By RYAN ARENA

Final: St. Charles 24, Parkview Baptist 21

By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

LAPLACE — No, it wasn’t a state championship victory, even if the scene after Friday’s final whistle at Thomas Dupuy Stadium suggested such.

But realistically, the Comets are closer than they’ve ever been. And their coaches, players and fans seem to know it.

Patrick Juneau’s 20-yard field goal with four seconds left sailed through the uprights and sent St. Charles to the state championship game, 24-21 victors over defending Class 3A champion Parkview Baptist (10-4).

“I’m ecstatic. I can’t do a back flip, but I want to right now,” said Juneau.

The Comets will face Amite next Saturday in the 3A championship game at the Superdome. Kickoff will be for 3 p.m.

St. Charles (14-0) rallied from an early 14-0 deficit and then a 21-14 deficit in the fourth quarter to earn the win.

The game marked the return to running back duties for stars Marcus Hall and Lazedrick Thompson, each of whom had been unable to carry the ball due to injury this postseason.

The game had a state championship level feel, pitting a perennial 3A power and last year’s champion against the team most have considered the classification’s favorite all season.

It was one to remember — the fourth quarter providing zero dull moments from its very first snap.

After a scoreless third quarter, Parkview Baptist faced a fourth and one at the St. Charles 35 on the first play of the final frame. St. Charles stopped quarterback Brennan Bozeman just short of a conversion and SCC took over on downs.

But St. Charles had a three and out, and that spelled trouble — to that point, the Comets had just one first down on three second half possessions, leaving a weary defense to deal with the Parkview option.

This time, Parkview ripped off yardage in chunks of six, seven and eight yards at a time. The Comets prevented the big play until the drive’s 11th snap, when Conner Hodgeson ran up the middle and broke loose for a 20-yard score, giving Parkview a 21-14 lead with 6:44 left.

For the first time this season, SCC faced a fourth quarter deficit.

That became more alarming to the Comet faithful on a second down play that saw Tom Bove sack Donnie Savoie to set up a third and 17 play from the SCC 33.

Savoie, who had thrown more interceptions in this game (3) than he had all season (2), had also come up big on numerous third and long plays. He did it again here, dialing up Chris Millet over the middle for 20 yards, a play that perhaps saved the SCC season.

On the back of that momentum surge, the Comets went for broke, Savoie throwing deep to Jeffrey Hall up the sideline – Hall got behind the defense and caught a perfect pass in stride for a 47-yard touchdown, and Juneau’s extra point tied the game.

Parkview took over with 4:47 and set up a third and 1 with two runs; a handoff to Hezekiah Randolph was smothered by the SCC defense, led by Nick Montagut. Parkview punted it away and SCC took over on its 40.

“At halftime, we’re tied at 14,” said SCC defensive end LaJaylin Smith.” Coach Monica brought us together and told us that it’s 24 minutes for the rest of our lives. He told us that if we gave all we had for that time, he promised we’d have a memory to keep forever.”

From there, Savoie went to work. First, Sammy Miller drew a pass interference penalty deep. He then caught a 3 yard pass, then a seven yarder from Savoie. Savoie also converted on a key second and eight play, scrambling for 11 yards and a first down.

Monica then turned the keys over to Thompson, who had only rushed one previous time on the night – that went for a 2 yard touchdown in the second quarter. Thompson rumbled for seven yards, then 11 down to the Parkview 4 with nine seconds left.

“It’s a great feeling,” said Thompson. “It’s been real hard to sit and watch, so it feels special to go out there and produce and help us be successful.”

Said Monica, “He came to me and said, ‘I can do it.’ He could really only go north-south. But that’s the direction of the endzone and where we needed to go.”

The coach wouldn’t chance a fumble or clock miscue — he sent Juneau on to finish things. He did just that, and SCC made the play it had to on the ensuing kickoff to send its sideline rushing onto the field in celebration.

“(Juneau) is Mr. Clutch now,” said Smith with a wide smile.

Said Juneau, “I just said to myself, ‘I’m bringing it to the Dome.’”

Parkview scored on its first two possessions, the first on Bozeman’s 1-yard score that capped a 12 play, 75 yard drive. The second came on a Hodgeson 1-yard run that followed a big defensive play, Cole Wilson’s interception of Savoie at the Parkview 10.

SCC fired back, scoring first on Savoie’s 30-yard touchdown pass to Miller, then on Thompson’s 1-yard run with 4:33 left in the first half.

Parkview held the SCC run game in check, but Savoie completed 14 passes for 150 yards and two scores.

Randolph led Parkview with 95 yards rushing.

Preview

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.