St. Charles Catholic gets supreme test when powerful Curtis Patriots come to town

By KEVIN CHIRI

Publisher

LAPLACE – St. Charles Catholic has had its share of big games during the tenure of veteran head coach Frank Monica.

But the expected intensity on the field Friday night at Comet Stadium will be like a playoff atmosphere when John Curtis comes to town, even if it is only the middle of the prep season.

The Comets have roared off to a 5-0 season start in this hurricane-marred season for everyone, but face a challenge like no other this Friday night when the always potent Curtis Patriots come to town. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

While St. Charles is off to a big start, following their most recent win last week of 37-6 over Donaldsonville, the battle to open district play on Friday night will be the toughest yet.

“Curtis is probably the best team in the state, and even one of the best teams in the country,” Monica stated. “But there’s a lot of excitement here at our school for being 5-0, and now having a chance to play Curtis. We play to compete with everything we have.”

The reputation of the Curtis Patriots goes without saying for those who follow prep football. They have won more state championships than any team in the history of Louisiana high school football, and are coming off the 4A title from last year. Due to reclassification, they have been knocked back to 2A this year, giving the Comets the unenviable task of playing them in their own district.

“We have a district which has five playoff contending teams, due to the reclassification,” Monica noted. “And Curtis is, of course, got to be the best of them all.”

Incredibly, Monica said Curtis has actually strengthened their team due to the personnel moving from team to team after the hurricanes.

“They are stronger than they would have been before the hurricanes because a lot of kids enrolled there,” he said. “They dress out 90 kids and will be a great challenge for us.”

But Monica said he is just happy to have his kids in a position to play such a big game so early in the year.

“We’ve put ourselves in position to make every game get a little bigger,” he said. “But Curtis will be a really tough one, just like our district, which is brutal. Heck, our league is like playing in the BCS.”

Curtis has a challenge of their own in slowing down a potent St. Charles offense. Running back Christopher Jones ran for three touchdowns and over 150 years last week in the win over Donaldsonville, while back Casey Robottom is rated one of the top River Region runners.