Midway through the fourth quarter Friday night, a strange sight broke out along St. Aloysius’ sideline — smiles.

Chris Lewis ran for 112 yards and three touchdowns, Clayton Holmes had 95 yards and a touchdown, and the Flashes used a punishing ground game to beat Salem 29-15.

It was the first win of the season for St. Al (1-2, 1-2 Region 4-1A), which had been outscored 70-13 in its first two games. St. Al totaled 366 rushing yards on Friday — more than it had in its first two games combined — and scored on three of four first-half possessions.

“We made a lot of mistakes and kept them in the ballgame. But we did a lot of good things too,” St. Al coach Jim Taylor said.

It wasn’t all a cakewalk for the Flashes. They turned the ball over three times, including a first-quarter interception that was returned 49 yards for a score by Salem’s Shannon Ratliff.

St. Al also missed plenty of tackles, which led to Salem’s (0-3, 0-3) other touchdown. Quarterback Garreth Murphy eluded three St. Al pass rushers and lofted a pass to Aarion Gaines that went 73 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter.

But the Flashes atoned for those mistakes in the running game, where they seemed unstoppable. Only one play was stopped for negative yardage in the first half, when St. Al amassed 181 yards on the ground.

Lewis scored twice, on runs of 11 and 1 yards, and Holmes scored on a 1-yard run with 1:14 left in the second quarter to give St. Al a 22-15 halftime lead.

The three first-half touchdowns were the first points the Flashes have scored in the opening half this season. Lewis’ first score, the 11-yarder with 4:59 to play in the first quarter, gave them their first lead of the season.

Ratliff’s interception return and the long pass play to Gaines kept Salem in it, though.

Finally, the Flashes put it away late in the third. Four different players carried the ball on a five-play, 77-yard drive that ended with a 27-yard TD run by Lewis. Only one play went for less than 11 yards.