By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

LAPLACE — It was a statement win.

There’s no other way to really describe St. Charles’ dominating 31-6 win at home over Patterson last week.

Without the services of Lazedrick Thompson and Marcus Hall in the run game, St. Charles also had to contend with the toughest of tough draws — though the undefeated Lumberjacks were ranked No. 2 in the Class 3A poll most of the season, power points pushed them down to the 15 seed, making a second round clash with No. 2 seeded St. Charles almost inevitable from the bracket’s release.

But the Comets (12-0) showed why they were ranked first in those polls wire-to-wire, leading from start to finish. In the process, coach Frank Monica reached a personal milestone, winning his 200th game. The St. Charles defense continued its sensational run, almost completely negating a Patterson offense that entered averaging 50 points a game.

“We came to win tonight. We weren’t settling for less than this,” said SCC’s Jeffrey Hall, who played extensively on offense, defense and special teams. “We weren’t going to play around.”

The feel will be much different this week as St. Charles travels to face Rayne (7-5) in a state quarterfinal game Friday night.

While the Comets were the top-seed last week, there were questions surrounding whether St. Charles could or would beat a high-powered team like Patterson without two of its greatest weapons. While not a true underdog, one would surmise the Comets fed off of that.

But this week, SCC tries to end a Cinderella run. Rayne is the No. 26 seed in Class 3A. It went undefeated in predistrict play, but the Wolves went 0-5 in District 5-3A competition.

Rayne has rebounded in a big way this postseason, however. It upset No. 7 Church Point, 22-14, then put together a convincing 30-12 win over No. 10 Bossier.

The St. Charles coach believes that the biggest difference has been the return of several injured Wolves’ starters. A number of them, Monica pointed out, play two ways, and their absence created holes on each side of the ball.

“A few of those guys got dinged, and now they’ve got their sea legs back,” he said. “Church Point beat them in the regular season, but looking at the tape, you can see they beat them convincingly in the rematch. Then they took on a Bossier team that’s very quick and athletic, and they just won the battle up front.”

A big concern for Monica is the breakup of routine that Thanksgiving week brings, with his players off of school.

“But I do believe our guys know the magnitude of the game,” he said. “They understand the finality of all of this, that we cannot afford a hiccup or it all ends.”

Last week’s win against Patterson (10-1) likely ranks as one of the biggest in school history, given the hype and circumstances. In a game televised by Cox Sports Television and on a night that 870 AM made SCC its home base for its prep football roundup show, all eyes were on the Comets. They delivered.

Though it drove to the Patterson 1-yard line on its first possession, the Lumberjacks pushed the Comets back and forced an apparent field goal attempt. SCC faked it, though — Monica stressed the importance of finishing with touchdowns against such a high-octane offense — but Donnie Savoie was corralled before he could get off a pass.

The Comets struck first. After a 30-yard run by Austin Weber set the Comets up at first and goal from the 10, SCC’s Sammy Miller drew a pass interference flag in the endzone. On the next play, Savoie ran the option with Weber, pitching it to him off left tackle for a 5-yard score. That made it 7-0.

Then Nick Montagut intercepted Justice Jones and set SCC up on the Lumberjack 11. Savoie found Matt Torres open over the middle for an 11-yard touchdown pass.

Comets opened the second half with scores on each of their first two possessions. The first saw Jeffrey Hall get his rushing touchdown on a play similar to the one called back; draw left became draw right, and Hall raced to the finish for a 34-yard touchdown to cap an eight-play, 68-yard drive.

Jeffrey Hall has been asked to carry part of the rushing and the kick return load for SCC with Thompson and Marcus Hall sidelined, in addition to his duties as cornerback.

“I do it for my team. Anything to help us reach our goal,” Hall said. “Any way I can help us, and I’ll do it.”

The Lumberjacks fumbled on their next series, and Jordan Favorite recovered for SCC. In five plays, the Comets marched 39 yards, capping it with a 15-yard Savoie touchdown pass to Sammy Miller to make it 28-0.

Patrick Juneau tacked on a field goal later to round out SCC’s scoring, and put a cap on win No. 200 for Monica, who reached the prep milestone despite a 12-year run as a coach on the college level.

“I just thank God for giving me this profession, for my health, and for allowing me to coach with a great group of coaches and so many players that have a tremendous amount of heart,” said Monica.