Flashes play for pride vs. Sebastopol|[11/4/05]

Published 12:00 am Friday, November 4, 2005

The St. Aloysius Flashes won’t be running any triple-reverse flea flickers anytime soon. But now that there is nothing left to play for but pride, coach Jim Taylor figures it’s time to have a little fun.

The Flashes travel to Sebastopol tonight for the next-to-last game of the season. St. Al (2-7, 2-5 Region 3-1A) has used a ball control, run-oriented offense all season, but Taylor said that’s likely to change in the final stretch of the year.

&#8220We’re trying to open the offense up a little bit. You don’t have to play it so close to the chest. You’re a little more at liberty to be wide-open on offense,” Taylor said. &#8220It’ll probably be just more throwing the ball than we have previously.”

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That should be easy against a Sebastopol team that has struggled mightily this season. Other than a 36-12 victory over winless Edinburg two weeks ago, the Bobcats (2-6, 2-5) have not scored more than 12 points in a game this season and allowed 33 in six of their eight games.

In five of its last six games, Sebastopol has scored seven points or less. That doesn’t mean the Flashes are adding another win to their total just yet, though. With the way their season has gone, Taylor pointed out that no win is a given.

St. Al has lost three games by a touchdown or less. Even in last week’s 47-0 win over Edinburg, the Flashes committed four turnovers that would have been costly against a more skilled team.

&#8220It looks like they come out with a little pop. They play with a little heart,” St. Al receiver Chip Donald, who leads the team with 13 catches, said of Sebastopol. &#8220It’s a game we can’t overlook. But I don’t know how a 2-7 team can overlook anybody.”

While thoughts of the postseason, or even a winning season, are a distant memory, the Flashes do still have a few goals to achieve. They can match last season’s win total by beating Sebastopol, and surpass it with a victory in next week’s season finale at Pisgah.

They also have a young nucleus that can continue to work and improve for next season. They also can throw in a few wrinkles, Taylor said, that would normally be too risky to try with a young team.

&#8220The nucleus of our offense is sophomores and juniors now, so we’re getting a lot of experience. It’s an opportunity to do things you might normally not take a chance of doing,” Taylor said.

Taylor added that senior quarterback Chris Baer, a New Orleans evacuee who helped Brother Martin reach the Louisiana Class 5A playoffs last season, would see most of the snaps tonight. Baer has split time with fellow senior Daniel Halinski since transferring to St. Al after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in August.