High Flyer: Records are enticing, but Loyola’s Restovich focused on big picture
by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
The night after leading Loyola Prep to a 42-0 blowout of Belaire in the regional round of the 2025 Division II select state playoffs, quarterback Bryce Restovich joined friends around a bonfire on a cold Shreveport evening.
He had previously felt some soreness in his throat but never believed he was in peril from being a teenager and doing the things he enjoyed.
Sunday morning, though, was a totally different sensation. Simply breathing was a task, again pushing off the discomfort as potentially strep throat, but a visit to the doctor’s office was now in order.
Much to Restovich’s surprise, and chagrin, the words coming out of the nurse changed the complexion of his life.
“The nurse came out shaking her head,” Restovich recalled. “She said it was mono (mononucleosis). I wasn’t thinking mono. I didn’t have any idea what it was. When I got home, I didn’t know how I was going to make the call. It was terrible.”
Restovich fretted the entire way home about having to inform his coach, John Sella, about his diagnosis and how that would keep him out of the team’s biggest game of the season – a home date with Archbishop Shaw – in the state quarterfinals.
Initially, he sent a text to Sella before building the courage to finally call him.
“He text me saying that we needed to talk,” Sella said. “There was kind of a silence from both of us. I wasn’t sure what to say because I also wanted to be supportive at the same time. My heart dropped. It sucked for him, too. We felt helpless because there was nothing we could do. It wasn’t like a sprained ankle that you could tape up or put a brace on a knee. There was literally nothing we could do.”
Restovich was at the heart of one of Loyola’s best regular seasons. He’d thrown for career highs in yardage (3,406) and touchdowns (48), and the Flyers (10-1) were the No. 2 seed on the select side with a promising opportunity to reach the Caesars Superdome.
The school, then known as Jesuit, had previously won state championships in 1967 and 1976, and Restovich had brought the program to such heights, only to find out he wouldn’t be able to play in the biggest game of his career.
Shaw, if not for a miraculous set of circumstances, could have won the Division II state title two weeks later. The Eagles emerged with a 34-7 win over Loyola, a team that had averaged 49 points with Restovich at the control of the team’s fast-paced, no-huddle offense.
“I attended the game, sat on the sideline,” Restovich said. “It was tough. It was like a physical hurting, and mentally. It all crashed down, and I just wanted to break down and cry. I felt bad for my teammates and my coaches. Still, making the call to coach Sella was probably one of the hardest I’ve ever had to make. I can’t tell you how long I tried to put it off, but I had to call him.”
Sella admired his team’s support for quarterback Carsen Ward, who passed for 130 yards in his first career start.
“I was happy with the team kind of rallying around the guy that filled in,” he said. “We tried to put our best effort out there. It’s a tough one not to forget. It’s tough to look back and wonder what it could have been, but that’s how it goes sometimes. (Shaw) Coach (Hank) Tierney said after the game that it would have been a shootout. It would have been a really good game.”
The recovery from the season finale, both mentally and physically, has been strong for Restovich in 2026.
Loyola (3-1) is averaging 54 points a game and takes a No. 7 ranking in Class 3A into Friday’s game at Class 2A’s top-ranked Calvary Baptist (4-0) at 7 o’clock at Jerry Barker Stadium.
The 6-foot-2, 185-pound Restovich has never looked better. He ranks second in the state in both yardage (1,440) and touchdowns (19), averaging 360 yards a game through the air and completing 69% (83 of 121) of his passes.
He also ranks first on the team in rushing touchdowns with five and has been the definition of a dual-threat quarterback with 36 carries for 224 yards – 6.2 yards per carry – for 1,664 total yards or 416 per contest.
“So far, so good,” he said. “I never want to have that feeling again of not being able to play. I would rather play my heart out and lose than not be able to do anything and lose.”
Sella’s literally grown with Restovich. He was the team’s offensive coordinator Restovich’s freshman season and subsequently has been Loyola’s head coach during his player’s record-setting career.
“Experience,” Sella pointed to among Restovich’s strengths. “At this point it looks like things have slowed down. He was already pretty good coming in. He already had a strong arm. He had some speed. He’s just grown as a teenager and matured some, has grown as a leader.
“Everything’s real slow; he understands football,” Sella said. “He came in understanding football, and he had a quick grasp of the offense. Some of that has been a natural growth that high schoolers go through.”
Restovich’s body of work hasn’t been better, stringing together four straight games of more than 300 yards with a season-high 422 yards and six touchdowns in last week’s 44-25 victory over Northwood. That was the fourth time he’s thrown for that many TDs in a game.
He completed 21 of 32 passes and helped the Flyers rally from a seven-point halftime deficit.
