St. Aloysius had a chance to spring a massive upset and ensure itself of a trip to the playoffs.

Greenville-St. Joseph made sure that wasn’t about to happen.

The Irish jumped on St. Al for 28 points in the first half, then rode out a brief surge by the Flashes in the third quarter to win 42-7 on Friday night.

St. Joe (7-1) won its sixth game in a row.

St. Al (2-6) could still qualify for the MAIS Class 4A playoffs as a wild card regardless of the outcome of next week’s regular-season finale at home against Tri-County, but it could have put itself in a much better position by winning Friday. Instead, it lost for the second week in a row.

“We came out flat and they jumped all over us,” St. Al coach Bubba Nettles said. “It was bad, at first. Big stage like that and a chance to knock off a perennial powerhouse, and coming out flat like that baffled me. They played great in the second half, until the wheels fell off having to go for it in our own red zone.”

St. Al finally got on the board early in the third quarter, with a 35-yard touchdown pass from Carson Smith to Lazaveon Sylvester. Shortly after that, Padre Gray intercepted a pass to give St. Al a chance to get back in the game.

The Flashes wound up turning it over on downs, however, and never regained the momentum. Nettles elected to go for it on fourth down several times deep in his own territory as time grew short, which allowed Greenville-St. Joe to punch in some late scores to extend the lead.

“We couldn’t capitalize on that interception. If we could have scored it would have been a whole new ballgame, but we stalled out,” Nettles said.