By Alexander Swatson

The Vicksburg Post

VICKSBURG — It was homecoming night for the St. Aloysius Flashes, and it will be one the players and students won’t forget. Adams County Christian School shut out St. Al 42-0.

While the score dictates an overwhelming victory for the Rebels, the game was riddled with miscues and turnovers from both teams on the field.

St. Al finished the game with six turnovers, three of them being returned for scores. A quarter back option pass was intercepted and returned for a touchdwon. The Rebels scored on the following drives, recovering two fumbles. Chris Smotherman intercepted a third down pass midway through the second.

Twice, Adams County turned the ball over on downs and lost fumbles. They also had five penalties costing them 70 yards.

“We made some miscues early in the game but I thought they outplayed us,” said Rebels coach David King. “We have a pretty good football team, but they kept us off guard and they had a very good game plan.”

The Flashes were down 28 points at halftime after a failed field goal attempt signaled an early end to their special night.

“I think the kids played hard, and everybody’s frustrated,” St. Aloysius coach B.J. Smithhart said. “We just can’t have that many turnovers especially against a great football team like that. I’m proud of the kids and the way they played.”

King said St. Al thoroughly outplayed the Rebels in the first half. His team wasn’t picking up on the zone-read and King called Flashes lineman Ben Brown a stud on the offense. He added that Smithhart had his team ready to play, despite being out a few of their key players.

Defensively, the Rebels held St. Al to under 100 total yards and recorded 371 total yards on offense.

“We got a couple of quick scores off some turnovers that kind of helped us get ahead but it was a lot closer ball game than the score was,” King said. “We gave up some yardage because of what they were doing was pretty good stuff, but they were able to makes third down plays.”

King wanted his team to play sharp in non-conference games and not against the score. He wants his team to play with the intention of getting better and he doesn’t feel he accomplished his goal.

The Rebels cost themselves a touchdown on what would’ve been a 48-yard drive in the second quarter. Quarterback Carlos Woods moved the ball from the Flashes 44-yard line down to their own eight. Samuel Butler rushed the remaining eight yards to find the end zone before a holding penalty was called negating the touchdown.

They were also called for illegal procedure moving the ball back to their own 22-yard line. The drive ended in a turnover on downs.

“We just got to go back and just a little bit more fundamentally sound,” King said.