Flashes fall to Pirates
Published 12:00 am Saturday, October 24, 2009
Turnovers and penalties are becoming a refrain that St. Aloysius wished it could out of its collective head.
Mount Olive scored 20 points off three St. Aloysius turnovers to earn a 40-13 win on Friday, all but knocking the Flashes out of the playoff race.
Three of the top four teams in the Region 4-1A standings have victories over St. Al and the Flashes would likely need a lot of help to slip into the fourth and final playoff spot.
“They played a really good first half,” St. Aloysius coach B.J. Smithhart said. “But in the second half, the defensive score kind of took us away. I’m disappointed with our effort after that. We didn’t finish the game the way we should have. We knew we had to get all the breaks.”
Mount Olive quarterback Rueben Duckworth rushed 16 times for 116 yards, threw a pair of TD passes, kicked five extra points and returned an interception 60 yards for another score.
The pivotal moment came in the third with the Flashes down only 21-13 after they stymied the Pirates on a goalline stand as time expired in the first half. Regan Nosser and the Flash offense were driving, but Duckworth jumped an out route perfectly, picked off the Nosser pass and sprinted down the sidelines 60 yards for a score to put Mount Olive up 28-13.
On the next St. Al possession, Conner Brown fumbled the toss and the Pirates recovered at the Flash 32. Six plays later, Keller supplied the knockout blow with a 6-yard touchdown run.
“We just came out flat in the second half,” Nosser said. “That was the biggest drive (the goal-line stand) of the game. It was huge. We stopped them, then came out on the first drive, thought we were ready and we weren’t. It’s very disappointing for all of us. We prepared hard and we were ready. Turnovers and penalties, they killed our momentum.”
After being outscored 98-7 in their last two meetings, St. Al (5-5, 2-3) was in the contest in the first half.
Smithhart went for an onsides kick on the opening kickoff and Carlton Campbell recovered it. Brown capped a 10-play, 40-yard drive to give the Flashes an early lead.
Duckworth and the Pirates (5-4, 5-0) replied quickly, as he hit Danzel Keller on a 26-yard TD pass to knot the game at 7 all after Duckworth’s PAT.
Early in the second, the Flashes forced a three-and-out and Hunter Matherne leveled Duckworth and jarred loose the ball, which he recovered to set up St. Al at the Mount Olive 34.
On the next play, the Flashes were whistled for an illegal procedure penalty. But Nosser was stripped by Octavius Feazell and Feazell took the fumble 60 yards to the house to put the Pirates up 14-7 after Duckworth’s PAT. Since the infraction was not a dead-ball penalty, the Pirates were able to advance the fumble on the resulting free play.
After Pierson Waring drilled a 28-yard field goal, Duckworth and Keller connected on a 22-yard quick slant for another TD to give Mount Olive a two-score advantage. Waring drilled another field goal, this one from 32 yards to slice the deficit to 21-13, but the Pirates had one more shot.
However, the Flashes stopped them cold as time expired in the half on the 1 to give them momentum going into the locker room, down only one score.
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Contact Steve Wilson at swilson@vicksburgpost.com