St. Aloysius may have come up short on the scoreboard against fifth-ranked Lake Friday night, but the Flashes also served notice that they are a legitimate playoff contender.

Lake (4-0, 2-0 in Region 3-1A) needed every bit of its 483 yards in total offense to go along with a pair of late fourth-quarter stops on defense to escape Balzli Field with a 33-28 win.

The loss spoiled a great second half effort from Chip Donald, who ran back the second half kickoff for an 80-yard touchdown and then had two receptions to set up St. Al’s final score that gave it a 28-25 lead going into the fourth quarter.

&#8220We’re definitely a playoff team for sure,” Donald said. &#8220I felt like I screwed up a lot of things for us in the first half. When we came out to start the second half I told our guys, ‘ya’ll block, and we’re going to run this kick back and get a lead on these guys.’”.

Donald did just that and erased a 19-14 Lake halftime lead. But every time the Flashes went in front, the visiting Hornets seemed to find an answer.

&#8220All week we were worried about these guys,” Lake coach Bill Ingersoll said. &#8220And then we go out and put the ball on the ground four times. We’re fortunate to get out of here with a win.”

Lake answered Donald’s kickoff return with an eight-play, 66-yard drive capped by a 15-yard TD run by Demario Combs, who led all performers with 189 yards rushing.

Down 25-20, Donald turned a simple out pattern off a pass from sophomore quarterback Chris Lewis into a 51-yard sprint to the Lake 14. Three plays later, Donald made a leaping grab to convert a third down to the one. The catch set up Harris Martin’s 1-yard dive with 5 minutes, 17 seconds left in the third quarter. Lewis then hit Martin with a two-point conversion pass for a 28-25 lead.

Two Lake fumbles deep inside St. Al territory prevented for a while the Hornets retaking the lead. Chris Escousse recovered the first miscue at the St. Al 21 and Justin Hosemann came up with the second fumble at the Flashes’ 4.

St. Al (2-2, 1-1), however, could not get out of its own end and then compounded matters when Donald shanked a punt for just 16 yards.

Lake took over at the St. Al 33 and then worked the ball to the 15. On third down, the cat-quick Maurice Pinkston outran the St. Al defense around end for a 14-yard gain to the one. Jeremy Johnson took it in from there to make it 31-28. Pinkston then hit Jacobe Burrage for the two-point conversion and a 33-28 lead.

A 15-yard late hit flag on Lake helped put the Flashes inside Lake territory for the final time with under five minutes to play. But two costly flags, a motion penalty and then a delay, put St. Al in a fourth-and-15. Jordan Muirhead’s reverse gained 12 yards, but it was three yards too short.

St. Al got the ball back at its own 27 with 1:07 left, but Lewis was sacked on first down and then saw his third and fourth down passes fall incomplete.

&#8220We played real well and we ran the ball well in spots against a team that had us physically outmanned,” St. Al coach Jim Taylor said. &#8220Our mental preparation made a big difference, we just ran out of time.”

Lewis had his best game of the season, hitting 10 of 24 passes for 189 yards and two touchdowns, both in the first half.