By JOHN HOWARD

Staff Reporter

SLIDELL-St. Charles Comets’ Head Coach Frank Monica commended his defense after their shutout victory over Pope John Paul on Friday 24-0.

&#8220They had a bunch of shots at you in third quarter in the red zone,” said Monica. &#8220You came up big. That was real real huge; very very big.”

But he also said the offense- which piled up 178 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 33 carries and moved the ball 130 yards through the air for a touchdown- got too comfortable toward the end of the game.

&#8220Offensively, we became very lethargic at the end,” said Monica. &#8220We got very complacent. Complacency is your enemy. We’ve got to do a little better than that.”

The Comets (4-3, 0-1) went into the locker room at halftime with a 17-0 lead and came out with a bang on the opening kickoff in the second half as Jonathan Cancienne used some nifty footwork and speed to return the ball all the way down to the Jaguar 17 yardline.

&#8220You always want to come out in the second half smoking,” said Cancienne. &#8220The best way to do that is with a good return.”

The Comets capitalized on the return two plays later as Cancienne danced his way into the end zone for the second time that night.

However on the following kickoff, Jags’ Curtis Owens who was held to 69 yards from scrimmage on the night, showed some nifty footwork of his own broking a return that put Pope John Paul in prime position for a score.

The Comet defense was having nothing of it as Tim Boesen picked off a Nathan Hewitt pass to stall the Jaguar drive. Hewitt was 11-of-21 for 70 yards and one interception.

Monica was grateful for the win, but feels his team still needs to make some improvements if they want to be a contender in district play.

&#8220We did a lot of good things tonight, but we made a lot of mistakes,” said Monica. &#8220We need to improve on being more consistent on offense. I thought our offensive line stepped up and played a lot better than they have in the past few weeksŠ but if we don’t get better we won’t have much of a future.”

St. Charles will need to rebound against Brusly to remain in the District 9-3A race, as both Lutcher and Plaquemines are 2-0 in district play.