By RYAN ARENA

LAPLACE – St. Charles coach Frank Monica summed up Friday night’s events succinctly, with a motto his team adopted long ago: “Refuse to lose.”

“That’s what we did tonight,” Monica explained.

St. Charles stood at the brink of elimination in its Class 2A regional round game with Farmerville. But the Comets rallied from 11 points down in the fourth quarter to survive and advance, scoring with 59 seconds left in regulation to capture a 20-19 victory in front of their elated home fans.

“This has to be one of the best comebacks, and best victories, in St. Charles history,” said Monica. “Certainly since I’ve been here.

“I’m still not sure how we did it.”

Donnie Savoie’s touchdown pass to tight end Harley Scioneaux on third-and-two proved the deciding points, as Savoie lofted a high toss to the back of the endzone and Scioneaux hauled it in and got his feet down inbounds.

“They trusted me, they called my number, and I knew what I had to do,” Scioneaux said. “I knew I had to go up and get it. It means a lot. I feel like I have their confidence now, and I know I helped my team to a big win.”

It was something of an improbable comeback, as Farmerville seemed to have everything rolling its way after a third quarter that looked to spell doom for the Comets.

The Farmers led 7-0 at halftime, but the Comets began the second half with some trickery: on SCC’s second play, Marcus Hall threw a halfback pass deep down the sideline to a streaking John Wood who hauled it in and ran the rest of the way for a score. SCC wouldn’t just tie it up, but took the lead when a swinging gate formation on the extra point led to a direct snap 2-point play to Lazedrick Thompson.

Farmerville then embarked on a punishing 17-play drive, but St. Charles blocked a field goal attempt to end it.

The Comets went three and out though, and Farmerville connected on its biggest play of the night, a pass from Vece Braggs to Carl Pearson for a 65-yard touchdown—two Comets undercut the play, but neither connected with the football, allowing Pearson a free run into the endzone to make it 13-8. SCC stopped the two-point try.

Then Farmerville made a gutsy call, opting for an onside kick with 42 seconds left in the third quarter. The call worked, and it led to another long Farmers’ drive that included a fourth-and-six conversion. Demadre Richardson pounded in a 3-yard score to make it 19-8. A personal foul penalty pushed Farmerville’s conversion try back, and SCC stopped that as well.

“At times, it really looked bad for us,” said Savoie. “But we never got down on ourselves. We had to keep believing.”

Said Monica: “What they did is how you beat people. You keep the other offense off the field and keep pounding at the defense.”

But the Comets opened up the offense and Savoie took well to the increased tempo. He completed 3-of-4 passes on a quick drive, including a 34-yard touchdown screen to Hall that Savoie pitched in the nick of time. That made it 19-14, as Savoie’s 2-point pass fell incomplete.

“We practice our two minute offense every Wednesday, and I guess that paid off tonight,” said Monica.

Having been on the field most of the second half, SCC gutted out a stop at its own 45 on the next drive, but found itself in a hole after Hall misplayed Farmerville’s punt, which was downed at the SCC 3.

“We made some mistakes, didn’t always line up in the right places,” said Monica. “But the defense fought hard.”

First, Hall dug his team out of the hole with an 18-yard run. Then Savoie hit Scioneaux down the middle for a 28-yard gain to the SCC 49. A 17-yard completion to Jeffrey Hall broke the Comets into Farmerville territory. After a pair of runs, Savoie again dialed up Scioneaux for another 15 yards, bringing SCC to the 6. A chaotic sequence of penalties and miscues for both teams ensued — SCC saw a touchdown called back for lineman assistance and a fumble set them back to the 18, but a roughing call brought the ball back to the nine. Three plays later, Scioneaux was celebrating the apparent game – winning touchdown—something that would become official after four Farmer plays and just seven yards.

“We beat a tremendous, tremendous team tonight, one loaded with so many players with size and speed,” said Monica. “I guess the word is resilient.”