Destrehan’s Patrick Juneau booted a 20-yard field goal with 4 seconds left to put the finishing touches on St. Charles Catholic’s 24-21 victory over Parkview Baptist on Friday. The semifinal win kept the Comets undefeated and secured a date in the Class 3A state championship game.
The Comets (14-0) will face Amite (13-1) on Saturday at 3 p.m. in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
Parkview Baptist took an early lead last Friday, scoring on their first possession with a 1-yard touchdown run by quarterback Brennan Bozeman. After an interception, Parkview extended the lead to 14-0.
But the Comets roared back before the break.
St. Charles cut into the lead on a 30-yard touchdown pass from Donnie Savoie to Sammy Miller. After the Comets recovered a Parkview fumble, they drove 67 yards to tie the score.
In the fourth, Parkview took the lead back on a 20-yard touchdown run by Conner Hodgeson with 6:44 left in the game. Though this was the first time the Comets have trailed in the fourth quarter all season, they didn’t panic and drove 80 yards in only five plays. The Comets tied the game at 21-21 on a 47-yard pass from Savoie to Jeffrey Hall.
After Luling’s Ross Authement and St. Rose’s Taylor Cochran combined to stop the Eagles for no gain on 3rd and 1, the Comets got the ball back with 2:52 left on the clock.
Their next series ended on Juneau’s last-second field goal.
“The kids were resilient,” Comets head coach Frank Monica said. “We had a chance to fold when we went down 14-0 because we didn’t have a lot of success early. Parkview Baptist is an awfully good football team. We told the kids they had to out execute them in the second half and we pulled out a win over an excellent football team.”
St. Charles destroyed their opponents during the regular season and continued to do so early in the playoffs. They knocked off Kaplan 49-6, beat then-undefeated Patterson 31-6 and cruised past Rayne 52-24 before facing Parkview Baptist.
“When I first saw the bracket, I was a little disappointed because we had a lot of good teams on our side,” Monica said. “We have played some really good competition and now we are battle tested. I just hope we have some emotion left.”
Amite, the No. 4 seed in the playoffs, is now all that stands in the way of the Comets’ first state championship.
Amite showcases a high-powered spread offense led by quarterback Reginald Porter and running back James Oden.
“Their quarterback is electrifying,” Monica said. “He throws well, but the biggest thing is that when he scrambles or runs the wildcat he is difficult to contain.”
Monica said Porter’s ability to break off a big run or throw makes Amite difficult to prepare for.
“We have to make sure we tackle him in space and we have been working on that all year long,” he said. “But they are hard to defend. Do you bring guys up to stop the run? If you do that will he make a big throw? It’s a double-edged sword but we have to contain him.”
On defense, every single starter for Amite is a senior, which means they have loads of experience.
“They play a lot of man coverage and try to stop the run, but their defensive backs are good enough to cover you. There won’t be wide open receivers,” he said. “Their defensive line also gets off their blocks quickly and they run to the football. They have a lot of pride.”
Monica said his team must take care of the football and find a way to keep the speed of the Amite players in check.
“We can’t give them an open door with turnovers,” he said. “We don’t matchup well with their team speed, so we must keep things in front of us. We can’t allow the big play.”
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