Beau Theobald (23) of St. Aloysius tries to get control of the ball as Resurrection goalkeeper Nathaniel Duvall defends. Theobald had a hat trick in the Flashes’ 5-0 win in the first round of the playoffs. (The Vicksburg Post/PAT SHANNAHAN)

[02/05/01] The St. Aloysius Flashes made their first home playoff game one to remember.

Beau Theobald, one of five Flashes battling the flu, scored three goals, Patrick Sadler had two assists and Joe Theobald and Michael Head each added a goal to send St. Al (13-1-1) on to the second round with a 5-0 win over Resurrection (10-3-2).

“It’s great, because if we can get by this first win with everybody sick, we could be really something,” Beau Theobald said.

The Flashes play at North Pike in the second round on Tuesday.

Several St. Al boosters gave longtime coach Shirley Agostinelli congratulations and hugs after the game, but she quickly deflected the praise to her players.

“My whole team, I am so proud that they have accomplished what they are,” Agostinelli said. “I’m going to tell you the truth, I’ve been a nervous wreck today. But I am so excited for the school, because this is the first big win. We’ve won in the playoffs before, but this is the first big win because we were division champions.”

The Flashes led just 1-0 at halftime, on a header by Beau Theobald midway through the first half, but dominated the entire way. They outshot Resurrection 13-7 in the first half and 21-9 in the game, and blew the game open early in the second half.

Joe Theobald headed in a corner kick from Sadler about seven minutes into the second half to make it 2-0, then Beau Theobald made it 3-0 about eight minutes later when he booted in a rebound that Resurrection goalie Nathaniel Duvall had apparently given up on.

After the goal, Duvall complained to officials about the raucous St. Al crowd and made an obscene gesture toward the fans.

The bad feelings carried over to the field, where there were several rough fouls in the last 20 minutes and one shouting match resulted in a yellow card for each team.

“That happens. I wish the fans would have stayed out of it a little more than they did. I think that probably egged it on more than anything else, but it happens. It’s a game, it’s over, and we’ll be back next year,” Resurrection coach Leo Trahan said.

Resurrection only came close to scoring once, on a penalty kick by Bo Hartman with about 19 minutes left in the game. But St. Al goalkeeper Andy Gough made a diving save to preserve the shutout.

Head added his goal on a breakaway with about 12-1/2 minutes to play, and Beau Theobald completed his hat trick with a penalty kick.

“I think they were almost over-ready because they thought we would have to do a lot of switching around and changing,” Agostinelli said, referring to her team’s battle with the flu. “So we knew we were going to have to make some big-time adjustments. But Beau came, and you saw how everything worked out.”