Down 21-0 late in the second quarter, Bogue Chitto started its comeback and never slowed down.

The Bobcats, ranked in the top five in Class 1A, reeled off 34 straight points to spoil the head coaching debut of St. Aloysius’ B.J. Smithhart Friday night at Balzli Field. All-Lincoln County quarterback Seth Avants sparked the comeback with a 72-yard kickoff return to lead the Bobcats to the 34-21 win.

Smithhart said Avants and the Flashes’ lack of conditioning were the differences.

“We need a kid like No. 3. He wants to win. That kickoff return turned the game around. In the second half, we had kids cramping up and that’s on me. It won’t happen again,” Smithhart said.

The Bobcats may have found their inspiration after learning that Bogue Chitto coach Gareth Sartain’s son had been diagnosed with leukemia. Sartain did not make the trip to Vicksburg.

“We need some prayers for Coach Sartain and his family,” Smithhart said.

“I think we may have had a hangover after learning about Coach Sartain’s son,” acting Bobcat coach Chad Morton said. “But Seth put us on his shoulders and got us that big return. We didn’t expect to be in that kind of deficit but we came out strong in the second half.”

Avants’ return put the Bobcats on the St. Al 18. He converted a 12-yard, fourth-down pass to Brian Robinson to set up a 5-yard touchdown pass to D.J. Turner. He then passed to Michael Martin for the 2-point conversion to make it 21-8 with 25.7 seconds left in the first half.

The second half belonged to the Bobcats. They rushed for 206 of their 280 yards in the final two quarters to wear down the Flashes.

“We condition every day and that paid off in the third and fourth quarters,” Avants said. He had minus-5 yards in the first half but finished with 62 for the game, which included a 12-yard TD run to cap the Bobcats’ first drive of the third quarter. His 2-point pass to Byron Kersee pulled Bogue Chitto to within 21-16 with 8:01 left in the quarter.

Bogue Chitto then took the lead for good, going 84 yards in seven plays. Kersee broke a 53-yard TD run to make it 22-21 with 32.8 seconds left in the third quarter. The try for two failed.

St. Al answered with its best drive of the half. Quarterback Chris Lewis, who had an 82-yard TD run on the first play of the second quarter, opened the march with a 13-yard scamper. But like a lot of his teammates, Lewis had to leave with a cramp.

Regan Nosser came in and completed a pair of 11-yard passes to get the ball to the Bobcat 17. But on the next play, the shotgun snap went over his head and the Bobcats recovered at the 38 with 10:16 left in the fourth quarter.

Avants keyed the 62-yard scoring march to put Bogue Chitto up 28-21 after Cole Laird scored on a 13-yard run.

St. Al’s last chance to stay in the game ended with a second blown snap with 2:17 to play. Kersee’s 23-yard TD run with 50 seconds left closed the scoring.

Lewis, who finished with 113 yards rushing and 68 passing, opened the scoring with his 82-yard run. Adam Thornton’s kick made it 7-0 with 11:48 left in the second quarter.

Ryno Martin-Nez scored the Flashes’ next two touchdowns on runs of 2 and 3 yards. Lewis had a 2-point conversion pass to Justin Hosemann to make it 21-0 with 3:26 left before halftime.

Kersee finished with 143 yards on 18 carries and two TDs.