The St. Aloysius Flashes were firing on all cylinders Friday night.

The Flashes made big plays through the air to help set up four rushing touchdowns from two different backs on offense, and notched three takeaways on defense as they defeated Manchester Academy 28-7.

Thompson Fortenberry finished with 200 rushing yards and three touchdowns, and Sadler Lambiotte had 80 yards and a touchdown for the Flashes. Walt Andrews had 71 receiving yards.

“Offensively, it was fantastic. We were running downhill. O-line, D-line, quarterback. Just hard-nosed football. That’s what it was,” St. Al coach Walker Mosby said. “As long as we don’t turn the football over and make mistakes, things are going to be better for us.”

The teams traded interceptions during a scoreless first quarter — one for Manchester’s Brendan Thrasher and another for St. Al’s Evan Mallard — before the Flashes broke through.

Lambiotte put St. Al ahead 7-0 with a 30-yard touchdown run with 7:23 to play in the half.

On the Flashes’ next drive, Carson Smith found Andrews for one of two chunk plays on the night. Andrews’ catch set up a 13-yard touchdown from Fortenberry to give St. Al a two-score lead.

A St. Al facemask penalty on the ensuing kickoff gave Manchester good field position and it took advantage with a 25-yard touchdown strike from Thrasher to Jake White.

St. Al then broke it open in the second half.

Fortenberry broke free for a 33-yard touchdown run and tacked on the two-point conversion for a 22-7 lead with seven minutes to play in the third. Fortenberry struck again, this time from six yards out, early in the fourth quarter to round out the scoring.

While Manchester mustered two threatening drives in the fourth quarter, both ended with St. Al takeaways. Clark Hobson fell on a fumble at the 1-yard line, and Smith snagged the team’s second interception of the night with only seconds left on the scoreboard.

Mosby said he was pleased to see his team return to the form that led to its first win of the season in September. This was St. Al’s largest margin of victory since beating Clinton Christian 30-0 on Oct. 1, 2021.

“We were trying to find our identity,” Mosby said. “We kind of got away from how the first win happened, and now I think we’re back to what we were. We made some plays through the air, which we didn’t have in previous games. That really helped us tonight”