STARKVILLE — On third-and-6 deep in the red zone and desperately needing a stop, St. Aloysius defender Tae Warnsley closed in on Dee Fleming.

As the ball reached Fleming’s fingertips, Warnsley delivered the boom with a ferocious hit that sent the Cathedral running back flying into the turf.

It didn’t much matter.

Fleming still held onto the ball for a 5-yard gain and shook off the hit, while his quarterback Wyatt Booth took the next play 17 yards up the middle for a touchdown to close out a game that was already over.

The sequence defined the Class 1A championship game for St. Aloysius’ defense, which struggled early and often in a 49-14 loss to rival Cathedral. From the opening kickoff that was taken 74 yards to the waning seconds of the fourth quarter, St. Al failed to even slow the machine that was the Green Wave’s offense.

“When they got to the hole, you’ve got to make a tackle,” coach BJ Smithhart said. “We just couldn’t bottle (Dee Fleming) up. They did what we like to do.”

In the end, St. Al was simply unable to do what it had all year to get to this point. The Flashes didn’t create a turnover after averaging three takeaways a game. They also allowed 10 plays of 10 yards or more.

“Always, you need to catch some breaks. You give up the opening kickoff and then score right back, I thought we were back in the game,” Smithhart said. “We just couldn’t get those stops.”

A methodical Cathedral run game that lit up both the scoreboard and St. Al’s defenders rendered the ball-hawking nature of the Flashes’ secondary obsolete.

Cathedral’s offense ended the day with 415 total yards, most of which came on the ground from Fleming and his quarterback Booth. The duo combined for 236 rushing yards and controlled the game from the opening whistle. Booth scampered for four touchdowns and 108 yards. Fleming averaged 11.5 yards per carry to become an essential human first down for Cathedral.

It was a combination St. Aloysius just couldn’t bring down, no matter how hard it fought to do so.

“We pressed, did some crazy things that wasn’t like us, and that’s on me,” Smithhart said. “I’m just proud of these kids. They just kept playing and never really gave up and played hard all the way through.”