The River Parishes can boast about their football teams. Some can boast about basketball, baseball and softball. One or two can even brag about golf and track.

When it comes to soccer, though, it might be a while before the area can claim any kind of superiority.

I’ll go ahead and add a “yet” to that.

Maybe it’s the cold weather. Maybe it’s the lack of feeder programs and club teams in the area. Maybe it’s the relative youth of the sport in the area.

It’s not for a lack of trying, mind you.

St. Charles Catholic has been kicking it around since the 1990s and Riverside Academy started a few years later. East St. John High was the last to join the club.

And last year may have been a banner year for St. John the Baptist Parish’s high school teams.

It certainly was for Riverside Academy and St. Charles Catholic, which sent their boys and girls teams into the playoffs and even made some history.

St. Charles was the District 6-IV champion after splitting its two games with Riverside. It was the team’s first championship since 2008.

You may recall there was some controversy surrounding that title when Riverside folks claimed half of it because of the split games. St. Charles disagreed.

Still, both teams went into the playoffs and made a nice run.

The Comets, the No. 17 seed, beat Pope John Paul II to advance to the second round for the third year in a row. There, they lost to No. 1 seed Catholic High of New Iberia.

Riverside Academy, which still may not have won a district title (depending on which side you’re on), earned the No. 14 seed and beat No. 19 Runnels in overtime. It was only the second time in school history that the team won a playoff game.

Then they lost to No. 3 seed Episcopal of Acadiana.

On the girls side, Riverside cruised to the district championship with five wins and one tie. It was the Lady Rebels’ first district title since 2011.

The 2016 team got to the second round of the playoffs, where they lost to Ascension Episcopal.

St. Charles made the playoffs as the No. 19 seed and lost to No. 14 Opelousas Catholic.

That’s a pretty good year for local soccer aficionados.

Well, this is a new year, a new season and it looks to be a different kind of story.

Monday night marked the first of the two district meetings between the schools for the boys and the girls.

I was pleased to see a nice contingent of fans who braved the chilly temperatures and were willing to forego at least the first half of the CFP National Championship football game.

The home teams left happy, though, as it was a St. Charles sweep. The Lady Comets defeated the Lady Rebels 6-3 and the St. Charles boys won 5-0.

After a 1-7 start, St. Charles is now 5-7 after winning five in a row.

Riverside, which lost a bunch of senior players to graduation and a few more to teenagehood, is still looking for its first win.

East St. John’s girls are in the same soccer net, looking for their first win, but the boys had three heading into the week.

The Lady Comets are rolling at 10-2, including a 3-0 record in district play.

The Lady Rebels, who have a new coach in Ella Fountain, are 10-6 with only the loss to the Comets in district play.

RA and SCC will meet again Jan. 31 at Riverside.

Lori Lyons is sports editor at L’OBSERVATEUR. She can be reached at 985-652-9545 or lori.lyons@lobservateur.com