By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

LAPLACE — For the second time in as many games, Riverside had archrival St. Charles on the ropes in soccer — and in fact, this time, the Comets seemed headed to the mat, trailing 2-1 with just seconds remaining in regulation.

But Carter Duhe’s goal with three seconds left lifted St. Charles to tie the game, then Duhe scored in overtime to net SCC a tiebreaker advantage in a district matchup Tuesday night.

Due to LHSAA rules, regular season matches where regulation ends with the teams tied ends as a tie officially, with overtime determining tiebreakers for the final district standings — leaving the Rebels and Comets with an official tie for the second time this season. SCC secured both tiebreakers.

The Comets (9-2-2) were missing leading scorer Albert Hane, and LeBlanc said he told his team before the match that this would be a chance for others to step forward and prove themselves in expanded roles.

“Carter showed up huge,” LeBlanc said. “I thought mentally, it was a bounce back game for us. Monday, I felt we may have looked past Runnels. With Riverside, it’s a rivalry, and the boys are going to get up for that one.”

Andrew Rodrigue scored the other goal for St. Charles.

Tyler Gauthier scored both goals for Riverside.

Riverside coach Jonathan Reed said the match result, simply put, was a heartbreaker for a Rebels (5-6-2) team that’s taken the Comets to the limit twice.

“The first game was such a heartbreaker, honestly,” he said. “To be where we were and come out with the same result … I won’t lie. It was hard on our guys. The one thing I told them was good teams respond to losses like this.

“You use it as fuel. You allow a goal with seconds to go … you learn from it. You learn to finish.”

LeBlanc said he felt both teams played at a higher level than in the first meeting between the teams.

“I thought Riverside, especially, played very well,” LeBlanc credited. “They were everywhere, competing hard for every 50-50 ball, the whole match.

“Our guys played well, too. We’ve still got some things to clean up, but our guys competed with determination.”