Restovich has twice passed for six touchdowns against St. Edmund (48-12 win) and Northwood and accounted for six touchdowns in a 42-41 setback to Parkway, throwing for 358 yards and 4 TDs. He added another two rushing touchdowns.
An area of improvement Sella’s witnessed in Restovich’s game has been his ability to thrive in the face of pressure. When teams have elected to bring multiple blitzers to either get to him or disrupt his timing, Sella believes it’s been Restovich’s ability to remain calm through the chaos and execute for his team.
“This year we’ve had some people blitzing a lot,” he said. “Some people are sending two and three guys. We’ve been able to throw the ball more, not that we weren’t throwing it a lot before. This year our running numbers are lower because people are trying to get to Bryce. So, we’ve done a good job in protecting where he can get it out to the weapons and make good decisions.”
The confidence to defeat a blitz comes from his capacity as a runner, and the belief he’s gained from Sella.
“I think I can beat them with my legs and extend the play,” Restovich said. “I understand I have two extra guys coming that are going to be unblocked. That’s when I can throw ‘hot’. I’ve automatically built that trust with coach Sella. He’s told me I have free rein to throw hot if I see something, especially if they send a blitz. When you send a blitz, it’s kind of like stealing.”
Restovich said he played catch with his father Brock when he was 2 or 3 years old without any aspirations of being a quarterback. He was a wide receiver, wingback, and strong safety in the second grade until his youth football journey took him to a team that didn’t have a quarterback.
“I thought I’d try it,” he said. “I liked Tom Brady.”
He certainly found a home.
Restovich went on to play quarterback throughout middle school and junior high when he decided to attend Loyola. He wasn’t brash about his personal expectations to leave as the school’s greatest quarterback.
“My dad wrote out a few goals for me, and we talked about it,” he said. “Eventually I told him I wanted to be the best quarterback Loyola’s ever seen and break every single record. It’s happened. It’s not all me. I’ve put the work in, but I’ve had great O-linemen. Having a guy like Coach Sella helps out a lot. He’s very smart when calling plays and going against defenses. I knew as long as I worked hard, I could accomplish it.”
When Loyola opened the 2023 season, the Flyers had a senior at quarterback for an offense that appeared to be stuck in neutral.
Instead of remaining with the same results, Sella turned to Restovich to start as a freshman and, over his four-game sample size, completed 69% of his passes (83 of 121) for 1,440 yards and 19 TDs with one interception.
“When we brought him in, he moved the team up and down the field on Captain Shreve,” Sella said. “He may have been nervous, but he didn’t seem nervous at all. He was making some pretty impressive throws in that game. I knew from there it was going to be pretty nice to know he was going to be the quarterback for the next four years.”
There was one throw in particular from that game that still resonates with Sella.
With the Flyers trailing in the game, Restovich rolled out on a play where most young quarterbacks may have played it safer and made the throw on a comeback route. Instead, he patiently waited for his inside receiver to clear on a post route for a big gain.
“I thought, wow, ‘He’s going to be pretty good,’” Sella said. “We had never thrown the post. For a freshman to read that out and make the right decision, I thought he was going to be pretty good.”
The possibility of stepping onto a varsity field as a freshman was something that had crossed Restovich’s mind, but he was aware of the upperclassmen ahead of him on the team’s depth chart.
“I definitely thought I wanted to play,” he said. “I thought I may or may not get a shot, but I wanted to show them what I was about. I truly believed at the time Coach Sella played the better player instead of having seniority. He showed me, my dad, and a lot of people who he was as a coach. That spoke to his personality.
“At the time it was surreal,” he said. “I pictured myself doing it, but at the same time I didn’t know if it was going to happen. When I did it, it was exciting and scary. I was a freshman going against 6-5, 300-pound D-linemen and I was about 6-2, 165. I’m glad that it happened because I learned a lot from it. Having that experience really slowed the game down a lot for me.”
Restovich’s quarterback-centric life also factored into his future after high school. He wanted to play in college, and to prepare for a next-level career would include a carefully thought-out process of taking part in college camps to improve his mechanics and gain exposure.
“Everyone wants to play for LSU one day,” Restovich said. “That’s not always the reality. Just to play in college, I took it serious.”
The Restovichs attended 13 to 14 camps in 2024 and another 10 last summer, sparking interest from such schools as Baylor and UL.
The younger Restovich also had communication with Troy and Coastal Carolina, but the only nibbles on the college recruiting line have been from two Division II schools and one NAIA team.
“I had Baylor looking at me for a long time last season,” Restovich said. “They were going to come to Messmer (Loyola’s home field) for a private workout at the time the ice storm hit. UL’s been to school plenty of times, pulled me out of class. I have been on so many visits there, practices and camps. They just haven’t pulled the trigger. It’s up to God for sure.
