MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / October 13, 1999

LAPLACE – One week after facing his old team and former assistant in Lutcher and head coach Tim Detillier, St. Charles Catholic head coachFrank Monica will see another familiar face as his Comets host St. Jamesand head coach Rick Gaille Friday night.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Thomas Dupuy Stadium. It is the firstmeeting between the teams since 1992.

Monica and Gaille worked together on the staff at Tulane under coach Vince Gibson in the early 1980s. Monica was the Green Wave’s runningback coach while Gaille coached the special teams. Three days afterdefeating LSU, Gibson resigned and his staff was dismissed.

“We’ve known each other for a long time,” Gaille joked. “We workedtogether and we got fired together.”St. James, ranked fourth in the state in Class 3A, comes into the gamewith a 5-1 record, 1-0 in District 9-3A. The Wildcats are coming off a27-0 victory at home against Donaldsonville in the district opener. LeslieAubert rushed for 119 yards and a touchdown on 28 attempts. He alsocaught a 26-yard touchdown pass from Corey Webster.

“Leslie carried the ball more often than he had in any other game,” Gaille said. “He scored twice and showed not only can he run the ball hard insidebut that he is also a capable pass receiver as well.”Webster is one of the leading quarterbacks in the River Parishes, having thrown for 621 yards and 10 touchdowns. Davon Dennis is his go-toreceiver with 312 yards and five touchdowns. Travell Steib and Montrellsteib complete a potent trio for the Wildcats. Travell Steib leads the teamwith 425 yards and two touchdowns on 51 carries. Aubert is right behindwith 405 yards and a score on 60 attempts while Montrell Steib has contributed 218 yards on 47 carries.

The St. James defense held the Tigers to minus 49 yards on the ground andminus 15 yards in total offense while forcing four turnovers.

Donaldsonville had four first downs, three by penalty. In the last fourgames, the Wildcats have allowed a total of 12 points. For the season,opponents have gained an average of 211 yards a game.

“The defense played phenomenally,” Gaille said. “They have been stiflingat times and Friday night was no exception.”In St. Charles Catholic (1-5, 0-1), Gaille sees a team, that despite beingheld to 14 yards in total offense in a 28-0 loss to Lutcher, that is very varied on offense and that has made improvements since the beginning of the year. Jason Waguespack and Nick Monica combined to pass for 39 yardsbut the Comets were held to minus 27 yards rushing and committed two turnovers.

Defensively, Gaille said that while the Comets are undersize, they are very scrappy and show a lot of hustle. The Comets allowed 337 yards tothe Bulldogs, 263 on the ground.

Gaille said because of his and Monica’s experience with Tulane, there are a lot of similarities between the two teams in the kicking game. AlvinBartholomew and Waguespack handle the kicking duties for the Wildcats and Comets.

Going into the second week of district, Gaille said while his team may not be where it wants to be yet, it has shown improvement every week.

“I am very pleased with the consistent improvement of the whole football team,” Gaille said. “We’ve played good football and have had a lot of goodresults but we still see ways of improving. We haven’t reach ourcapability but we are certainly better than we were at the beginning of the season. We are getting better and I see a nice upgrade to the team.”

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