Coming into Friday night’s game against Dexter, St. Aloysius coach Jim Taylor said his team would have a hard time keeping up with the athletic Bulldogs.

His pregame assessment proved dead accurate.

Dexter quarterback Mario Miller threw for 202 yards and added 67 yards rushing to lead the Bulldogs (2-0) to a 36-7 win over the Flashes (0-2).

“We couldn’t catch them. We don’t have enough team speed,” said Taylor, whose team has dropped two straight region games. “We had opportunities ourselves, but we made too many mistakes.”

The Flashes turned the ball over three times and allowed 29 second-half points after trailing only 7-0 at halftime. Edward Holmes hauled in a 53-yard pass from Miller early in the second quarter for the only score of the half after the Bulldogs committed three first-half turnovers. Chris Lewis intercepted Miller and Regan Nosser recovered a fumble in the first half.

“In the first half, they had some turnovers and we had some turnovers,” Taylor said. “I felt good about us at halftime being down only 7-0. We just let it get away from us in the second half.”

Dexter received the opening kick of the second half and drove 65 yards in 12 plays. The Bulldogs converted a key fourth down play during the drive and Miller ran for 35 yards on the drive. Edward Dillon scored the first of his two rushing touchdowns to give Dexter a 15-0 lead.

St. Al took the next possession and drove to the Dexter 29, but a fumble on fourth and inches ended the threat and Dexter wasted little time putting the game away. A 38-yard pass from Miller to Carlos Crumedy and a 20-yard scamper by Miller set up Dillon’s second score, a 5-yard plunge for a 22-0 lead.

A bad snap on a punt attempt on the Flashes’ next possession gave the Bulldogs first-and-goal at the St. Al 2 and four plays later, Miller raced around end for a 1-yard TD run.

The Flashes got on the board late in the fourth quarter after driving 85 yards in six plays. A 30-yard run by Clayton Holmes, a 10-yard pass from Lewis to Chip Donald set up Lewis’ 13-yard scoring run. Richard Cowart added the point after to break the shutout.

Three plays after Dexter took possession, freshman fullback Jamaal Pittman bulled his way 56 yards for the final score of the night. Pittman ran for 98 yards in the game.

The Flashes’ road gets no easier. With 11 teams in Region 3-1A, every region game is crucial. Add to that Mount Olive and Puckett are ranked No. 3 and 1, respectively, in the Associated Press Class 1A poll, every game is crucial.

“Our guys walked off the field with their heads held high,” Taylor said. “We just need to get back to work.”