By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

LAPLACE — All season long, St. Charles Catholic has staked its claim to the title of Class 3A’s most dominant team. But the 3A yard doesn’t yet belong to the Comets.

Ranked atop the Class 3A poll all season, the Comets have been touted by many as the division’s champion-in-waiting. It’s defending champion, however, isn’t quite ready to give up its crown.

Parkview Baptist may have entered the postseason as just a No. 11 seed, but that distinction never fooled SCC coach Frank Monica, nor his staff.

“We knew from the beginning, that team is a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” said Monica. “You can’t control what the opponents on your schedule do, and that’s why they’re lower. But if you want to get to the Superdome, you knew that they’d be standing at its doorway. And that’s where we are.”

The Comets have not lost a game this season, fresh off of a 52-24 quarterfinal victory at Rayne. No team has come within even three touchdowns of St. Charles this season; Rayne is the only team that has scored in double figures at all; SCC allowed just 37 points over their previous 12 games.

The Eagles began this season 1-3, with losses to three successful Class 5A teams (Mandeville, East St. John and Scotlandville). 2011 was already being called a “down year” for the defending champions. But a 47-20 victory over Catholic of Baton Rouge in the season’s fifth week launched a dominating run, one in which only one team (Notre Dame) would come within three touchdowns of Parkview, which has played in the state championship game in three of the last four seasons.

When asked about Parkview’s strength, Monica keyed in on that particular word itself.

“Their biggest strength is just that, their strength,” he said. “Their defensive line is highly skilled. They’ve got linebackers who are 210 pounds … we’re going to face some mismatches. We have to offset those with quickness. But we know because of their size, their physicality … they’re going to be in your way to get to where you want to be.”

Parkview has won three state championships in coach Kenny Guillot’s previous 11 years at the helm, and they’ve largely done it with a dominating option-based running game.

Parkview rushed for 394 yards in a 35-13 win over Comets’ district foe Port Allen in the quarterfinal round. Quarterback Brennan Bozeman rushed for 148 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries.

Defensively, Tom Bove — who Guillot will also employ at running back in short yardage situations — is a 270 pound force at nosetackle, one that Monica notes allows Parkview a lot of flexibility defensively.

“They can pressure with just three players,” he said. “Drop eight. So we can’t be successful dropping back and throwing it 40 times. We have to be able to run up the middle.”

Monica said his team will also be wary of running back Hezekiah Randolph, a “powerful runner” that his team will have to find a way to control.

His own backfield may see a boost as well. Monica said that he looks to play Marcus Hall, who was lost late in the regular season with a broken wrist, a bit more on offense; Hall has been playing in spots at defensive back over the last two weeks. Monica also said that Lazedrick Thompson, who injured his knee in the final game of the regular season, got a bit of work in practice on Monday. Monica called him questionable to play.

“It’s a tough spot, in a game like this, to put someone who hasn’t played for awhile back in. But we’re hopeful,” he said. “We’ll see over the next two days. But the plan right now is for Austin Weber to start at tailback, for Jeffrey Hall to spell him and for Marcus to hopefully get some time there.”

Last week saw quarterback Donnie Savoie take center stage for St. Charles as the Comets advanced to the quarterfinals. He threw five touchdown passes, each to a different receiver.

SCC led 31-12 at halftime.

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. 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.