St. Aloysius made the long trip to Franklinton, Louisiana, with hopes of another big upset and a Cinderella run to the MAIS Class 4A football championship dancing through their heads.

Bowling Green shattered them in about a quarter and a half.

The Buccaneers scored three touchdowns in the first quarter, added another at the end of a 99-yard drive in the second, and went on to beat St. Al 34-6 in the second round of the Class 4A playoffs on Friday.

Bowling Green (7-4) advanced to face Wayne Academy in the second round, as it seeks a return to the Class 4A championship game that it lost in 2023.

St. Al (3-9) had its season end, but not without some thrills and a big step forward for the program. It snapped a 23-game losing streak that dogged the team for parts of three seasons, and won a playoff game for the first time since 2015 when they beat Winston Academy in five overtimes last week.

“I couldn’t be more proud of them. I told the seniors earlier in the season and just now, you guys are the foundation for what this program will be 30 years from now and for as long as I’m here,” St. Al coach Walker Mosby said.

“I couldn’t be more proud of a group of kids than this group right here. They played their tail off. I think now they’ve set the standard — and the standard isn’t if they can make the playoffs. The standard is how far can we go in the playoffs?”

St. Al has been competitive in most of its games this season, but struggled all night against Bowling Green.

The Buccaneers scored on their first drive, on a 16-yard pass from Maddox Magee to Rayden Rayborn, and then took advantage of an interception to score again on a 51-yard run by Rayborn.

A 49-yard touchdown pass from McGee to Tucker Pittman with 39 seconds left in the first half made it 21-0, and Bubby Bryant’s 2-yard run with 5:12 to go in the second completed the Bucs’ blitz for a 28-0 halftime lead.

“I hate that it happened like that. But it doesn’t matter how hard you get hit. Do you get back up? And these guys did,” Mosby said.

St. Al got on the board with Robert Lee’s 2-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter, but Bowling Green got it back on touchdown with 8:36 left in the game to end any thoughts of a miracle comeback by the Flashes.

“We had a talk at halftime and it was just to challenge them to keep fighting and give it everything they’ve got, and they did that,” Mosby said. “I don’t think there was ever any quit in this team at any point in the game. That speaks volumes on them. They have grown as a team.”