Quarterback Antonio Thompson ran for 236 yards and scored three touchdowns, the final one a 74-yard jaunt to ice the game, to lead St. Aloysius to a 27-14 District 3-AAA win over Park Place Christian Academy on Friday night.

The Flashes (2-4, 2-1 District 3-AAA) rolled up 400 yards of offense on the Crusaders (4-2, 0-1), while the defense came up with stops when they had to despite several pre-snap penalties.

“We’re staying the course, working on fundamentals and still have a long way to go,” St. Al coach Michael Fields said. “We’re still having too many nonsense penalties and were non-disciplined in the first half. Early in the season we didn’t bounce back from that, but we bounced back tonight and I’m proud of them.”

With the game still in doubt late in the fourth quarter and St. Al up 21-14, the Flashes caused two fumbles. The second resulted in a 22-yard loss and forced Park Place to punt with 3:03 to play. Two plays later, Thompson broke free for his third TD of the night to put the game away with 1:28 to play.

“He’s the key to the machine,” Fields said of the dual-threat QB. “We’re learning each other and learning how to use him properly and the guys around him and we’re just getting better as a team.”

Thompson was 6-of-14 passing for 94 yards, with one interception.

After Thompson broke off a 72-yard tackle-breaking run to the Park Place 9-yard line, Ketrez Brown scored on the ensuing play, diving for the pylon. Connor Smith’s point after made it 7-0 with 6:29 to go in the second quarter.

The Crusaders responded with quarterback Eli Sykes hitting Nic Butts with an 11-yard score to cap a 77-yard drive, and Michael Moriarty tied it up with the extra point at the 2:56 mark of the first half.

On the second play of the second half, Thompson’s errant pass was picked off by Landon Clark and the Crusaders took advantage. Sykes scored from 3 yards out to culminate the nine-play, 54-yard drive and put Park Place on top 14-7.

It didn’t take the Flashes long to respond. Aided by an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the Crusaders and a nice kickoff return from Garrett Vincent, St. Al took just four plays to go 34 yards, with Thompson scoring up the middle on a 9-yard run. The PAT was blocked, however, and the Flashes trailed 14-13 with six minutes left in the third quarter.

The Crusaders drove to the St. Al 33, but a sack on a blitz from Brown dropped Sykes for a 2-yard loss on fourth down.

St. Al and Thompson took over, with the signal caller hitting Ryan Theriot (two catches for 34 yards) and Connor Bottin (three grabs for 29 yards) with a couple of nice pass plays. Thompson capped the 65-yard, 11-play drive with a 1-yard run. He added the 2-point conversion run to put St. Al on top 21-14 with 11:17 to play in the fourth quarter.

The Crusaders’ three fourth quarter possessions resulted in an interception on a fake punt, a fumble for a 22-yard loss and a 5-yard loss on a pass completion on the final play of the game.

The Flashes will host Manchester, a team they beat 28-21 a year ago, in a non-district contest next Friday.