JONESVILLE, La. &045; Known for disrupting nestlings and as a predator of other birds’ eggs, the blue jay is one winged animal you don’t want to face in a dark alley.

Appropriate then that St. Edmund’s, a team that without football would otherwise be a Class B school, has the antagonistic bird as its mascot.

The No. 1 refuse-to-lose Blue Jays (11-2), which won their first two playoff games by a combined 13 points, battled back from adversity again to advance to the Class 1A semifinals with a 28-24 victory over No. 8 Block (9-4) Friday.

&uot;I tell these kids every day that if I was to ever go to war, I’d want them all in a bunker with me,&uot; St. Ed’s head coach Scotty Richard said. &uot;They fight so hard and hit in the game just like they do in practice.&uot;

The Blue Jays, making their first semifinal appearance since Richard played linebacker at his alma mater in the late 1970s, advance to play Vermillion Catholic, a 69-32 winner over Logansport.

In a loss plagued by turnovers and mental lapses, Block had its grandiose visions dashed when Blue Jay safety Joe Bischoff picked off his second interception in the game’s final minute to burst the Bears’ bubble.

With 4:40 showing on the clock, the Bears began from its own 44, quickly moving into St. Ed’s territory via the air and fullback E.J. Wilkerson’s hard-nosed running.

However, once Block opened up shop at the Jays’ 33 things stalled. A Demetrius Bowie incompletion; a moderate pickup from Wilkerson, who scored all three Bear touchdowns; and a Michael Griffin run that was stuffed by a big St. Ed front four.

&uot;I never saw them take our momentum,&uot; Block head coach Chad Harkins said. &uot;I’d see us missing assignments and they’d get a big play out of it and build some momentum.&uot;

On fourth down, with the seconds ticking away, Bowie &045; 6 of 8 for 93 yards and two interceptions &045; dropped back and released a floater over the middle, up for grabs.

His intended target Jeremy Washington, who burned St. Ed’s for 69 yards on four catches in addition to booting a 43-yard field goal to put Block up 24-21, attempted to fight through traffic.

However, he was impeded and Bischoff leaped up to welcome the ball for the INT and the celebration.

&uot;I kind of figured they were going to run that play because we had gone over it a lot in practice,&uot; said Bischoff, whose first half interception of Bowie prevented Block from padding its 14-13 halftime lead. &uot;I picked up the wing back (Demetrius Duncan) when he came out and broke on the ball.&uot;

Duncan, who came in as one of 1A’s most feared backs with more than 1,500 yards for the season, was held in check, both on special teams and offense.

Duncan, who has the words &uot;Key Player&uot; taped to the back of his helmet, was stymied for 49 yards on eight carries.

&uot;We knew (Duncan) was good, but we didn’t know if he had been hit at all this year,&uot; Richard said. &uot;We worked all week on playing mistake free football and capitalizing when the ball was on the ground.&uot;

When coach speaks, St. Ed players listen. On its first possession, trailing 7-0 after Wilkerson plunged in from 3 yards out on the game’s opening drive, St. Edmund’s capitalized after recovering a Duncan muffed punt.

Trey Wimberly, who also had touchdown runs of 1 and 3 yards, capped the more than six minute drive with a 2-yard dive.

After Block’s defense stopped the Blue Jays on the opening drive of the second half, a Chris Caswell punt pinned the Bears deep in their own territory.

A miscommunication on the exchange between Bowie and Wilkerson on first down led to Blake Smith falling on the ball, giving St. Ed’s a first and goal from the Bear 2.

&uot;(Smith) did a great job of tackling. He was tough to block all night,&uot; Harkins said. &uot;You take a kid like that away from their team and (St. Edmund’s) may be struggling.&uot;

Two plays later Wimberly churned his way across the goal line and into his second home to put the Blue Jays ahead 21-14 after quarterback Brandon Beard ran in the conversion.

A team that was thought to be rebuilding after losing 18 seniors from the 2002 squad, and will bid adieu to 15 more when this run ends, appears poised to keep the sand running through the hourglass.

&uot;We were able to capitalize (off turnovers) and I attribute that to our hard hitting,&uot; Richard said. &uot;Anybody that steps on the field with St. Edmund’s &045; be prepared to know we’re going to hit you hard.&uot;

The Bears tied it up 21-all with 4:14 in the third on another Wilkerson seven-10 split, and pulled ahead early in the fourth on Washington’s kick, which would have been good from 53.

However, St. Ed’s put together another methodical 10-play scoring drive that squeezed another five minutes off the scoreboard to reclaim the lead.

&uot;I feel like we were the better team out there, that’s my observation,&uot; Harkins said. &uot;We shot ourselves in the foot a lot. We had too many penalties, fumbles, turnovers; it wasn’t one person, but a combination of things.&uot;