By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – In case anyone was under the impression that St. Charles Catholic football coach Frank Monica might rest upon his laurels after winning a state championship …

Well, nobody actually thought that.

“Don’t order any more rings just yet,” he chuckled, reflecting on the first few days of spring football practice.

Monica looked as intense as he would on a given game-night Thursday, as the Comets continued their spring workouts. St. Charles began its spring program Tuesday, a day after it was originally scheduled to accommodate the baseball team’s home quarterfinal game against E.D. White Monday.

For the Comets, it will be a mix of familiar and not-so-familiar faces from the squad that went 15-0 en route to the Class 3A state title.

On the defensive side of the ball, nose tackle Taylor Cochran returns after a breakout junior campaign that saw him anchor a St. Charles defense that allowed a paltry 25 points during the regular season and three of its five playoff foes to eight points or less.

Inside linebacker Dante Scarpero was one of the team’s leading tacklers last season, and outside linebacker Luke Jackson made a big impact after being moved from the inside.

Offensively, there are more questions. Offensive cornerstones like quarterback Donnie Savoie and running backs Marcus Hall and Lazedrick Thompson are graduating and must be replaced.

“The biggest thing we need to look at in the spring is personnel,” said Monica. “We’re replacing two backs, our quarterback, our top two tight ends and receivers. We’ve lost a lot on that side of the ball.”

If you could take one at all, the blessing in disguise of the missed time due to injury late last season by the dynamic duo of running backs was that it allowed freshman Austin Weber to garner some experience.

Weber started for the team in its first four playoff games last season while Hall (broken wrist) and Thompson (injured knee) recovered from injury. Weber is just working his way in this spring, as baseball season just ended.

At quarterback, junior Jamal Batiste has been working with the first team. Weber is also expected to see time at quarterback. Brandon Zimmer brings the most experience to the backfield after starting all of last season at fullback. He also saw additional carries in Thompson and Hall’s absence.

“It’s hard to evaluate at this point, because you’re trying to get guys up to speed on our schemes as quickly as possible. You can’t see everyone’s ability clearly if they aren’t sure of what they’re doing yet. Offensively it‘s a little tougher in terms of verbiage and grasping everything.”

One thing Monica said he isn’t happy with is the reduced time allotted for spring practice by the LHSAA from past seasons.

“We’ve gone from 20 days and a spring game to now 10 days. We’ll probably get nine in as it is,” said Monica. “We’re pushed up against final exams now.”

The Comets’ spring game scrimmage will be next Saturday, April 19 at 9:30 a.m.  

And if Monica has anything to say about it — and a few moments at practice certainly lets you know that he does – there will be no championship hangover.

“Now that’s all history,” he said. “It hard to become champion. It’s harder to stay there.”