St. Charles Catholic runs past Country Day for decisive Jamboree victory

August 30, 2019
By Hart Pisani
Category: Preps

NEW ORLEANS – St. Charles Catholic and Country Day had their fair share of success last season. However, when the two played in 2018 regular season, it was the Cajuns who walked away with the victory.

Friday night may not have counted on the schedule, but there still had to be a sense of payback for the Comets

Quarterback Justin Dumas had himself quite an evening, finishing 4 for 6 passing for 57 yards while rushing for 76 yards on eight carries to help lead St. Charles Catholic to a 23-7 win over Country Day in the nightcap of the Country Day Jamboree at Pan American Stadium.

In the first game of two in the jamboree, Archbishop Hannan shut out Cohen, 23-0.

The Comets were able to lean on a balanced rushing attack, lead by Philip Trahn and Keenan Gauff. Trahn finished the evening with 54 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries while Gauff had 10 carries for 49 yards and a touchdown respectively. The Comet defense also got in on the fun, picking up 3 sacks of quarterback Justin Ibieta, recovering two fumbles and recording an interception by Mandel Eugene.

Although most people would be impressed by such a splendid result, Comets coach Frank Monica is not most people.

“(Leaning on the run) is really not what I wanted to do tonight,” he said. “I was hoping to have more balance on offense and see what we had in the passing game a bit more. We took advantage of some opportunities though. (Country Day) does a heck of a job for the people they put on the field. I just think we had a little bit more size than they had which was the difference in the line.”

The Cajuns on the other hand seemed to be going through the growing pains of their youth movement. While several important players, such as Ibieta, are back, the Cajuns feature an entirely new offensive line that was pushed around much of the game by Comet defensive tackle and Tulane commitment Mason Narcisse. Ibieta, also a Tulane commitment, was able to do some damage, finishing 7 of 14 for 125 yards 1 touchdown and 1 interception. It wasn’t enough to overcome a ferocious Comet defense or slow down their three headed running attack.

“We’ve been playing against (St. Charles Catholic) for the last four years,” said Cajuns head coach Joe Chango. “One of the reasons we kept them on the schedule is because they’re a heck of a football program. Coach Monica and his staff do an unbelievable job. We want to compete with a program like theirs and they exposed some of our weaknesses tonight. We’re looking forward to looking into what all we need to improve and head into week one.”