MADISON — Madison-St. Joseph picked up where it left off last season, and once again picked up the Strauss-Stallings Trophy.

Brett Burgess rushed for two touchdowns, and five different players reached the end zone for the Bruins as they steamrolled St. Aloysius 41-7 Friday night in the season opener for both teams.

St. Joe, which went 12-2 and reached the Class 2A quarterfinals last season, had 283 rushing yards in the first half and 397 in the game. The Bruins had six running plays of 17 yards or longer in the first half — including four in the second quarter, when they blew the game open by scoring 27 points.

“The second quarter was bad, man. It was bad. We’ve got to learn fight back when things aren’t going good,” Smithhart said. “That’s a good football team. They just laid on us and used their size to their advantage.”

Elliott Bexley led St. Al with 47 yards and a touchdown on eight carries. The Flashes also forced two turnovers in the first quarter. That was about it for their highlights, though.

Quarterback Connor Smith was intercepted inside the 20-yard line early in the second quarter, and on the next play Josiah Paulding ripped off a 46-yard run. A personal foul penalty and a 21-yard pass from Chris Hanneke to Nick Beasley moved the ball inside St. Al’s 10, and just three plays after St. Al’s turnover Burgess punched it in on a 7-yard run to make it 13-0.

Burgess also had a 58-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, and his shorter score was the first of four St. Joe touchdowns in seven-minute span of the second. Blayne Jones scored on a 65-yard run, Beasley returned a punt 65 yards for a score and Dylan Culberson had a 12-yard TD run to make it 34-0 with 5:15 left in the first half.

Hunter Beene added an 18-yard TD run midway through the third quarter for St. Joe. Following a Bruin fumble, Elliott Bexley capped a 10-play, 39-yard drive with a 1-yard scoring plunge to put St. Al on the board with 1:54 left in the third.

The Flashes totaled just 162 yards of offense in the game.

“They were coming in from the left side of the line pretty hard. We just didn’t play together. No one’s in shape, that’s what it comes down to,” St. Al senior lineman Sage Lewis said.

St. Joe beat St. Al for the third straight season and won the Strauss-Stallings Trophy for the 18th time overall. It was the 50th meeting between the teams since 1952. St. Al still leads the series, 32-18.