St. Aloysius coach Jim Taylor felt his team regressed badly Friday night in losing a 33-7 decision to Madison St. Joseph in a renewal of the Strauss-Stallings Trophy at Balzli Field.

The Flashes (3-5) were beaten decisively by their Catholic rivals from Madison in the series’ first game since 2000. The Bruins’ win cut their deficit in the series to 29-16.

“Tonight was a big disappointment. We just didn’t play well,” Taylor said. “We had been getting progressively better with each game but tonight we didn’t move forward. They (Madison St. Joe) played well, but I was looking at how we played.

“We didn’t play physical. We let their offensive and defensive lines just destroy us. When we got back in the game, we just made mistake after mistake.”

St. Al tied the game at 7 early in the second quarter and then gained further momentum when Chris Escousse returned a fumble 32 yards to the Bruin 42 just minutes after the Flashes had pulled even on Chris Lewis’ 9-yard touchdown pass to Clayton Holmes.

Lewis, though, could not find the range. He threw two incompletions and then had his third down pass intercepted by Stephen Cofer.

Two plays later, Cofer was in the end zone after rambling 59 yards on a sweep to put the Bruins ahead to stay with 6 minutes, 49 seconds left in the first half.

Down just six, St. Al appeared to have something going on its second possession after Cofer’s score. Lewis hit Luke Burnett on a 55-yard gain to the Bruin 32 with three minutes left in the half. The march went no farther, however, as the next four passes either fell incomplete or gained no yardage.

Taking over at the 32, the Bruins marched 68 yards in nine plays. Keith Barnes caught his second touchdown pass of the night on a 6-yarder from Michael Bokros.

Barnes was a major thorn in St. Al’s side. The Flashes’ cornerbacks could not cover him as he racked up six catches for 98 yards and two scores, the first coming on a 33-yard TD pass in the first quarter.

“A lot of my success was because of this guy (Barnes),” Bokros said, motioning over to Barnes after the game. Bokros completed 7 of 10 passes for 120 yards and two scores.

Madison-St. Joe took the second half kickoff and rammed the ball down St. Al’s throat. Fullback Quintin Taylor picked up gains of 19 and 15 yards before scoring on a 10-yard run with 8:20 left in the third. Andrew Diamond’s kick made it 26-7.

St. Al’s best chance to score in the second half came when Lewis hit Chip Donald on a fourth down pass that carried near to the Bruin goal line, but Donald lost control of the ball, even though he appeared down, and Cofer returned the ball to the 40.

The loss spoiled a good night for Lewis, who had 223 yards in total offense. He finished 10-of-22 passing for 131 yards and added another 92 rushing.

Briarfield 48, NSA 13

Sam Minsky ran two punts back for touchdowns on returns of 70 and 64 yards to keep the Rebels unbeaten in District 2-A play Friday night in Lake Providence.

Briarfield led 28-7 at the half after Minsky’s second return. Jon Jon Taylor had a 62-yard TD run and Jordan Jong scored from eight yards out. In the second half, Jeffrey Graham ran for a 1-yard TD and then threw a 49-yard TD pass to Webb Shivers. Blake Lovell also scored for Briarfield. Stephen Hernandez made six of seven PAT kicks.

NSA (3-6) was limited to a pair of touchdown passes of 15 and 20 yards by Brent Garrison.

Graham went 7 of 10 for 149 yards passing to lead Briarfield. The Rebels will host Bayou for the district title next week in Lake Providence.

Tallulah 40, SIA 0

Tallulah Academy picked up its first win of the season by drilling SIA Friday night in Tallulah. The Trojans ran for 215 yards and built a 34-0 halftime lead behind two touchdowns from Jess Shivers and a 73-yard punt return for a score by Brandon Beard. Beard also had a 16-yard TD pass from Shivers.