By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

There was no letdown after Patterson for St. Charles. There would be no more upsets for Rayne.

The second-seeded Comets (13-0) made short work of an opponent for the 13th consecutive week, downing No. 26 seed Rayne 52-24 at Rayne (7-6) Friday night in a Class 3A quarterfinal game.

Comets quarterback Donnie Savoie led the way, throwing five touchdown passes, each to a different receiver.

SCC led 31-12 at halftime.

Rayne scored almost as many points as SCC had allowed all season, but it likely won’t matter to the Comets and their supporters, as SCC is off to host defending 3A champion Parkview Baptist in a high profile semifinal contest next week. Parkview defeated Port Allen Friday, 35-13, in their quarterfinal action.

St. Charles made a splash to start the game when Brandon Zimmer took a handoff and ran 75 yards to paydirt, putting the favored Comets out to a quick 7-0 lead.

Rayne counterpunched, though, driving all the way down the field and capping a 76-yard drive with a Chad Leger 1-yard touchdown run. That made it 7-6.

Donnie Savoie and Chris Millet combined for a 10-yard Comets touchdown pass, making it 14-6 late in the first quarter. Savoie struck again early in the second, dialing up Sammy Miller for a 14-yard touchdown pass to make it 21-6.

From there, SCC never looked back. Nick Montagut nearly scored a touchdown for the third time this season on an interception return; the Comet linebacker settled for a return to the Rayne 1, and Savoie hit Michael Millet for a short score.

Leger answered briefly via a touchdown pass to R.J. Buchanon with just under four minutes left in the second. Patrick Juneau capped SCC’s first half with a 28 yard field goal.

On his first two chances of the second half, Savoie finished Rayne off with touchdown passes of 11 and 13 yards to Matt Torres and Chad McNeil respectively, making it 45-12 after three quarters. Jeffrey Hall added a 40-yard scoring run in the fourth.