WINNFIELD — St. Charles rode a roller coaster of emotions in last week’s win over Farmerville. While not quite as dramatic, the Comets indeed had to dig down to come up with a victory over No. 22 seeded Winnfield in a Class 2A quarterfinal game.

Marcus Hall had 135 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries and Lazedrick Thompson rushed for 87 yards and four touchdowns on 14 carries to lead SCC.

St. Charles (12-1) led 21-7 at one point in the first half but the Tigers stormed back to put two unanswered touchdowns on the board to tie things at 21 at halftime.

The Comet offense built the lead with a big assist from the special teams and defense. Winnfield led 7-0 after Alonzo Moore’s 63-yard touchdown reception from Stephen Duncan. But Marcus Hall broke loose on the ensuing kickoff, reaching the 3 of Winnfield before going down. Thompson punched that in to tie the game.

The Comets recovered a fumble on Winnfield’s next possession and the big back again delivered as Thompson capped the SCC drive with a 2-yard score midway through the first quarter to make it 14-7.

SCC made it 21-7 on Thompson’s third score of the night, an eight-yarder after a stop by the SCC defense.

But Winnfield roared back on Evan Austin’s 5-yard scoring run, then another big play connection from Duncan to Moore, this time from 85 yards away.

In the third quarter, Thompson and Hall gave SCC some breathing room on scores of three and nine yards respectively.

Moore’s third touchdown reception from Duncan was a 33-yarder and cut the lead to a touchdown, but Hall put SCC right back ahead by two scores on his 9-yard score in the fourth quarter.

From there, Winnfield put two drives together, but SCC stopped them each time on downs in the redzone.

“We tried to establish the run in the second half,” said Monica. “We put some different formations out there to make that happen, and we saw a lot more consistency from the ground game.”

Monica said Winnfield’s plethora of threats made it difficult to key on any one player.

“Winnfield kept us off balance. They didn’t go to the wildcat too much,” said Monica. “They kept their big quarterback on the field, and he could either throw to their fine wide receiver, their good tailback, hand it off or keep it himself. They’re very explosive and hard to predict.”

Now, Monica and his players turn to their biggest postseason challenge by far: a trip to Evangel for a state semifinal.

“From what we know, they’re just an awesome football team,” said Monica. “We haven’t had a chance to see the tape yet, but once we do, we’ll have to try to find a way to slow them down. It’s a tall order.”