By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

LAPLACE — A pained Austin Weber deflected praise after his gritty performance Friday night, while St. Charles Catholic coach Frank Monica refused any suggestions his team achieved a moral victory.

But on a night many likely expected defending Division II champion John Curtis Christian to roll to victory, the Comets gave the Patriots all they could handle and then some.

Class 3A No. 2 Curtis made two critical, fourth quarter stops and hammered out three clock-killing first downs on its final drive to preserve a 27-21 victory at No. 4 St. Charles in the District 11-3A opener for both teams.

It stands as the closest district game Curtis has played since its last visit to LaPlace to face St. Charles, a 19-18 Patriots win in 2009.

“We expected this type of game from them,” Curtis coach J.T. Curtis said. “They’re a good football team. They’ve scored a lot of points against a lot of good people. What hurt us was not getting the ball in the endzone when we had our chances. But credit them for playing good defense.”

Curtis (5-1, 1-0) routed St. Charles (4-2, 0-1) twice last season and looked well on its way to a third lopsided win after rolling up 193 yards and 20 unanswered points in the first quarter. The Patriots outgained St. Charles 193-41. Quarterback Myles Washington ran for touchdowns of 33 and 49 yards while Santos Moreira scored the game’s first touchdown on a 43-yard run.

The Patriots’ Mason Matherne intercepted Weber on SCC’s first pass attempt of the game. But on SCC’s third drive of the night, Weber and a game offensive line started to pave the way for success against one of the state’s top defensive units.

St. Charles got on the scoreboard when Weber connected with Dane Authement for a 2-yard touchdown pass to cap a 15-play, 70-yard drive that cut the Curtis lead to 20-7. Weber converted two third downs on runs, while Eian Mitchell converted a key fourth-and-one inside the Curtis 5.

The Patriots looked ready to land a put-away shot on their next drive. Washington and Devon Benn combined to gain 49 yards on two runs to kick-start the drive. Benn ripped off a 35-yard run after a Jonathan Scarpero sack of Washington, setting JCC up at the Comets’ 8. But Curtis fumbled twice, and the Comet defense drove the Patriots back to the 31. Curtis then mishandled the snap on a punt, and SCC swarmed in for a turnover on downs at the Comet 46 with 4:46 left in the first half.

SCC mixed the run and pass for another lengthy drive. Justin Loupe converted a fourth-and-1 at the JCC 30. Weber found Loupe for another six yards with under a minute left, before connecting with Brady Becker over the middle for a 20-yard touchdown strike to make it 20-14 at halftime.

“He played as hard as he possibly could,” Monica said of Weber. “We needed more around him tonight.”

The Comets took the ball to begin the second half and went on another long drive, this one spanning 10 plays. SCC faced a fourth and one at the Curtis 31; this time the Patriots stopped Loupe short of the first down marker.

Curtis nearly fumbled away its next possession, but for the third time on the night, the Patriots recovered to maintain possession after a 12-yard Benn gain. Washington broke off another big run for 34 yards before Benn took it in from 30-yards away, capping a four-play drive to make it 27-14 with 5:18 left in the third quarter.

There was an answer, yet again. Weber dialed long distance and for the second time Becker answered, this time on a deep ball down the sideline that went for a 32-yard touchdown, cutting the Curtis lead to 27-21 with 11:52 left in play.

“We fed off of the fans,” Weber said. “They were making noise and giving us support and that meant the world.”

An emotionally-charged Comet defense held Curtis to three yards in its next drive and a three and out. SCC couldn’t answer back immediately, the Patriots deflecting a Weber pass on third and 10 to force a Comets punt. But this time, Curtis went backwards offensively, Justin Dubose making the stop on a third and 13 to force another JCC punt.

“We wanted to come out and take it,” SCC safety Eric Lewis said. “The crowd, our sideline, they had us fired up.”

With 5:21 left, the Comets faced another third and long, this time a third and 12 at the SCC 44. After a near interception over the middle, Monica elected to punt with 3:10 remaining, armed with two timeouts and calling upon his defense to make one more stop.

It wasn’t to be. With 2:03 left, Benn ran up the middle on third and four for 23 yards. He gained nine yards on his next play, and Washington earned another first down with a run up the middle for seven. Curtis denied the Comets a chance to get the ball back at all when Washington gained 15 yards on a run two plays later, protecting the ball tightly against a Comets team looking for a strip and one last gasp.

“At that point in the game, our defense was playing better than our offense, so I called for the punt and to try and hold them,” Monica said. “If I could have it back, I’d probably not do that, no, but at that point it was the right call. There were a few (play) calls in the fourth quarter I really wish I could have back.”

The Comets went 10 for 16 on third down conversion opportunities and two for three on fourth down.

Washington finished with 183 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. The Patriots finished with 336 rushing yards, attempting just three passes for minus-one yard.

Weber completed 13 of 20 pass attempts for 130 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. He also was SCC’s leading rusher, gaining 95 hard-fought yards. Weber accounted for 225 of SCC’s 277 total yards.

Monica credited his team for its “moxy” and willingness to fight back after falling behind so early, but stopped far short of celebrating the performance.

“We’ve got to learn how to finish games in the fourth quarter,” Monica said, alluding to the Comets’ other loss this season, a 35-28 loss to East Ascension. “There’s a really fine line between winning and losing in this game. We’re failing to do a lot of the little things to pull games like this out. My hat’s off to our kids for bouncing back (after the first quarter), but we just needed a little more.”