By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

LAPLACE — St. Charles looks to remain undefeated with a win on the road Friday night as the Comets travel to face District 9-2A foe Fisher.

The Gators began the season with victories over Ridgewood, Haynes and Crescent City. But lopsided losses to district foes Riverside and John Curtis followed.

After facing Class 2A’s No. 1 and No. 4 ranked team, No. 6 now comes down the pike for Fisher.

St. Charles coach Frank Monica said that the biggest challenge Fisher presents to his defense comes in the form of quarterback Tevyn Cagins.

“They lost their quarterback and moved a really good athlete there. He’s got a lot of ability,” said Monica. “Now, the challenge is you need to prepare for a couple of different offenses.”

Another challenge comes in the way of size. Fisher is big along its lines.

“They match up extremely well with us,” said Monica. “Going on the road, you need to be firing on all cylinders. We certainly respect them a lot.”

St. Charles comes off a 41-24 victory over Newman in which running back Marcus Hall had a banner night, rushing for 213 yards and scoring five times, including a 99-yard kickoff return for a score on his first touch of the night.

“What more can you say about him?” asked Monica. “With his injury last year, I don’t think people really saw what he’s capable of. With Lazedrick (Thompson), we can keep him fresh, and he’s really able to get after it.”

Hall said the Comets are fueled by, among other things, preseason predictions that SCC would finish no higher than fourth in District 9-2A.

“A lot of people picked us to finish fourth in this district, and we’ve always felt we were better than that,“ said Hall. “We feel like we can play against anyone. We have the heart, the intensity, and as long as that’s the case, we’ll keep on winning.”

On his kick return, he expressed a little surprise.

“I thought my back foot was in the endzone, so I was surprised when they didn’t blow it dead,” said Hall with a smile. “So I took off and kept going.”

Monica said he would like to see a more consistent defensive effort. While he praised the team’s improvement in tackling over the last two weeks, he said that the team can make strides in its understanding of situational football.

“Being in position, understanding where we need to be on third and long, and winning on first down,” said Monica. “Getting in good position on first down will be especially important on Friday.”