St. Charles Catholic coach Frank Monica said he tried to downplay Friday night’s matchup against cross-town rival Riverside. But even he had to admit he had a hard time convincing his team that it was “just” a jamboree – especially after the Comets came away with a 21-14 victory.
“Even though we try to down play it and tell them that next week is the real beginning of the season, it’s hard for them not to take it seriously,”  Monica said. “It’s a neighborhood dog fight.”

The Comets didn’t put up any gaudy numbers on Friday, but used their offense to control the game and carry out its game plan – which was to keep the ball away from Riverside as much a possible.

 “We tried to keep their offensive off the field,” Monica said. “We tried to run the ball a little bit more because, after last week, I thought we needed to improve at that. And I thought our guys met the challenge.”

Under the direction of quarterback Austin Weber, St. Charles put together two time-consuming scoring drives in the first half, then added a quick strike in the second. Riverside, meanwhile, was much slower to get going and late to recover.

Weber  finished with 54 yards passing on six completions, with two of those going for touchdowns. He connected with Corey Hanie on a 10-yard touchdown and with Eian Mitchell on a 1-yard strike. Erron Lewis handled the bulk of the ground game, rushing for 55 of the Comets’ 128 yards and scoring on a 1-yard run.  Mario Young added 47 yards on eight carries.

“We were very very fortunate to get (them) in the backfield and get them into the secondary a little bit,” Monica said. “We kept moving the chains. That was our battle plan all along, to try to keep moving the chains and try to keep (Riverside’s) explosive offense off the field.”

Riverside wasn’t very explosive in the first half. The Rebels went into halftime with one first down and 36 yards of offense after two possessions. But the Rebels recovered in the second half. Quarterback Deuce Wallace, who had three completions in the first half, was 13 of 23 for 173 yards and two touchdowns on the night. Running back Brandon Sanders also showed some speed on Riverside’s two scoring drives.

But it was St. Charles which set the pace early. After Riverside deferred the opening kickoff,  Weber led the Comets on a nine play, 80 yard drive. Lewis rushed for more than half of that, starting with a 15-yard gain on the first play from scrimmage and a 14-yard gain on the second play. He also had a 21-yard gain on the drive. On second-and-9 from the Riverside 10, Weber rolled out and threw to Hainie in the right corner of the end zone. Patrick Juneau’s PAT put St. Charles ahead 7-0 with 10:44 remaining in the first 15-minute half.

The Comets were not as successful on their second possession.  After a block in the back penalty wiped out a nice punt return, the Comets got mired in their own backfield and stalled at their own 27-yard line.

But after a second Riverside punt, St. Charles put together another solid drive. Starting at his own 16-yard line, Wallace took the Comets down the field on 12 plays. On third-and-7 at the St. Charles 19, he connected with Brady Becker for a 13-yard gain. Young ran for 18 yards to the 50. From there, Young ran for a couple of short gains before Weber found Hanie at the Riverside 1. Two plays later Weber rolled on a play action fake and found Mitchell in the end zone for a 14-0 lead with 17 seconds remaining in the half.

Riverside finally found its rhythm in the opening minutes of the second half. On the first play of the half, Sanders ran for a 17 yard gain, then for 5 more. After two incompletions, Wallace then connected with connected with Herb McGee for a 49-yard touchdown pass with 13:40 left to play.  

But St. Charles didn’t let Riverside keep the momentum for long. Eric Lewis returned the ensuing kickoff 84 yards to the Riverside 15. From there, the Comets needed just three plays to score. Erron Lewis put St. Charles ahead 21-7 with a 1-yard run.

From there, the game bogged down with penalties and emotions on both sidelines were running high. St. Charles stopped a Riverside possession when Connor Smith intercepted a Wallace pass inside the Comets’ 30 yard line. But the Comets would fumble it away.  Riverside converted that opportunity into a late score when Wallace connected with Darrion Cook on an 8-yard pass with 1:56 remaining in the game.

Riverside coach Bill Stubbs was not happy with his team’s performance and issued a strong challenge to his players after the game.

“This is not what we represent,” he said. “We have worked too hard for this.”