Comets score twice in two-minute span to take lead, advance to regional

By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

The St. Charles Comets were beyond frustrated.

After taking an early lead, and controlling the ball for much of the first half, the host Comets found themselves trailing bi-district opponent Bolton 2-1 at halftime on Saturday.

But while his players exhibited some agitation in the locker room, SCC Coach Rick Woodroof convinced them to keep their cool.

Their poise helped them quickly regain the lead with two goals in the first five minutes of the second half. The Comets would add one more on their way to a berth in the regional round, defeating the Bears 4-2.

Woodroof said that while he made a few strategic adjustments at halftime, the most important thing he had to do was to calm down his squad.

“It was a wild scene,” Woodroof said of the halftime locker room. “The guys were on each other, upset at the way it was going. I told them to keep playing their game, that we needed to settle the ball down.

“We had a lot of shots in the first half, but not good ones. In the second half, we were patient and got some good looks.”

Peter Lambert-Oswald scored two goals. Michael Weber and John Abbate each added one.

St. Charles (12-10) will now travel to face host West Feliciana on Thursday. The Saints, the second seed from District 4-III, defeated Pope John Paul 1-0 in the first round.

When Lambert-Oswald scored a goal in the match’s fifth minute, it looked like St. Charles would roll. The Comets were controlling possession, and just missed high or wide on a number of early shots.

But all assumptions were out the window when Bolton’s Ryan Fontenot answered with a score of his own in the match’s 15th minute, tying it 1-1.

Bears (6-7) goalkeeper Thomas Kavam made a diving save on a well-timed header by Weber that could have given St. Charles the lead two minutes later.

Then Bolton’s Stafford Mikell scored on a header of his own, and the Bears looked like a team that could steal a playoff win on the road.

But the Comets quickly went to work after halftime. Lambert-Oswald scored four minutes in to tie the game.

The Comets barely had time to celebrate when Weber scored on a rebound, beating Kavam to the ball and putting it in only two minutes later.

“I just hustled,” Weber said. “I got to it first and got under the goalie.”

Abbate would give St. Charles some breathing room when he scored in the match’s 57th minute.

Weber said that the team’s mentality definitely changed for the better after the half.

“We were getting negative with each other in the first half, after the second goal,” he said. “We decided to come out and be positive in the second half, supportive of each other. We came together.”

Woodroof said that somewhat of a bonus to the win was that it served as a wakeup call.

Weber agreed.

“We definitely let up our guard after we scored,” he said. “As soon as we did, they put two in. That wasn’t good. We know to not take anyone lightly now.”