By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

LAPLACE—St. Charles Catholic absorbed its second straight loss Friday night, falling to East Ascension, 42-19.

The Spartans jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead and never looked back. LSU committed rusher Sione Palelei got loose on a 48-yard touchdown run with just 28 seconds gone in the game.

“We couldn’t tackle him,” said St. Charles coach Frank Monica. “We  couldn’t stop him. We really couldn’t tackle anyone that well tonight.”

East Ascension (3-0) led 21-0 late in the first half before the Comets began to rally. Austin Weber’s 5-yard touchdown pass with 26 seconds left in the first half made it 21-6 at halftime, and SCC fought to within a score at 21-13 on Erron Lewis’ 6-yard run on SCC’s opening possession of the second half.

But Palelei returned the ensuing kickoff 88-yards to make it 28-13. The Comets answered on a 3-yard Weber scoring run, but East Ascension blocked the extra point attempt, keeping it a two-score game at 28-19. Less than a minute later, a 47-yard touchdown pass made it 35-19.

(Palelei) hurt us, but he wasn’t the only one. Their quarterback was very efficient,” said Monica.

SCC (1-2) drove down deep into EA territory again, but an interception at the Spartans’ 4-yard line ended the threat.  Palelei ripped off a 69-yard touchdown run to all but end things.

“We had two interceptions in their redzone, which was very disappointing,” said Monica. “This was a better football team than us, but we didn’t play well. Right now, we’re just not a very good football team. We have to correct these mistakes.’

“We need to find the right combination of guys defensively, because it isn’t working right now. Offensively, we still don’t seem to have a handle on what we can and can’t do. We have to go back to square one … We’ve just played two very good football teams. But we’ve got more of them ahead of us. It gets no easier.”