By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

St. Charles Catholic’s loss to visiting East Ascension last week, a game that saw the Comets lose despite building an early 14-0 lead, isn’t one the Comets are taking lightly.“It was sort of like a grenade hit our team,” St. Charles coach Frank Monica said. “We were kind of devastated by the loss.”

The Comets are preparing to host  Miller McCoy Friday night, and for SCC to get back on track, Monica said the first priority has been to identify what went wrong in last week’s loss.

“We tackled poorly, we turned it over four times, and we couldn’t get off the field on third down,” Monica said. “We felt we left a lot on the table. These are things we absolutely have to correct, and the way you do it is with intense practices.”

McCoy (0-2) has had something of a tumultuous season so far. After an opening week 31-20 loss to Lakeshore, McCoy fell 41-0 to powerful Landry-Walker. In that game, an altercation saw multiple players on each teams ejected — in McCoy’s case, too many players were ejected and subsequently suspended for its next game with Helen Cox, leading to a forfeit, as the Lions did not have enough players to compete. 

St. Charles (2-1) dominated last season’s contest with McCoy, highlighted by Erron Lewis rushing for 216 yards and four touchdowns in a 62-20 victory. 

Monica, however, isn’t taking what he believes is an improved Lions team lightly. 

“They’re huge and they’ve got speed, especially at receiver,” Monica said. “They’ll spread you out with four or five wide receivers. Their defense can really be disruptive. 

“They moved the ball on us last season, we know that. Most of those guys are back. We’re looking to special teams to make a difference for us, especially early on.”

Monica said rediscovering a killer instinct is very important for his club after allowing East Ascension to pick itself up off the mat last week. 

The Comets hope to have their full compliment of players Friday night after injuries compromised the team’s potential game-tying final drive last week. Quarterback Austin Weber and tailbacks Erron Lewis and Justin Loupe were all sidelined at the tail end of that game. 

Weber, so far this season, has completed 32 of 46 passes for 298 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. He’s rushed 31 times for 163 yards and three touchdowns. Lewis has rushed 43 times for 293 yards, while Loupe has 30 attempts for 128 yards, Each tailback has five touchdown runs. 

Dane Authement and Brady Becker are leading the receiving corps. Authement has eight receptions for 111 yards and two touchdowns. Becker has seven catches for 79 yards. 

Defensively, Monica said a bright spot so far this season has been the play of the team’s starting safeties, Eric Lewis and Justin Dubose. 

“Eric has made a lot of tackles and a lot of key plays so far,” Monica said. “He’s been the most consistent guy for us defensively. Justin Dubose is another one of our leading tacklers. He’s been a real pleasant surprise.”