LAPLACE — West St. John High made the long trip across the river for St. Charles Catholic’s homecoming Friday night, but the only suspense surrounded who would be crowned the queen.

St. Charles Catholic rebounded nicely from last week’s loss at Riverside Academy to take a convincing 21-0 victory over the Rams.

The Comets used a stingy defense, a solid running game and a couple of surprises on the way to the win.

With quarterback Lloyd Nash and running back Phillip Tran leading the way, the Comets rolled up more than 250 rushing yards. Nash had 19 carries for 72 yards and scored one touchdown. Tran had 21 carries for 66 yards and scored another.

Narquez Jones, who sat out much of the game with the flu, nearly outgained both with one 56-yard run on a fake punt late in the game. He finished with 60 yards on two carries and scored the Comets’ third and final touchdown with 5:15 remaining in the third quarter.

West St. John, meanwhile, struggled all night to get its offense moving.

Quarterback Austin Alexander rushed for 36 yards and passed for 60, splitting time with Jamal Walters and D’andre Gaudia.

Gaudia led the Rams on what was arguably their best drive late in the game, taking the team 80 yards to the Comets’ 3 before the St. Charles defense stiffened. After three incomplete passes and a sack on fourth down, the Rams turned the ball over on downs with 2:53 remaining in the game.

It was that kind of night for West St. John, which had 11 plays for 64 yards and two first downs in the first half.

The Comets took the opening kickoff and put together an 8-play, 70-yard scoring drive with one pass thrown.

Tran scored from the 5-yard line with 7:21 remaining in the first quarter.

West St. John did not touch the ball until the 7:14 mark and punted it away 1:33 later after gaining seven yards.

St. Charles held on for the rest of the first quarter and the first play of the second before punting to the Rams.

West St. John ran three more plays, gaining four yards, then punted again.

St. Charles’ second drive covered 55 yards on 13 plays with Nash scoring from the 10 yard line.

The key play on the drive came on fourth-and-2 at the Rams’ 32 when Nash ran for a first down to the 28.

St. Charles stumbled a bit in the red zone with a penalty, pushing the Comets back to a third-and-goal at the 10, but Nash ran it in for the score.

West St. John took over with 31 seconds remaining in the half and showed some life. Alexander connected with Walters on a 33-yard pass that put the Rams at the Comets’ 37-yard line with 10 seconds remaining. He then found Kylan Duhe for a 20-yard pass to the 17, but threw incomplete as time expired.

Riverside  32, Country Day 7

The showdown between the Rebels and the Cajuns for the District 12-2A title didn’t live up to the hype, despite the packed house and the rented lights for the night game.

The Rebels took a 13-7 lead in the first half and never looked back on their way to a fourth consecutive district championship.

Jordan Loving passed for 206 yards and one touchdown to Jared Butler and ran for another score. Jeremy Gibson had 21 carries for 126 yards and two touchdowns.

East St. John 33, Franklin 6

The Wildcats jumped out to a 27-0 lead and never let Franklin back into the game.

Dasmain Crosby passed for three touchdowns, connecting with Shelvin Keller, Hoxie Brown and Derrick Bertrand for scores.

Keller also had a 60-yard punt return for a touchdown. C.J. Turner had an 80-yard punt return for a touchdown. It is the second consecutive win for the Wildcats (4-5, 2-3).