Three Reasons STM Will Advance to the State Championship

The Cougars of STM are no strangers to the game's biggest stages. The Cougars have been a dominant force in Louisiana high school football over the past decade. Since 2010, STM has reached the championship game five times and has been victorious in three of those games. The Cougars won the state title in 2016, 2019, and 2020. They were runner-ups in 2015 and 2018 and have reached the semifinals eight times in the past ten years alone. The Cougars looked poised to win another championship, but they have to get past E.D. White in the semifinals first. Here are three reasons why STM will advance to the state championship.

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1. Battle Tested

The Cougar's strength of schedule is impressive as it includes four teams ranked in the top in their respective playoff brackets. The team is 11-1 on the season with their only loss coming in week 4 against Catholic High of Baton Rouge in a 49-28 game. Catholic of Baton Rouge would finish the season as the number one ranked team in class 4-A.

The Cougars would go on to beat a Teurlings Catholic team who advanced to the state semifinals as the number nine seed. They took down the tenth-ranked Westgate Tigers team who advanced to the semifinals in the non-select. The Cougars weren't done yet as they would go on to beat the eighth-ranked Knights of LCA who will face off against Teurlings in the other select semifinal matchup. STM's resume is about as impressive as it gets with three wins over current semifinalist.

2. Electric Offense

The Cougars are averaging 42.7 points per game when the national average is less than 25 according to Maxx Preps. This offense has put up over 50 points in both of their playoff matchups against Cox and Madison Prep. This is a team that has 71 total touchdowns on the season when the national average is 31. Their offense is pretty balanced as they have accumulated 39 touchdowns on the ground and another 32 through the air. This is a team that is averaging 422 total yards per game while remaining balanced with 172 rushing yards per game and 246 yards per game. This is a juggernaut of an offense that doesn't seem to have a weakness.

3. Elite QB Play

The Cougars are led by Junior quarterback, Sam Altmann. Sam has completed a staggering 164 out of 257 attempts this year, racking up a nearly 64% completion percentage for the season. He is averaging about 215 yards passing per game with a total of 2589 for the season. He has 27 touchdown passes on the year with a rating of 122. In his last outing against Madison Prep, Sam completed 70% of his passes with a total of 333 yards and a rating of 152.

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This is a Cougar team that has played and defeated the best teams in the state, possesses an elite offense, and has a super-talented leader at quarterback. STM will take on E.D. White this Friday at 7 PM for the right to play for the Louisiana State Championship.