After they gorge on turkey and all the trimmings on Thanksgiving, the St. Aloysius Flashes will get a taste of Coffee(ville) for dessert.

Connor Smith ran for three touchdowns and threw for another, and the Flashes scored 28 unanswered points in the second half to obliterate Broad Street 49-8 in the second round of the MHSAA Class 1A playoffs on Friday night.

The win sent St. Al to its second consecutive North State championship game. It’ll host top-ranked Coffeeville (12-1), which beat Shaw 40-0 in another second-round game, at 7 p.m. Friday at Balzli Field.

“Now we can say there’s no going back. It’s not over, but it would have been disappointing not to get as far as last year,” St. Al coach BJ Smithhart said. “We’re going to roll the balls out and see what happens. The kids are fired up, and that’s all you can ask for this time of year.”

In addition to reaching the semifinals for the second straight year — a first for the program in the playoff era that started in 1981 — St. Al (12-1) set a school record with its 12th win of the season.

St. Al played its first football game in 1912. It’s had six undefeated seasons, a pair of 11-win seasons in 1977 and 1981, and a couple of winning streaks longer than 12 games, but never a 12-win season.

“These guys are loose and full of confidence. A little too loose for me sometimes,” Smithhart laughed. “But if they can back it up like that, all I can say is ‘Good job.’”

The Flashes started slow against Broad Street. They committed three turnovers in the first quarter, but managed to keep the Jagaurs (8-4) out of the end zone on several trips inside the 20.

The turning point came early in the second quarter, when St. Al’s defense forced a stop on fourth-and-goal from the 2. St. Al’s offense then took over and embarked on a 98-yard scoring drive capped by a 1-yard run by Smith to go up 14-0.

“That was big. It kept them off the board. We needed it big-time,” Smithhart said of the goal line stand.

The Flashes added another touchdown before halftime, working the two-minute drill to perfection to go up 21-0 on a 10-yard TD pass from Smith to Lane Hynum with 19 seconds left.

Broad Street used a long return of a short kickoff to set up a scoring pass with 3 seconds left, but St. Al answered in a big way in the third quarter.

After receiving the second half kickoff, the Flashes immediately drove the field and scored on a short touchdown run by Smith for a 28-8 lead.

DeMichael Harris and Smith each added another TD run in the third quarter as St. Al broke Broad Street’s will and took a 42-8 lead.

Connor Bottin punched in St. Al’s final score on a short run in the fourth quarter. Casey Landers also had a 12-yard TD run in the first.

“That was a deflater going into the half. It could’ve been bad. But we got our heads on straight and the first drive of the second half marched down there and punched it in,” Smithhart said.

St. Al’s impressive win left it as one of four teams still standing in the Class 1A bracket. Nanih Waiya and Cathedral will play for the South State title next Friday in Natchez. The semifinal winners will meet at Mississippi State’s Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville on Dec. 5.

“There’s four good football teams left, and we’re one of them,” Smithhart said. “We’re excited.”

St. Aloysius 49, Broad Street 8

Records: St. Al (12-1); Broad Street (8-4)

Up next: St. Al hosts Coffeeville, Friday at 7 p.m.,

Class 1A North State championship (Radio: 101.3 FM)

Skinny: Flashes rout Broad Street to reach Class 1A semifinals for second year in a row