By JOHNNY PEPPO

Sports Editor

LAPLACE – St. Charles brought an effective defense into last Friday night’s district game against John Curtis on the Comet’s home field, giving up just their fourth and fifth touchdowns of the season in the first half of play to send it into the break 14-0 in favor of the Patriots.

But the SCC offense was unable to find much against the Curtis defense throughout the game and the Patriots rolled up four more touchdowns in the third and fourth quarters en route to a 40-0 win.

The loss was the first of the season for St. Charles through seven games and it evens their district record to 1-1, good for second place in 10-2A.

Curtis appeared to be set for a runaway when they took their first possession all the way down field for a TD. But SCC found some momentum in the game after the Patriots missed the extra point, leaving it 6-0.

From there, the Comets stood in a bit of a defensive stalemate as each offense had trouble converting, leaving field position in the hands of the kickers.

St. Charles coach Frank Monica sent the field goal formation onto the field for fourth down throughout the game, opting to kick it out of bounds instead of risk a blocked punt or a long return.

But with their fourth possession of the evening, late in the second quarter, the Patriots marched down field and capped it off with a Joe McKnight touchdown run after he was stood up and mobbed at the two yard line but driven into the end zone along with the pile. A two-point conversion followed to make it 14-0 for halftime.

Curtis got it gear after the break with a TD reception of 34 yards by McKnight followed by a blocked kick that they recovered in the end zone for a touchdown. They added another score before the third quarter ended when McKnight hauled in another TD catch, this one from 42 yards out.

Jonathan Cancienne comprised half of the Comet’s offensive output with 40 yards rushing. Quarterbacks Philip Sutton and Vincent Rollo combined for seven completions and 48 yards passing.

St. Charles gets back to action with another home game this Friday night against St. James.