St. Aloysius is still slated to head to Gustav-torn Walthall County and a meeting with Dexter tonight.

Heavy wind and rain from Hurricane Gustav ripped the Tylertown community, but first-year St. Al coach B.J. Smithhart says the game is still on. Both teams will be searching for their first win in Region 3-1A.

The Flashes lost at home to Bogue Chitto, 34-21. St. Al (0-1, 0-1) had a 21-0 lead only to see the Bobcats rally for 34 straight points. Dexter (0-1, 0-1) was beaten 23-0 by Cathedral in Natchez last week.

Despite the shutout loss, Smithhart said Dexter had its chances.

“They had a chance to win the game. They are not as big as Bogue Chitto, but they are very fast. They will be one of the fastest teams we’ll see this year,” Smithhart said.

Mistakes in the kicking game and turnovers plagued Dexter in the opener with Cathedral. They were locked in scoreless game late in the second quarter when a fumbled snap resulted in a safety. Seconds later, a punt was blocked and recovered for a touchdown by the Green Wave, resulting in a 9-0 halftime lead.

“Within a 30-second span they had a costly fumble and a punt blocked,” Smithhart said.

Defensively, Dexter was able to take Cathedral out of its spread offense.

“Their defensive tackles killed it. They got to the quarterback,” Smithhart said.

Senior tackle Malcolm Ratliff and middle linebacker Devin Warner were the two main spurs in the Dexter pass rush.

“No. 12 (Warner) is the best. Fast and athletic. The tackles are small but they are very fast and aggressive,” Smithhart said.

St. Al will hope to complete what they started for a half against Bogue Chitto. The offense made some big plays and then later cashed in on a couple of short fields to build a 21-0 lead. Leg and muscle cramps, however, took over in the second half as the Bobcats scored on all four of its second half possessions.

“We just ran out of gas. We just need to dig deeper,” Smithhart said.

Quarterback Chris Lewis leads the Flashes. He was 5-of-11 passing for 68 yards and added another 113 yards rushing and one touchdown coming on an 82-yard run. Luke Burnett was the top receiver with three catches for 48 yards. He caught two balls from Lewis and one from backup quarterback Regan Nosser, who finished 3-for-3 for 33 yards.

The Flashes defense is led by their linebackers in Lewis and Justin Hosemann.