ERIK SANZENBACH / L’Observateur / September 25, 2000

LAPLACE – Working on a muddy and slippery field Friday night, the St. CharlesCatholic Comets managed to lose to the Newman Greenies even though the Comets out-passed and out-rushed Newman. A fourth quarter rally by theGreenies resulted in the winning two touchdowns, and the Comets went down to defeat 14-10.

Both teams entered the game with 2-1 records, and even though Comet quarterback Jason Waguespack passed for 227 yards, he was unable to connect for a touchdown. Waguespack was also 1 for 2 in field goalattempts and he threw for three interceptions.

On the bright side, Randy Madere was the top rusher and top receiver for the Comets rushing for 33 yards and receiving three catches for 89 yards.

St. Charles had a total of 303 yards as compared to 247 yards for Newman.In the first quarter, the Comets kicked off first, and were able to recover a Newman fumble on the third play of the game. St. Charles then marched theball down the field from their own 43 to the Greenies’ 7-yard line. A holdingcall brought them back to the 24, but a 17 yard pass from Waguespack to Daress Nicholas set the Comets up almost at the goal line.

However on fourth and goal, the Comets decided to go for the field goal, but Waguespack kicked the ball way to the left of the uprights and Newman took over on their own 17.

A quarterback sack by Anthony Macaluso forced the Greenies to punt and the Comets took over on their 32. Again, Waguespack was able to move histeam down the field behind some fair passing and a 23-yard run by Madere.

Newman also had two offside penalties that moved the ball even closer to the goal. With 1:01 remaining in the first quarter, Waguespack kicked a field goalfrom the 10-yard line, and the Comets lit up the scoreboard for the first time making the score 3-0.

A slippery field caused the Newman kick returner to skid on the one yard line and Newman started off with their backs in the end zone. However, somerunning by quarterback Marsh Mosely and two Mosely passes for 36 and 25 yards to Phil Cossich, brought the Greenies down to the Comet 10 yard line.

The Greenies also had a hard time getting into the end zone and had to settle for a field goal attempt that failed when it was blocked by a heads-up Comet defense.

However, the St. Charles team did move the ball once again down to theGreenie 30-yard line. Again Waguespack tried a field goal from 45 yards, butagain, the ball went wide.

The half ended with Newman punting away after six plays and the score was still 3-0 When the Comets took over in the third quarter, they seemed to have re- energized themselves. Two plays into the quarter, Waguespack connectedwith Todd Babin for a 27-yard touchdown that was brought back on a clipping foul. Three plays later, Waguespack threw his first interception of theevening and the Comets were penalized for a face-mask infraction on Jimmy Kepper as he ran back the interception.

But Newman couldn’t cash in on the turn over and they had to punt after six plays. The rest of the third quarter was nothing but both teams running forthree plays and punting.

Near the end of the quarter, John Howard intercepted a Mosely pass on the Newman 49.

After the fourth quarter started, Waguespack moved the Comets down to the one-yard line where Todd Babin ran it in for the Comet’s only touchdown of the evening. The point after kick was good and St. Charles extended itslead to 10-0.

Newman changed quarterbacks and Damien Carter came in for Mosely who now doubled as running back and receiver. On the first play after thekickoff, Comet defense players Derrick Gaubert and Garett Stephens sacked Carter for a 10-yard loss.

But on the next three plays, Carter connected with Hunter Powell, Bruce Fowler and Cossich for a total of 26 yards. Despite the aerial display, Cartercouldn’t get the Greenies into the end zone and they had to turn the ball over to the Comets.

Comets had lost their shine and two plays later, Doug Friloux fumbled on the 46 and Newman recovered.

This time, Newman was able to do something with the turn over. Carterconnected with Mosely and Cossich to get to the Comet 16-yard line. Thenhe threw to Powell who ran it in for a touchdown. With a good extra point,the Greenies closed the scoring gap to 10-7.

Waguespack was sacked two plays later and then threw his second interception from the Comet 10-yard line.

Two plays later, Carter threw it into the end zone toward Fowler, Comet defenseman, Gaubert blocked the pass, but it still fell into Fowler’s hands for the score. For the first time, Newman went into the lead and after a goodextra point kick the score was 10-14.

With just over two minutes to play in the game, the Comets managed to move the ball from their own 20 to the Greenie 22-yard line. However, withnine seconds left, Waguespack threw another interception to Ryan Skertich and the game was over with the Comets losing 10-14.

Next week, the 2-2 Comets travel to Baton Rouge to battle the Parkview Baptist Eagles.

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