By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

After upsetting Class 5A East St. John last week in jamboree play, St. Charles pulled off its second victory in two weeks over a much larger school on Friday night.

The Comets topped Woodlawn-Baton Rouge in LaPlace, 24-14, in a game that was tight throughout, despite the fact that SCC never trailed.

“I’m very pleased to get out with a win,” said St. Charles coach Frank Monica. “I think time will show that Woodlawn is a very good team with really good personnel. We made a number of mental errors, but our kids gave good effort. And good effort can overcome mental mistakes.”

St. Charles (1-0) led 17-14 in the fourth quarter when a third down screen pass from Henri Faucheux to Marcus Hall netted a 70-yard score to all but assure victory.

“We were just looking to pick up a first down, to keep their offense off the field,” said Monica. “By the grace of God, it went to the endzone. It was exactly what we needed – you never know when the big play will come. Our players got out in front to block very well, and Marcus did a nice job running in the open field.”

The Comets took a 10-0 lead in the first half behind a 12-yard touchdown run by hall, and a 32-yard field goal by James Krawczyk.

But a mishandled punt led to Woodlawn (0-1) taking over on the SCC 27-yard line. Kenneth Collins would eventually take it in from a yard away to make it 10-7.

The Comets would push the lead to 10 again though when Faucheux found tight end Brandon Becker for a 1-yard touchdown pass.

SCC couldn’t push the lead further, though, in the third quarter. Woodlawn’s Demarchaze Givens scored on a 5-yard run to make it 17-14, and that’s the way the score would remain until Hall’s run in the fourth quarter.

“We weren’t doing very well for awhile there,” said Monica. “We were making a barrel of mistakes offensively. And Woodlawn had a good plan for us. They did a good job blitzing us, and we’re normally in position to take advantage of that. But we couldn’t for awhile there.”

Monica credited his players for physical, hard play, and his defensive coaches for coming up with a good gameplan – one that limited Woodlawn to 191 yards of total offense.

“We wanted to make them as one dimensional as we could,” Monica said.

But Monica also says he wants to see some things cleaned up before his team takes on Vandebilt Catholic – and former West St. John coach Laury Dupont – this Friday. Specifically, ball security.

“We turned it over three times, and we’re normally do a better job holding on to the football. We need to limit those and get back to basics,” Monica said.