[10/10/02] St. Aloysius is undefeated and in the driver’s seat in Region 4-1A play, but their record could be in a precarious position Friday when they travel to perennial power Mize (4-2, 3-1) in a game dubbed as the Flashes’ biggest test to date.

“There is no question they’re better than any team we’ve played, and probably as good as any we’ll play,” Flashes coach Jim Taylor said. “They beat us last year handily (25-0) and won the state championship the year before.”

Mize has a storied football pedigree and last year’s win over the Flashes in their resum, but the Bulldogs are not the dominant team of years before and are lacking the weapons coach Kenny Robinson used to shut down St. Al (6-0, 4-0) last year.

“We haven’t been consistent on offense like we want. We have to limit the mistakes. And defense, we’ve been giving up to many big plays and haven’t played with any consistency,” Robinson said. “We still haven’t played the game we wanted on offense and defense like we should have.”

With the game held in the Bulldogs’ yard, both coaches will agree that records can be thrown out the window.

“They’re a poised ball club and have an outstanding winning tradition at Mize. You can tell they play and act like they expect to win,” Taylor said. “We got to do the same, and we feel that we can play with them.”

To stay unbeaten, stopping Bulldogs’ quarterback Jay Johnson and running back Jason Ducksworth will be a top priority, Taylor said.

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They’ve got their best two skill players back from last year. Their quarterback (Johnson) is outstanding and their running back (Ducksworth) just seems to get stronger the more you give him the ball,” Taylor said.

The same could be said about the Flashes’ pick-your-poison running game of Greg Smith (17-107 rushing yards and a touchdown against Salem) and Michael Head (10-77, one touchdown).

“They’re undefeated, ranked number five in 1A, they have good linemen, running backs, quarterback and a great defense,” Robinson said. “We’re going to try to stop the run, but no one has done that yet. We’re going to have to play position and stay at home and control the line of scrimmage any way we can.”

Stopping the Flashes’ run game will be a test every other opponent has failed, but the fact that Mize is at home could be the key factor in marring St. Al’s undefeated season.

“The thing for us is that this is another game. We’re just trying to prepare ourselves to do the best we can,” Taylor said. “Another win is one better chance we have at making the playoffs.”