Theriot notches 50th goal as St. Al rolls over Hillcrest

Published 7:44 pm Thursday, February 7, 2019

Forty-nine was fine, but 50 was nifty for Ryan Theriot.

The St. Aloysius striker scored five goals to bring his season total to 50, as the Flashes crushed Hillcrest Christian 13-0 in their regular-season finale on Thursday.

Theriot scored 49 goals last season in leading St. Al to the MAIS Class AAA championship. He surpassed that mark with at least one and possibly three playoff games remaining.

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“The first couple of years he was on defense. It makes you wonder what he could have done if he’d been out there on offense the whole time,” St. Al coach Scott Mathis said. “He’s just one of those players who is a true striker and finds the back of the net.”

Theriot’s final goal came in the last two minutes of Thursday’s game. Although it was a blowout, Mathis said he left several of his starters in until the end for senior night. It was the final tuneup for the Flashes before the playoffs, and they put on quite a show.

Kieran Theriot, Ryan’s brother, had four goals and five assists.Connor Smith scored twice, and Ben Ulery and Carson Collier had one goal apiece.

“The way they were playing, it was almost like a pro team out there. It was so good,” Mathis gushed.

St. Al (14-1) won the District 3-AAA championship and will not play again until the first round of the playoffs on Feb. 18. Its opponent has not yet been determined, but will be either Cathedral, Adams County Christian School or Brookhaven Academy.

The Flashes will have home field advantage for the first two rounds of the Class AAA playoffs. The championship game is Feb. 23 at 11 a.m. at Jackson Prep in Flowood.

The semifinals are on Feb. 18.

“They’ve told us we have home field all the way through,” Mathis said. “If we play another No. 1 seed in the second round it goes by goal differential, and we have that tiebreaker so we’ll host in the second round.”