St. Aloysius had more forced turnovers than completed passes Friday.

It was that kind of night for the Flashes, who got six takeaways and dominated No. 1 Coffeeville in a 35-6 win that propelled them into the Class 1A championship game. When St. Al needed a swing of momentum or a new possession, it came through in stunning fashion with a fumble recovery or interception that deflated the Pirates and helped seal the school’s first state title appearances since 1981.

Lineman Drake Dorbeck led the team with three fumble recoveries, the last of which came on a muffed punt that iced a game that was already wrapped up in purple and gold.

“They were huge,” Dorbeck said of the turnovers. “I thought we lost a little momentum but we caused another fumble. It’s all my guys, really. They caused them and I just recovered. It’s part of that teamwork.”

St. Aloysius’ defense made it a point to swarm to the ball early on and it certainly paid off. In the second quarter, the Flashes recovered two fumbles in less than a minute. The second led to a 5-yard touchdown run by DeMichael Harris. In all, St. Al scored 21 points off the turnovers. It also recovered a pooch kick that led to another touchdown.

“We just wanted to come out and do what we were taught all week,” lineman Josh Price said. “Fire off the ball, get in the backfield and that’s pretty much it. We just wanted to fire off the ball.”

Price recovered a fumble of his own and laid down the hardest hit of the game on a Coffeeville running back that sent him flying backward for a loss of five yards.

“I was just excited,” Price said. “I fired off the ball like coach told us to and just found the ball and made a play.”

On top of all the forced turnovers, the Flashes’ defense plugged up one of Class 1A’s best running backs. Antavius Moody, who ran for more than 2,000 yards on the season and boasted 12 games of 100 yards or more, was held to just 68 yards on 11 carries. Coffeeville was held to 216 total yards — its lowest output of the season.

Coffeeville’s run-heavy wishbone offense was a matchup that seemed to play into the hands of St. Al’s big, athletic defensive line, which was able to stuff Moody and his running back counterparts. The Pirates’ offense, which averaged 45 points a game coming into the North State championship, mustered only one touchdown on the night.

“I’ll put Josh Price and Drake Dorbeck and some of those other guys — the list goes on and on— I tell them all the time there ain’t nobody that I would take over y’all,” coach BJ Smithhart said. “You play hard and you take it to them and just keep coming. They always seem to do something during the game where you just say ‘Wow.’”

When he wasn’t scampering for touchdowns at running back — he scored four and ran for 209 yards — Harris hauled in St. Al’s lone interception off a rare Coffeeville pass. Harris said his team focused more on creating turnovers in practice and was happy with how his teammates responded.

“I think this game we flew to the football better than we have any other game,” he said. “That was a big emphasis this week in practice was that we need to fly to the football. We like to force turnovers and then capitalize off of them.”