“I think I’m a little overlooked, but I can’t do anything about it,” Restovich said. “I’m not going to sit and sulk about it. I’m just going to leave it up to the big man upstairs. It’s frustrating, kind of seeing the guys that are going to Bama, LSU, and SMU, places like that. It’s hard to see that when I’m putting up the numbers, and I’m not getting the same recognition. It’s tough. You can’t just sit here and sulk about it. I love my teammates. I’ve got a lot to prove.”
College recruiting has been a subject rarely broached between the two, and Sella said the lack of Division I scholarship offers hasn’t been a deterrent in his quarterback’s performance.
“I don’t know how you can put up the numbers that he has, and nobody’s coming around,” he said. “It’s not that we’re just playing a bunch of (Class) 1A teams. He’s put up big numbers on 5A teams and some of the biggest teams in the state. I don’t know what the holdup is. Whoever ends up pulling the trigger, hopefully it’s soon, they’re going to get a really good one.”
He would not be surprised to see Restovich begin his career at a sub-Division I school, similar to that of Trinidad Chambliss, who parlayed a Division II national championship at Ferris State into a scholarship offer and terrific career at Ole Miss.
“I think he can do that, too,” Sella said. “We’ve never actually talked about it. We have a quiet understanding. I know he would like a D1 offer now. Anybody would. He’s not out there trying to do too much. He’s not out there complaining. I’ve never felt like it’s bothered him. It hasn’t affected him.”
Restovich, 25-11 as a starter, has completely rewritten Loyola’s record book, Sella said.
The bulk of his numbers came between his sophomore and junior seasons, when he passed for 5,748 yards, completed 65% of his passes with 79 touchdowns against 18 interceptions.
“I like looking at statistics; I’m a statistics guy,” Restovich said. “I look at the college football stats, how those quarterbacks are doing, how the NFL quarterbacks are doing. I try not to make it about my stats. The reason I’ve been successful is because my coaches have taught me everything about the game and my linemen and receivers have just been phenomenal. They help out a ton.”
Senior left tackle Ryan Sipes is the lone returning starter on the offensive line, but part of the beauty of Loyola’s passing game has been the chemistry Restovich enjoys with his receivers – a group of multi-year starters such as juniors Ty Walsorth, his stepbrother, Charlie McKenzie, and senior Graham Kyle.
Relationships with McKenzie, Kyle and senior Brock Geter predate their time together at Loyola, with Restovich and Kyle having played together on the same team when they were in middle school.
Walsworth (26 catches, 462 yards, 6 TDs) and McKenzie (25-490, 5 TDs) top the Flyers in receptions, with Kyle (15-262, 4 TDs) also in double-digit catches.
There’s been no more fertile area for quarterbacks in Louisiana than Shreveport.
Two of the more heralded quarterbacks, Terry Bradshaw and Joe Ferguson, both graduated from Woodlawn High and went on to enjoy NFL success, with Bradshaw winning four Super Bowls with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Shreveport has produced the state’s five top high school passers, led by Evangel Christian’s Brock Berlin with 13,902 yards.
All five quarterbacks to reach the magical 10,000-yard mark include Airline’s Ben Taylor (12,374), Evangel’s Josh Booty (11,700), Evangel’s Phillip Deas (11,324) and Calvary Baptist’s Cade Hart (10,646) are from the Port City.
Green Oaks’ Keith Baker passed for 9,833 yards, and current Evangel senior Peyton “Pop” Houston, an LSU commitment, has 9,371 yards.
Based on his trajectory, Restovich will join such company.
With 7,686 yards passing and 105 touchdowns, Restovich is on pace for 3,600 yards this regular season and 10,028, a number that will grow in the postseason. In 35 games, he’s completed 65% of his passes (506 of 782) with 27 interceptions, and his 612 yards rushing give him 8,298 total yards for an average of 237.1 per outing.
Restovich has passed for more than 200 yards 19 times with a career-best 513 yards in a 71-48 win over Minden last October. He’s also thrown for more than three touchdowns 18 times, including the Minden game with a career-best of seven that helped the Flyers overcome a three-point halftime deficit and outscore the Crimson Tide 40-14 in the second half.
Sella believes Restovich’s resume should put him somewhere in the conversation among the area’s top quarterbacks.
“He’s got to be up there somewhere,” he said. “There have been guys that have thrown for a lot of yards. That will be something we’ll look at at the end of the year. I’m sure he’s got some personal goals to get up there, which is good.”
Said Restovich: “I’ve seen lists before of all the quarterbacks that have been through here. In middle school, I already knew about Terry Bradshaw. I saw a chart not long ago where all the quarterbacks stood, how many touchdowns and yards they had. I wanted to get up there.”