Replay: St. Charles Catholic flips momentum, tops De La Salle, 32-14

LaPLACE – Momentum can be fleeting, especially in football.

In a five-minute span of the second quarter of Friday night’s non-district matchup between De La Salle and St. Charles Catholic, “Uncle Mo” switched sidelines … twice.

The Comets grabbed the momentum last and never looked back in a 32-14 victory over the Cavaliers in a game seen live on Crescent City Sports.

After the first quarter, St. Charles Catholic led 9-0, having scored on its first two possessions and moving toward a third score at the De La Salle 32.

But on the first play of the second quarter, Cavaliers linebacker Keidrick Richardson deflected Brady St. Pierre’s option pitch to the turf and the ball bounced up to Richardson, who went 60 yards for a touchdown to cut the lead to 9-7.

De La Salle got another stop and then drove 70 yards in eight plays, with Evan Arceneaux hitting Santana Jolla on a fourth-down 20-yard pass to give the Cavaliers the lead, 14-9, with 7:21 left before halftime.

The momentum lasted only two more plays and 23 seconds.

St. Pierre connected with his favorite target, Daniel Joseph, on a 71-yard catch and run to give the Comets the lead for good. St. Pierre hit Brandon Kragle on the two-point conversion to make it 17-14.

“I really felt like we had dominated the game to that point and we were losing,” said SCC coach Wayne Stein, whose team has won the last two Division III select state titles. “They made a heckuva play on the option and kind of grabbed the momentum there. I’m proud of our offense, being explosive enough to grab it back.”

A 27-yard Tyler Milioto field goal with 1:24 left sent SCC to the locker room with a six-point lead.

The Comets’ defense stiffened in the second half, holding the Cavaliers to no points and four first downs, while the offense two more scores – a 3-yard pass from St. Pierre to Jackson Doster with 2:17 left in the third quarter, and a clinching 8-yard run by De La Salle transfer Jeremiah Wills with 3:49 left.

“In the second half our defense kind of imposed their will,” Stein said. “It gave our offense an opportunity to get some separation.”

Said De La Salle coach Graham Jarrott, whose team dropped to 1-3, “Very similar to the last couple of weeks, we have not made enough plays to win close games. We’ve just got to figure out a way to make those plays.”

St. Pierre finished 11 of 23 passing for 187 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Joseph caught five passes for 124 yards and Wills, after being contained for much of the night by the Cavalier front seven, finished with 77 yards on 23 carries.

Arceneaux was 11 of 24 for 105 yards. The Comet defense held De La Salle to 179 total yards.

De La Salle (1-3) has a quick turnaround for a Thursday night game against East Ascension, while St. Charles Catholic (4-0), the No. 1 team in the Crescent City Sports Class 2A rankings, continues its home stand next Friday against Vandebilt Catholic.