St. Al snares win over Broad Street
Published 12:58 am Saturday, September 27, 2014
St. Aloysius continued to earn its road warrior moniker Friday night, as DeMichael Harris scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to lead the Flashes to a hard-fought 40-30 win over Shelby Broad Street.
The Flashes (5-1, 3-0 Region 2-1A) wasted an early 15-point lead, but rallied in the second half to steal back the victory. Connor Smith accounted for three touchdowns — two rushing and one passing to Brandon Harrell.
“It’s good to get out of here with the win,” coach BJ Smithhart said. “We went up on them 21-6 and they came back and got up 22-21. It was back and forth in the second half.”
The two teams traded points for much of the second half until Broad Street took a 30-27 lead with 10 minutes remaining in the game. That was when Harris decided to take over.
The junior scampered for his second of three touchdowns on the night to put St. Al back on top 33-30, but saved the dagger for the very end. After a defensive stop by the Flashes, Harris ripped off a 45-yard touchdown run with less than two minutes remaining that put the nail in Broad Street’s coffin.
And, while Harris’ heroics highlighted the night and sealed the win, Smithhart said the win was a total team effort.
“They played well. The offensive line really did well. Everybody did well,” he said. “Brandon Harrell had some huge receptions. We don’t talk about him enough, but he had two really big receptions too. It was a total team effort. Everybody put in the work to get the win.”
St. Aloysius has now won five consecutive games, including four on the road. Smithhart said he’s happy to be coming home for a much-anticipated rematch with John F. Kennedy, which handed St. Al its worst loss of the season in 2013.
“It’s good to get out of Shelby with a ‘W’. They’re a good football team,” Smithhart said. “It puts us in a good position for the next big game. We’re playing a team that has good football players and kind of embarrassed us last year, so we’ve been looking forward to a rematch.”
SIA 52, Marvell 8
Austin Steed rushed for 145 yards and three touchdowns, Cooper Anthony had 139 yards and two TDs, and Sharkey-Issaquena Academy (6-0, 1-0 District 6-A) hammered Marvell Academy.
Marvell (5-1, 0-1) had been averaging more than 50 points per game, but was held to just 177 yards of total offense and was shut out after scoring the game’s first touchdown. SIA ripped off 30 points in the second quarter to take the lead for good.
Steed scored five touchdowns in all. In addition to his three runs of 2, 54 and 60 yards, he recovered a fumble in the end zone and caught a 26-yard TD pass from Jack Martin on the final play of the first half.
Clinton 47, Madison Central 35
Clinton stormed out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter and never looked back in a win over Madison Central. The Arrows compiled 211 yards on the ground using four different running backs to beat the Jaguars for the first time in eight years.
Sophomore Cam Akers carried the load for Clinton, rushing for 131 yards and passing for 204 yards and a touchdown.