St. Aloysius proved true an old football saying on Friday.

Run the ball, and stop the run, and you can beat almost anybody.

Ryno Martin-Nez rushed for 108 yards and a touchdown, Brendan Beesley had 66 yards and a touchdown and also caught a TD pass, and the Flashes beat Tallulah Academy 28-6 in Warren County’s first game between MHSAA and MAIS schools.

St. Al’s defense forced three turnovers and held the Trojans (1-1) to 143 yards of offense.

“It’s the first time we played them. It’s a big game and they beat Porters Chapel. You’ve got to be proud of Vicksburg,” Beesley said. “They thought they were going to whup up on Warren County and it didn’t happen.” 

For Tallulah, it was a frustrating night in its second straight game against a Vicksburg school. The Trojans beat Porters Chapel last week, but did little to help themselves against St. Al (1-1). Four drives lasting four minutes or more, yet only resulted in one touchdown — on a drive that was aided by 38 yards in penalties against St. Al. Four possessions in the third quarter resulted in two turnovers and two three-and-outs. Tallulah didn’t get a second-half first down until the eight-minute mark of the fourth quarter.

“Flat,” Tallulah coach John Weaver said in summing up his team’s effort. “I was scared of this. It worried me after the big win last week. I was more nervous for this one of having a letdown, and that’s exactly what we did. They had their way with us.”

St. Al took control of the game early.

After Tallulah stalled out on its opening drive, the Flashes took the ball at their own 35 and marched down the field. They never faced a third down and took a 7-0 lead on a 19-yard touchdown pass from Regan Nosser to Beesley. St. Al got the ball back on a fumble four plays later and cashed in another quick touchdown, making it 14-0 on Martin-Nez’s 4-yard run with 1:18 left in the first quarter.

Tallulah got on the board on its next possession, using two personal fouls and a pass interference call to go 94 yards. Jes Shivers scored on a 2-yard run on fourth-and-goal to cut it to 14-6, but a two-point conversion pass was no good and the Flashes answered right back.

They went back to the run and chewed up ground and clock, going 64 yards in 6 minutes and 40 seconds. Nosser punched in a 1-yard TD run to make it 21-6 with 55 seconds left in the half. It was the 12th run out of 13 plays on the drive.

St. Al’s defense held Tallulah in check through the third quarter, and Beesley finally punched in the clinching score on an 11-yard run with 8:21 to play in the fourth quarter.

“Football teams improve the most from the first game to the second game. The offense wasn’t there last week and we fine-tuned some things in practice,” Beesley said. “The line did a hell of a job this game.”

One of the few low lights for St. Al was an admitted lack of discipline. They were penalized 11 times for 118 yards, including three personal fouls and two pass interference penalties. The penalties kept Tallulah’s only scoring drive alive.

*

Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com