From staff reports

St. Aloysius lost a game, possibly a running back, and needs to regroup in a hurry before the season slips away.

Jamaal Pittman ran for two touchdowns, and Dexter pulled away in the second half to beat St. Al 31-14 on Friday.

Dexter (4-3, 3-0) seized control of the Region 4-1A race with the victory, while St. Al (3-3, 0-2) fell further behind. The Flashes now must take advantage of an easy stretch of the schedule — its next four opponents have a combined record of 5-15 — to get back in the playoff hunt, and they’ll have to do it without one of their biggest offensive weapons.

Tailback Ryno Martin-Nez, the team’s leading rusher, went down with a knee injury on Friday night. Its severity was not immediately known.

“They’re going to go in the morning to get it checked out,” St. Al coach B.J. Smithhart said.

Conner Brown scored on a 2-yard run and Brendan Beesley on a 1-yard run as St. Al trailed just 15-14 at the half. Pittman extended Dexter’s lead with a 13-yard TD run and a two-point conversion in the third quarter, however, and a pair of second-half gambles didn’t pay off for the Flashes.

In the third quarter, St. Al was called for a personal foul penalty on a fourth-and-goal from the 1. Later, trailing 23-14 with about eight minutes left in the game, Smithhart went for it again on fourth down from his own 38. A pass fell incomplete, and moments later Clifford Fernandez tossed a 20-yard TD pass to Charles Causey for the clinching score.

“They had already scored on a punt return and we thought we needed to go for it,” Smithhart said. “We had a couple of mental errors. That penalty and some breakdowns in coverage. That’s on us.”

Wesson 18, Hinds AHS 6

Hinds AHS fell flat in its region opener.

Deon Pendleton ran for one touchdown and caught a 70-yard TD pass from Matt Smith as Wesson (6-0, 1-0 Region 6-2A) held off Hinds AHS.

Jeremy Smith added a 10-yard TD run for Wesson. Keeslee Stewart scored the only touchdown for Hinds (4-2, 0-1) on a 25-yard run.

“We really didn’t come to play. In the second half we turned it up a notch. We’ve got some things to iron out before next week,” Hinds coach Michael Fields said.

Briarfield 47, SIA 13

Jacob Hopkins ran for 86 yards and three touchdowns, and added two interceptions on defense as Briarfield routed Sharkey-Issaquena.

Wyly Brown led Briarfield with 102 rushing yards and one TD, and Blake Lovell had 61 yards and two touchdowns. The Rebels jumped out to a 34-6 lead at halftime and cruised from there. Justin Gardner opened the scoring with a 10-yard TD run, Hopkins ran in from 10 and 9 yards, Brown broke off a 67-yard TD run, and Lovell ended the half with a 17-yard TD run.

Hunter Hobbitt scored both of SIA’s touchdowns, on a pair of 2-yard runs.