels to New Orleans Friday to take on No. 2 seed Newman.

Stokes reflected on his time at CHS when he moved into the starting role as a sophomore.

“I was a little nervous but I knew that I had to step up at a young age,” said the CHS senior. “My freshman year, the senior class worked very hard in practice and during the offseason as well.

“So I decided that I was going to do that as well. So I stayed after practice and worked out and did different drills to get better. 

“I knew that I had some big shoes to fill.”

Last season as a junior, Stokes watched as Catholic High lost in the semifinals to Riverside Academy after getting injured in the first quarter. 

That experience, the loss and the injury, inspired him to do his best to get the team back to the semis this year.

“It really hurt me,” said Stokes. “It was a key point for me.”

Last week, Catholic High had lost to Calvary twice in the playoffs before coming away with a win. This week, Catholic High has beaten Newman twice in the playoffs coming into Friday’s game.

Stokes knows that the Greenies are gunning to do to CHS what the Panthers did to Calvary.

“All we can do is continue to play our game the best way we can,” said Stokes. 

Now with a second trip to the Superdome within reach, Stokes thinks back on that first trip when he was a freshman.

“The freshman class all said that we were going to go back before our careers ended,” he said. 

“We’ve done our best to make it happen and I hope it happens.”