By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

LAPLACE — St. Charles coach Bill Ballard scheduled his team’s most recent run of matches — a three game slate against Division I squads Hahnville, Rummel and Destrehan — as a strong litmus test headed into district play.

The Comets finished the run with a record of 1-1-1, the most recent match a 1-0 victory over Destrehan at St. Charles Wednesday night.

“I think everyone’s pretty excited,” said Ballard. “We’re way ahead of where we were in the last two seasons at this time. Early on, we knew these would be three nice tests and we were in each of the three games. We executed nicely.”

The game came down to a Destrehan mistake – an own goal seven minutes into the second half on a ball shot by the Comets’ Bradley Odom spelled the difference.

“I just tried to put it into the middle of the net and fortunately it went off of the defender and in,” said Odom. “It’s a big win for us, especially in our last game before these holidays.”

St. Charles (6-4-2) almost had an unwelcome flashback as time in the second half wound down. Hahnville defeated St. Charles on a goal scored within the final minute.

Against Destrehan, the Comets seemed to have control until the Wildcats broke loose into SCC territory in the final minute. Oliver Adams got a shot off from close range, but it hit the crossbar and bounced over the goal. SCC negated a Destrehan throw in and held on for the victory.

“Tonight, we played well on both sides of the ball. But you’ve got to play it all the way through,” said Ballard.

The Wildcats had another chance with 13 minutes left to tie things up on a high shot by Jacob Johnson, but goalkeeper Gerard Giangrosso made a leaping stab and swatted the ball out of bounds.

For the Comets, Wednesday marked the sixth shutout of the season for the defense, which has allowed more than a single goal just once over the past 10 games, a stretch in which SCC has gone 6-2-2.

“We’ve got a pretty good, aggressive defense,” said St. Charles defender Ben Brady. “We’ve got a lot of leadership and experience. Most of us on the back line have played since our sophomore year. We’ve got guys who know what to do with the ball in pressure situations.”

The Comets tied Rummel last Thursday, 1-1, at SCC.

Josh Matherne scored the goal for the Comets to eventually preserve the draw.