SANDHILL — One of these days, St. Aloysius is going to have an easy win. Until then, it’ll have to settle for sweating them out.

St. Al stopped two Pisgah drives deep in its own territory, including one in the final minute of the fourth quarter, and held on to beat the Dragons 21-13 on Friday night. It was the third time in four games St. Al (5-2, 5-2 Region 3-1A) has won by eight points or less, with all three going down to the wire.

“That would be nice,” St. Al tailback Ryno Martin-Nez said of the possibility of a blowout. “These fourth quarter thrillers are going to help us in the long run, knowing we can pull one out if we have to.”

Donatello Luckett led Pisgah (2-5, 2-5) with 127 rushing yards and a touchdown.

Brendan Beesley and Justin Hosemann each ran for a touchdown, and Martin-Nez had 166 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries as St. Al controlled most of the game, but continually shot itself in the foot with turnovers. Three first-half drives and the opening drive of the second half ended in turnovers, two of them interceptions by Pisgah’s Marcellus Grant.

Grant returned his second pick 77 yards for a touchdown on the second play of the second quarter to give Pisgah a 7-6 lead. Pisgah also turned a fumble by Martin-Nez into another touchdown early in the second half. After Martin-Nez coughed it up near midfield, the Dragons converted a screen pass on third-and-5 into a 41-yard gain and Luckett scored on a 3-yard run on the next play.

The extra point was no good, leaving St. Al ahead 14-13 with eight minutes to play in the third quarter.

“Tonight we stopped ourselves. We can’t fumble, and we’ve got to do things to change that,” St. Al coach B.J. Smithhart said. “They were hitting us. They always seemed to pop you. No arm tackling. They always put a helmet on you.”

St. Al ran for 158 yards as a team in the first half — 133 of them by Martin-Nez — but continued to struggle in the second. After the fumble, it’s next two drives ended on downs and a three-and-out. St. Al had just 41 yards on its first three drives of the second half.

“Our defense showed up. We had some changes in the second half. That’s probably the best our defense has played all year,” Pisgah coach Marc Herrington said. “We brought our tackles from the inside and scooted our linebackers up to the football.”

Finally, early in the fourth quarter, the Flashes got their groove back.

Taking over at its own 42, St. Al quickly picked up one first down, then Chris Lewis completed a 28-yard pass to Regan Nosser on third-and-12 to move the ball to the Pisgah 21. Four plays later, Hosemann scored on a 4-yard run to give the Flashes an eight-point lead, 21-13, with six minutes to play.

Pisgah mounted one last drive, though, and threw a scare into the Flashes.

The Dragons converted twice on third down and once on fourth down to move the ball to the St. Al 26 with just under two minutes to play. Then, they self-destructed. A fumble on a sack, short pass for no gain, and an offensive pass interference penalty pushed them back to a fourth-and-31 from the St. Al 47 with about 20 seconds to play. Grant’s desperation pass was intercepted by Lewis, and the Flashes ran out the clock.

It mirrored the end of the first half, when Pisgah drove to the St. Al 16 in the final minute. Two runs for negative yardage then led to a turnover on downs.

“It comes down to what’s in here,” Herrington said, pointing to his head. Pisgah has lost three games in the fourth quarter this season. “We’re just not mentally tough. And you’ve got to hand it to St. Al. They got it done.”