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BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Catholic High will take the field at Northwestern State two days after Christmas for its fourth straight Division I state title game appearance.

The Bears are coming off a huge win over No. 1 seed Brother Martin in New Orleans.

Wide receiver Shelton Sampson had the best game of his young high school career against the Crusaders and has been named the Sportsline Player of the Week. He had seven catches for 170 yards and three touchdowns.

Sampson was also responsible for causing two huge defensive pass interference calls against Brother Martin that resulted in first downs for Catholic.

It was a coming-out party for the 6-foot-3 sophomore.

“We had talked about it a little bit like at the beginning of the week after the Rummel game,” said Sampson. “He (head coach Gabe Fertitta) just told me my number was going to be called a lot. I wasn’t really getting the ball before. So, I was just ready. I’m getting more comfortable every game. At the beginning of the season, I had just started playing varsity, so I was still a little nervous during games and stuff like that but I’ve just been getting more comfortable as the season has progressed.”

“Looking at the gameplan and what was going to be available and open, we kind of had a feel that this was going to be a big breakout game for him,” added Fertitta. “We called his number and he delivered.”

SPORTSLINE FRIDAY NITE: Playoffs - 3rd Round Scoreboard

Kickoff for Catholic against C.E. Byrd is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 27.

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