Irish blank St. Aloysius in rivalry
Published 12:31 am Saturday, August 27, 2011
GREENVILLE — After another bruising defeat, St. Aloysius is looking for answers.
Quarterback Raines Rester rushed for a pair of touchdowns, and Greenville-St. Joe held St. Al to 57 yards of offense in a 21-0 win on Friday night.
Rester had plenty of help, as J’daylan Jackson rushed for 126 yards and Terry Bailey added 60 more with a touchdown.
In addition to its paltry yardage total, St. Al found a variety of ways to hurt itself. The Flashes (0-2) committed three turnovers, were flagged for 10 penalties and only managed to collect three first downs.
An offsetting personal foul penalty in the second quarter erased a long touchdown run by Carlton Campbell.
“We’ve got to hang on to our emotions,” St. Al coach B.J. Smithhart said. “We let it get out of hand. We missed too many tackles. We’ve got district play and we’ve got to get focused on getting better each week, because now they count.”
Early in the third quarter, down 14-0, Campbell took the kickoff 76 yards down to the St. Joe 5. But a holding penalty on the first play of the drive pushed St. Al back and St. Joe held on fourth down.
The Irish put the game away with a 9-play, 60-yard drive that stretched from late in the third quarter into the fourth. Bailey finished it off with a 9-yard TD run that made it 21-0.
In the first half, the Irish (2-0) wasted several big opportunities in St. Al territory. The Flashes fumbled on the opening play from scrimmage, as Koestler mishandled the snap and Zach Huston fell on it at the St. Al 34-yard line. But the St. Al defense forced a punt to end the threat.
Another St. Joe drive got down to the St. Al 13, but Rester was sacked by John Austin Jones and threw an interception on the next play.
“I don’t care about how good or how bad these two teams are, you know it’s always going to be an even playing field,” said St. Joe coach John Baker, a Vicksburg native. “I just told them at the break to quit making mistakes. It’s our quarterback’s second game back there and he’s going to be a good one. We just need to polish him up a bit.”
After the St. Al defense forced a three-and-out, Campbell made a crucial error fielding a punt and Jacob Reifers scooped up the errant pigskin at the 20.
Four plays later, Rester took the keeper 10 yards to paydirt to put St. Joe up 7-0.
The Irish got another opportunity as Jackson raced 20 yards into St. Al territory. Rester powered down to the 1, but a fumble pushed the Irish back a couple of yards. Another bad snap went over Rester’s head and he fell on it at the 15, forcing a missed field goal.
Lee 28, Tallulah 7
Lee, Ark., rolled up 243 rushing yards and held Tallulah Academy (0-2) to just five first downs in an easy win on Friday night. Tallulah quarterback Hunter Windham threw for 123 yards in the loss.
Hinds AHS 39,
Richland 0
Ledarion Robinson rushed for four touchdowns, and Hinds AHS snapped an eight-game losing streak by beating Richland.
DeAndre Selmon ran for 155 yards and a touchdown for Hinds (1-1), which hadn’t won since beating Raymond on Sept. 10, 2010.
Robinson scored on runs of 11, 1, 21 and 5 yards. Derrius West also had a 5-yard TD run. The War Dawgs had more than 300 rushing yards as a team.
“It’s good to get a win, period, because it’s been a year,” Hinds coach Michael Fields said. “Winners like that feeling of winning.”