ERIK SANZENBACH / L’Observateur / October 17, 1999

LAPLACE-If the 5-1 St. James Wildcats expected an easy romp over the1-5 St. Charles Catholic Comets Friday night, they were in for a bigsurprise. Even though the Wildcats did win 41-31, they had to fight hard toovercome a surprisingly tenacious St. Charles Catholic team that refusedto roll over and die.

Instead there was an aerial and rushing battle between quarterbacks Nickie Monica and Corey Webster that resulted in a combined passing yardage of 428 yards and eight passing touchdowns. Individually, Monicamade 22 attempts with 15 completions for 175 yards, and three touchdowns. Webster has 16 attempts with 11 completions for 207 yards,four touchdowns and one interception.

Monica not only was quarterback, but he ended up being a running back, leading his team in rushing with 15 carries for 71 yards. It was the samefor Webster who carried the ball 11 times for 63 yards.

St. James got the ball first on their 20-yard line and ran it down the fieldeasily with a Webster run of 25 yards and a Webster pass of 23 yards to Davin Dennis. Two plays later Webster connected with Justin Aubert for athree yard touchdown pass. The point-after kick was no good. With theease of their first score, it looked like the Wildcats wee going to chew up the Comets.

However when St. Charles Catholic got the ball on their own 19, Monicawent to work, and with a combination of quarterback rushes and two completions, the Comets moved down to the Wildcat’s 11-yard line. Onsecond and ten, Monica hit Randy Madere in the end zone with an 11 yard pass. The extra point was good, and St. Charles went on top 7-6.The Comets hit an onside kickoff which bounced off one of the Wildcats right into the hands of a Comet, and St. Charles took over on their own 47.However, they could not take advantage of the good fortune and ended up punting the ball away.

St. James took over on their 16-yard line, and with the help of LeslieAubert’s running and Webster’s passing, the Wildcats got down to the Comet’s 25-yard line. With just over a minute left in the first quarter,Webster connected with Alvin Bartholomew for a 25 yard touchdown pass.

This time the extra point kick was good. The score was now 13-7.The Comets ended the quarter by punting away the ball, and the Wildcats took over on their own 37-yard line. On third and 10, Webster threw a longpass to Barholomew, and the ball was intercepted by St. Charles’ ChrisMartin, the third interception of his high school career.

But despite holding on to the ball for two first downs, the Comets couldn’t convert the turn-over into points and they were forced to punt.

St. James High took over on their own 15 and slowly worked their waydownfield with a lot of rushes by Aubert and Devon Dabney. After eatingup clock time, Webster shot a thirty yard pass to Dennis in the end zone with 2:40 left to go in the half. With the good extra point, St. Jamesstreaked ahead 21-7.

But a gutsy and die-hard St. Charles Catholic team moved the ball behindMonica’s running and passing. On second and eight from the St. James’ 28-yard line, Monica hit Kip Verbeek who ran it in for six points. The point-after was good and the score tightened to 21-14.

With 32 seconds left, St. James tried to run the ball back, but Websterwas sacked by Chris Cancienne on his own 47, and the half finished.

The Comets started the second half like they were a brand-new team.

Running back Doug Friloux came in and ran six times for 44 yards. TheComets were stopped on the Wildcats’ 20 and Jason Waguespack kicked a 37-yard field goal to make the score 21-17.

During the ensuing kick-off, St. Charles was penalized for a face maskinfraction and the Wildcats started in excellent field postion on the Comets’ 35 yard line. After four plays, Webster hit Steib for a 20 yardpass into the end zone. Again, the Wildcat kicker missed the extra pointand the score was 27-17.

The Comets took over on their 31 and again, Monica’s running abilities helped to move his team downfield. The third quarter ended with Monicarunning for a first down.

On the very first play of the fourth quarter, Monica passed for seven yards and a touchdown to Phillip Hoffman. The point after was good and thescore was 27-24.

St. James High quickly got back into the flow of the game and two playsafter the kick-off, Webster threw it for a 55 yard touchdown to Dennis and the extra point was good. Again the point spread was at ten with ascore of 34-24.

St. Charles Catholic took the ball on their own 31 but the Wildcats’defense started to dig in and the Comets were forced to punt.

St. James started on their 28, and using the clock, and Strieb’s runningpower, they ran the ball down to the Comets’ 5-yard line. On the very nextplay, Steib ran it in for the only rushing touchdown of the game. With agood extra point and 3:03 left in the game, victory seemed to be out of reach for the Comets with a score of 41-24.

Unwilling to give up, the scrappy team started to move the ball downfield from their 36-yard line. Quarterback Jason Waguespack relieved Monicaand with the help of two completions and a pass interference call on the Wildcats, Waguespack managed to connect with Toby Jacob for a 23 yard touchdown. With the extra point, this was the final score of the game, andSt. James ran out the clock to a final score of 41-21.The leading receiver for the Comets was Toby Jacobs with six catches for 101 yards and one touchdown. The Wildcats’ receiver Davin Dennis had sixcatches for 154 yards and two touchdowns.

Next week, the 1-6 Comets play a 9-3A district game against Donaldsonville and a 6-1 St. James High goes against district rivals, 5-2E.D. White.

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