Defense comes through for Comets in victory

After 28-0 win over West St. John, SCC

After a sluggish first half, the St. Charles Catholic Comets came out firing in the second as they beat West St. John 28-0 behind three touchdowns from Marcus Hall.

The Comets only managed seven points in the first half, but used Hall in the wildcat formation to find pay dirt in just four plays to start the third. The Comets missed the extra point, but stretched their advantage to 13-0. After a turnover, Hall scored another touchdown on a 16-yard run, and the Comets’ defense forced a safety to take a 21-0 lead before the third quarter was over.

John Wood ended the scoring with a 7-yard touchdown reception in the fourth.

"We picked it up in the second half, because we had a sense of urgency," St. Charles head coach Frank Monica said. "In the first half we had some missed opportunities to score in the red zone and some turnovers, otherwise we would have been in better shape at the half."

Though Monica felt his team was sluggish early on, he was pleased with the performance of his defense. In their previous game against Vanderbilt Catholic, the Comets allowed 32 points. This time, they shut out an explosive West St. John team.

"The week before, I felt we didn't have a total defensive effort," Monica said. "The kids responded and we played well against a talented West St. John team. We bent, but we didn't break."

Still though, Monica says his team is not playing with enough emotion.

"We had a little more intensity, but we are capable of more," he said. "We need to beef it up. They say execution fuels emotion, so we need to execute better."

Friday, the Comets will travel to Lusher, who is 2-1 on the season. Lusher lost their opener 41-13 to Plaquemine. They then picked up wins over Pine and McMain.

"They have explosive backs who run the ball well on the inside and we have to make sure that we stop their big-play potential," Monica said. "We need to take care of the football, make them drive the length of the field and play solid in all three phases of the game.

“I feel good about where we are. We’re a young team and we have a lot of room to improve.”