by RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

For a quarter of play, it looked as if Plaquemine would give host St. Charles all it could handle on Friday night.

Then, Jonathan Cancienne got loose and turned on the jets.

Cancienne’s 70-yard touchdown run at the 11:41 mark of the second quarter was the first of three, spurring him on to a 200 yard night and the Comets on to a 49-12 victory.

Cancienne had run for a big gain to the left sideline, seemed surrounded by defenders, but broke loose by cutting across the field for the score. Cancienne joked that Comets’ Coach Frank Monica coached him up on that touchdown – even as it was going on.

“I was running to the outside, and as I got into the crowd I heard Coach yell for me to cut back,” Cancienne said. “I figured I better score so he doesn’t yell at me when I get back to the sideline.”

St. Charles (7-3, 3-1) led 28-12 at the half and put the game away with authority in the second half, outscoring Plaquemine (2-8, 2-2) 21-0.

“We were trading scored early on. Things got a little precarious,” Monica said. “We told them at the half, our offense had to come out and score to put this out of reach.”

St. Charles has won four straight games to conclude the regular season, scoring 40 or more in three and allowing no more than 12 points in any contest. The Comets will host West Feliciana in the bi-district round of the playoffs.

With the win, the Comets clinched second place in District 9-3A, one game behind first place Lutcher. The St. Charles senior class also tied a school record – the win was the senior class’s 41st, tying the record for the most wins for a senior class in school history.

Cancienne rushed for exactly 200 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries. He also added a 35-yard touchdown reception. Quarterback Vincent Rollo was 6-10 for 146 yards and three touchdowns.

Courtland Taylor caught two passes for 68 yards. Devin Snyder caught two for 46 yards and a touchdown.

Plaquemine opened up the game after receiving the opening kickoff with a drive that ate up 7:30 off the clock, culminating with a one-yard touchdown run by Green Devil quarterback Patrick Jefferson to put his team ahead 6-0.

St. Charles answered on the next drive. A 29-yard Rollo pass to Snyder set SCC up on the Plaquemine 10-yard line. After SCC was pushed back to the 14, Rollo followed it up with a 14-yard scoring pass to Alex Marse with 2:08 left in the first quarter. The Christopher Ilski extra point was good, making it 7-6.

Cancienne’s 70-yard run opened up the second quarter scoring for SCC, putting the Comets ahead 14-6.

But Jefferson took over the next drive for Plaquemine, first taking off on a 40-yard run to the St. Charles 14-yard line. Two plays later he scored from 3-yards away at 8:45, making it 14-12 after the two-point conversion attempt was no good.

But from there, St. Charles coasted. Cancienne scored on a 15-yard run with 4:20 left in the half to put St. Charles ahead 21-12.

With only 30 seconds left in the half, St. Charles took over on its own 33-yard line. Cancienne ran right for a 32-yard gain to the Plaquemine 35. And with only three seconds left, Rollo again dialed up Cancienne, this time through the air – he took a 35-yard screen pass all the way for a near-backbreaking score, making it 28-12 at the half.

“Getting that score right before the half was key for us,” Monica said.

St. Charles finished the job on its first drive of the second half, capped by a Rollo 18-yard scoring pass to Snyder to make it 35-12.