A crucial opportunity for St. Aloysius slipped away into a muggy night at Balzli Field on Friday.

The Flashes (3-2, 0-1 in Division 4-1A) had a chance to pick up a critical victory in the 4-1A race over Bogue Chitto, but now, they are left picking up the pieces after a disappointing 12-7 defeat.

Losing puts the Flashes behind the eight-ball in their quest for a division title. With their final six games all division games, the margin for error for the Flashes in their quest for a home playoff game will be next to nil.

The St. Al offense was unable to establish any sort of rhythm after ripping through opponents earlier in this season. Bad snaps and penalties, especially holding calls, were the bane of St. Al’s existence, especially on the Bobcats’ side of the field. The Flashes were flagged 10 times for 75 yards and had four bad snaps, one of which turned a first-and -10 on the Bogue Chitto 46-yard line into a second- and-27 back in St. Al territory.

Against the much smaller Bobcats, the St. Al offensive line was unable to get any sort of push. Even removing all of the negative yardage from the bad snaps, running back Ryno Martin-Nez, quarterback Regan Nosser and fullback Brendan Beesley combined for a paltry 97 yards on the ground.

“You’ve got to give it to those guys, they whipped us up front,” St. Al coach B.J. Smithhart said. “They took it to us.”

Martin-Nez, who was forced to take more snaps under center when Nosser left the game in the first half with an injury, led the Flashes with 63 yards on 15 carries.

There were no explosive plays longer than 20 yards in any phase of the game for the Flashes. The closest they came was on their first drive, when a 24-yard touchdown run was called back after a holding call.

If not for a big play on a botched Bogue Chitto punt which resulted in Beesley touchdown, the Flashes might have been shut out.

“We looked pretty good on that first drive until we had that touchdown called back,” Smithhart said. “Then we just kind of self-destructed.”

Defensively, the Flashes played well in spots, but were unable contain Bogue Chitto senior tailback Byron Kersee, who riddled the St. Al defense for 147 yards and touchdowns of 60 and 32 yards.

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Contact Steve Wilson at swilson@vicksburgpost.com