For the second consecutive year, St. Aloysius will have to make its playoff push without one of its best players.

Tailback Ryno Martin-Nez tore two ligaments in his knee in Friday’s 30-14 loss at Dexter and is out for the season. Martin-Nez tore his anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament and is not expected to return to athletics for six months. That timetable would also put Martin-Nez, a pitcher and starting shortstop on St. Al’s Class 1A champion baseball team, on the shelf for most of baseball season.

It’s the second year in a row Martin-Nez has not been able to finish the football season. He missed the last four games in 2008 with a broken thumb. In both years he was leading the Flashes in rushing when the injury occurred.

St. Al coach B.J. Smithhart said fullback Brendan Beesley and tailbacks Carlton Campbell and Conner Brown will split carries in Martin-Nez’s absence. Brown and Beesley both scored touchdowns against Dexter.

“Ryno’s just a big part of our school. He’s a great person, always gets the kids up. They’re disappointed because he is a leader not just on the football team but at the school,” St. Al coach B.J. Smithhart said. “We’ve just got to get our mindset right and play some ball, because we’ve got half the season left.”

Indeed there is, and the Flashes now have a mountain to climb to reach the playoffs.

Friday’s loss dropped them to 0-2 in Region 4-1A. They’ve already lost to Bogue Chitto and Dexter, two of the teams above them in the standings, and still have to play Mount Olive (2-4, 2-0 in region play) and Sebastopol (4-2, 2-0). St. Al (3-3, 0-2) will likely have to run the table to reach the postseason for the first time since 2006. It does catch a break the next two weeks with games against Salem (2-5, 0-3) and Cathedral (0-5, 0-2).

Cathedral is St. Al’s biggest rival, the game is in Natchez and on a Thursday night, giving the Flashes a short week of preparation. They’ll also have to make the necessary adjustments to beat Salem at home this Friday.

“It’s not as easy as you think. Salem is down, but Cathedral is a short week and we’re banged up. Mount Olive’s record doesn’t show it, but they’re Mount Olive,” Smithhart said.

St. Al also must correct a lack of discipline that has hurt the team in crucial situations. Twice this season the Flashes have had more than 10 penalties in a game.

Last week, a personal foul on third-and-goal from the Dexter 1-yard line killed a potential scoring drive,

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Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com