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St. Aloysius' Beau Brogdon walks off the field after the Flashes lost 29-14 to East Rankin Academy on Friday. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Players from St. Aloysius and East Rankin Academy line up to run a play during Friday's game in Pelahatchie. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

St. Aloysius' Thompson Fortenberry and Pierson Smith (1) tackles East Rankin Academy's Brandon Loper (24) during Friday's game in Pelahatchie. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

St. Aloysius' Evan Mallard (15) fights for extra yardage Friday against East Rankin Academy. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

St. Aloysius running back Thompson Fortenberry (4) celebrates with his teammates after scoring a touchdown Friday against East Rankin Academy. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

St. Aloysius football head coach Walker Mosby, right, talks to quarterback Carson Smith during Friday's game against East Rankin Academy. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

St. Aloysius' Keller Bradley (22) can't hang on to the football as he's hit by East Rankin Academy's Andy Bowman (13) in the first quarter of Friday's game. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

St. Aloysius' football team runs onto the field before Friday's game against East Rankin Academy. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

PELAHATCHIE — For 2 1/2 quarters St. Aloysius did almost everything it needed to in order to finally walk off the field a winner.

It was that last quarter and a half that said otherwise.

Brandon Loper carried the ball 32 times for 172 yards and three touchdowns, and East Rankin Academy controlled the football for nearly the entire second half as it came from behind to beat St. Al 29-14 on Friday.

East Rankin (1-3) held the ball for 17 of the last 24 minutes and scored 23 unanswered points.

“We’ve got to get them down. We’ve got to stop the run. They ran the football and that was it,” St. Al coach Walker Mosby said. “That ain’t just defense. Offensively, we have to make the catches. We’ve got to hit our holes. I think we had two dropped touchdown passes tonight. The conditions doesn’t help, but we’ve still got to make the play. That’s just it.”

St. Al took a 14-6 lead into halftime after Carson Smith broke a 62-yard touchdown run and Thompson Fortenberry had a 2-yarder to cap a long drive. Smith finished with 78 yards on 20 carries.

The Flashes also made a goal line stand to stop a seven-minute drive by East Rankin to start the third quarter. Right after that, however, things unraveled.

A high punt snap went through the end zone for a safety, and then Loper returned the ensuing free kick to the St. Al 14-yard line. Logan Hall finished a short drive with a 4-yard TD run and the PAT put the Patriots ahead 15-14.

Another three-and-out for St. Al was followed by an eight-minute scoring drive for East Rankin. Loper finished it with a 14-yard run with 3:39 left in the game.

St. Al turned the ball over on downs on its next possession, and Loper scored on a 9-yard run with 1:27 to go for the final 29-14 margin.

“Our defense played hard. Our offense played hard. It’s just coming down to executing. That’s what it boils down to,” Mosby said.

St. Al only ran 10 offensive plays on its first three drives in the second half. The fourth lasted seven plays and ended when time ran out.

The Flashes also dropped two likely touchdowns on deep passes and had three unsportsmanlike conduct penalties that aided East Rankin scoring drives.

It added up to a 22nd consecutive loss and a week of soul-searching before defending MAIS Class 4A champion Tri-County comes to Balzli Field next week.

“We’ve got to clean it up, and that’s my fault. I have to clean it up. That’s what has to happen,” Mosby said. “We get them to third down and have a 15-yard penalty to bump them up into the red zone, we can’t have that. We’re not helping ourselves any.”

About Ernest Bowker

Ernest Bowker is The Vicksburg Post's sports editor. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post's sports staff since 1998, making him one of the longest-tenured reporters in the paper's 140-year history. The New Jersey native is a graduate of LSU. In his career, he has won more than 50 awards from the Mississippi Press Association and Associated Press for his coverage of local sports in Vicksburg.

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