After losing two running backs who combined for 1,800 yards and 24 touchdowns last season, the St. Aloysius Flashes needed a guy to step up and take the reins in the running game.

They found him.

DeMichael Harris rushed for two touchdowns and returned a kickoff for another score to lead St. Al to a 35-14 win over Pisgah on Friday night.

Harris, a converted wide receiver, has scored six touchdowns in the Flashes’ first two games.

Taedrin Warnsley, a senior who came to St. Al after Hinds AHS closed at the end of the 2013-14 school year, also scored two touchdowns on a pair of short runs for the Flashes on Friday night.

“He can go,” St. Al coach BJ Smithhart said. “He can break it at any time, and our guys feed off that. We got Taedrin involved, and we’ve got three running backs that are really playing well right now.”

Harris’ biggest play against Pisgah came in the return game. After Pisgah recovered a fumble near midfield and drove in for a touchdown to take a 14-0 lead in the second quarter, Harris returned the ensuing kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown to get the Flashes back in the game.

It was the first of 35 straight points St. Al scored. Warnsley tied the game with a 6-yard run before halftime, then Harris scored on runs of 20 and 17 yards in the second half to help the Flashes pull away.

“It was huge,” Smithhart said of Harris’ kick return. “He almost busted it on the one before it. Then he busted that one and it turned the light on for us.”

Warnsley added his second touchdown late in the fourth quarter to make it 35-14, and allowed the Flashes to breathe easy after a poor defensive effort in last week’s opener against Cathedral and a shaky first half against Pisgah.

St. Al will play Catholic school rival Madison-St. Joseph next week in Madison.

St. Aloysius 35, Pisgah 14

Records: St. Al (1-1); Pisgah (0-2)

Up next: St. Al at Madison-St. Joe, Friday, 7 p.m.

The skinny: DeMichael Harris’ three touchdowns propel St. Al to victory over Pisgah