St. Aloysius’ season opener followed an all-too-familiar script.

The Flashes put up a good fight for a little while, but couldn’t keep it up. The opponent, Adams County Christian School, scored 27 points in the second quarter to pull away and defeated the Flashes 53-14 on Friday night.

Coleman Carter threw two touchdown passes and ran for another, and Sean Kerry Cothern scored on two short runs for ACCS (2-0).

“For about a quarter, quarter and a half it was a pretty tight ballgame,” St. Al head coach Bubba Nettles said.

Carter’s 16-yard TD run and Cothern’s 4-yard run put ACCS ahead 13-0 midway through the first quarter, but St. Al answered back. Thompson Fortenberry intercepted a pass in the end zone, and St. Al put together a scoring drive capped by Carson Smith’s 15-yard TD pass to Robert Lee to make it a one-score game.

Unfortunately, that was as close as St. Al got.

Carter threw a 35-yard TD pass to Jordan Berry and a 14-yarder to Adrian Walker in the second quarter. Walker also had a 54-yard touchdown and run Damien Johnson scored from 2 yards out to put the Rebels ahead 40-7 at halftime.

It was similar to last season’s match-up, when ACCS scored 16 points in less than a minute in the second quarter on their way to a 37-8 win.

“We couldn’t stop anybody on defense because we got gassed,” Nettles said.

Although the score got out of hand, Nettles said he was pleased with his team’s effort.

Fortenberry finished with 74 total yards — 54 rushing and 20 receiving — to go along with his interception on defense. Quarterback Carson Smith was 11-of-14 passing for 104 yards and one TD, and Lee caught three passes for 32 yards. Sadler Lambiotte had three catches for 36 yards.

Pierson Smith also scored on an 8-yard run.

“We toted the football like I wanted to,” Nettles said.

Nettles said the 2023 Flashes seem to have a different mindset than the 2022 squad that finished on a nine-game losing streak, which will help them move on after this loss.

“This is a different team. They’re hungry,” Nettles said. “These younger kids stepped up to the plate as young sophomores and when they’re seniors … the future is bright, we’ve just gotta get a few more kids.”