LAPLACE- The St. Charles Catholic Comets played host to the Catholic-New Iberia Panthers in the Division III Semi-finals on Friday night. The Comets won in a double overtime thriller 43-42.

The Panthers scored on their opening possession on a 5-yard run by Trey Amos for the 7-0 lead.

St. Charles marched down the field on their first possession to tie the score 7-7 on a 4-yard touchdown pass from Justin Dumas to Kendell Harris. The Comets capitalized on a Panther turnover when Phillip Tran ran for a 4-yard touchdown. The Comets led 14-7 at the end of the first quarter.

Catholic-New Iberia started finding success running the ball in the second quarter. The Panthers tied the score 14-14 on a 21-yard touchdown run by Amos, and they took the lead 21-14 on an Amos 35-yard touchdown run. St. Charles came back to tie the score 21-21 just before halftime on a Tran 2-yard touchdown run, and the score remained tied 21-21 through the third quarter.

Catholic-New Iberia took the lead 28-21 on an Amos 1-yard touchdown run on 4^th and goal with eight minutes left in the game. The Comets dialed up a beautifully designed trick play that had Dumas receiving a pass and racing 47-yards for a touchdown to tie the game 28-28 with 6 minutes remaining in the game.

Catholic-New Iberia went on a long drive that was extended by a couple of fourth down conversions. The Panthers had the ball first down on the St. Charles 3-yard line with 17 seconds left in the game, and the Comet’s season looked to be coming to an end. The Panther’s ran to the right side, and the runner was hit at the line of scrimmage and fumbled. The ball was recovered by the Comets, and the game went to overtime.

Catholic-New Iberia scored first in overtime on an Amos touchdown run and the Panthers added a 2-point conversion for the 36-28 lead.

The Comets sent the game into a second overtime with a Tran 1-yard touchdown run and a two-point conversion on a catch by Logan Forsythe.

St. Charles scored a touchdown in the second overtime with a Dumas to Tran touchdown pass to take the lead 43-36. The Panthers came right back and scored a touchdown to make the score 43 – 42. St. Charles called a timeout before the point after attempt. The Comet defense broke through the line to block the point after attempt to seal the victory 43-42.

St. Charles will take on Lafayette Christian next week for the Division III State Championship.