Right when the St. Aloysius Flashes have built some momentum, salvaged their playoff hopes and started to turn an eye toward two key upcoming district games, the schedule is calling a timeout.

The Flashes (2-4), who have won two consecutive games against District 3-AAA opponents, will step outside the league for the next two weeks. Manchester Academy (5-1), a Class AA powerhouse, comes to Balzli Field on Friday night followed by archrival Cathedral (4-2) next week.

Getting through these next two games healthy while staying on a positive roll is going to be a challenge, St. Al coach Michael Fields said.

“I’ve been concentrating on how you go at that all weekend. You’ve got two very big games at the end of the year and these two sandwiched in the middle. You don’t want to get anybody hurt, but you do want to win them both,” Fields said. “It’s a tough part of the schedule. But we have to stick to the course and the progress we’ve made. They’re starting to get better every day.”

St. Al has won its last two games after losing its first four. In the latest, a 27-14 victory over Park Place, the Flashes took a major step forward by scoring the last 20 points after falling behind early in the third quarter.

It was the reverse of games they had lost earlier in the season to Leake Academy and Central Hinds, where close games got away from them because of missteps in the second half.

“This ballgame we came out and did like we did in those other games, where we played well in the first half and then fell behind,” Fields said. “We fought through it and did a good job of rebounding. That shows our maturity and that we’re gaining some confidence in ourselves.”

The victory over Park Place moved St. Al’s record within District 3-AAA to 2-1 and set up a scenario where it will go into the last two games of the season against Hillcrest Christian (0-6, 0-3) and Riverfield (5-1, 3-0) with a chance to earn at least a share of the district title.

That doesn’t mean the games with Manchester and Cathedral are meaningless, however. St. Al is ranked 14th out of 23 Class AAA teams in the MAIS power point rankings that determine wild card berths and playoff seeding. Sixteen teams qualify for the playoffs.

Beating either team would help solidify St. Al’s tenuous grip on a wild card berth, regardless of what happens in the last two district games.

Beating Manchester won’t be easy, however. The Mavericks have averaged 36 points per game in their last four outings after scoring a total of 21 in their first two, and have only allowed one opponent to score more than eight all season. Two of the victories during their current four-game winning streak have been shutouts.

Manchester is also a physical team, Fields said, which will cause problems with both of his primary goals this week of winning and staying healthy while doing it.

“They are physical. They are huge. They are probably going to be the biggest team we’ve played so far. They’re going to dare you to run at them, and on offense they’re going to pound you,” Fields said. “It is a concern. I’m hoping our conditioning pays off. You just can’t think about it that way, or something surely will go wrong.”

FRIDAY’S AREA GAMES
All games start at 7 p.m.
Manchester at St. Aloysius (Radio: 101.3 FM)
Claiborne Christian at PCA (Radio: 104.5 FM)
Greenville at Warren Central (Radio: 105.5 FM)
Vicksburg at Neshoba Central (Radio: 107.7 FM)
Jefferson County at Port Gibson
Clinton at Provine
Central Hinds at Cathedral
Riverdale at Tallulah Academy
Briarfield Academy at Tensas Academy
Prentiss Christian at Rebul Academy
Sharkey-Issaquena at Delta Academy
Metairie Park Country Day at Madison Parish (La.)

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