The St. Aloysius Flashes scored first in Friday night’s game against rival Greenville-St. Joseph, but the Irish responded quickly and never looked back in winning 55-21.

Brice Johnson threw five touchdown passes and ran for a 76-yard touchdown for Greenville-St. Joe (5-2), which beat St. Al (0-7) for the fourth time in six years and kept the Flashes winless heading into a three-week stretch of district games to end the season.

“Believe it or not, we’re getting better every week,” St. Al defensive coordinator Michael Fields said. “The positive takeaway is the kids didn’t quit. They played the whole four quarters.”

Despite their 0-7 record, the Flashes can still reach the playoffs by winning their last three games and claiming the District 3-AAA championship. That begins with next week’s home game against Manchester Academy. They host Central Hinds the week after that and finish the regular season at Riverfield Academy on Oct. 21.

“The good part about it is we get into district play next week, and if we win those games, all of this is forgotten,” Fields said. “That’s our goal. We’ll work on fundamentals and hopefully next week it will all pay off and we’ll start our winning ways.”

A wild first half ended with Greenville-St. Joe holding a 42-21 lead. Jonathan Jordan ran for two touchdowns and caught a touchdown pass from Johnson as the Irish scored on five plays of 30 yards or more in the game.

Antonio Thompson threw a touchdown pass to Tyler Lewis for St. Al, and Jamar Williams scored on a 3-yard run to get the Flashes within 28-21 with 7:18 left in the second quarter.

Thompson also started a trick play that went for a touchdown by throwing to Brandon Teller, who then threw to Ryan Theriot for a 38-yard score.

With less than 5 minutes left in the first half, Thompson limped off the field and never returned to the game. Fields said he had a minor hip injury and would be back next week.

St. Joe scored twice more before the half ended, on a 46-yard pass from Johnson to Jordan and a pass from Johnson to E’darius Hendrix as time expired in the quarter to take a 42-21 lead into halftime.

“What’s hurt us in every game, when its time to make a big play we’ve always come up on the short end. Sooner or later we’re going to have to make the play and not let the other team make the play,” Fields said.

Hendrix scored on a 54-yard run and Johnson had a 76-yard touchdown run to finish the scoring in the second half. In its last three games, St. Al has been outscored 69-25 in the second half.

“We had it close in the first quarter and then we just let it get out of hand,” St. Al linebacker Jaylen Whitaker said.