It was a one-score game for much of the first half as Bishop Miege hosted St. James Academy in the final week of the regular season.
That was not the case in the second half.
Big plays from St. James led to 21 unanswered points and the end result was a 45-28 win for the Thunder.
“We had control that whole game and going into this game we knew what we had," St. James head coach Tom Radke said. "We knew they (Bishop Miege) had some guys banged up and we took full advantage of that also. Offensively, we thought we could do a lot of things out there and we proved it again tonight. We didn't play very well in the first half, we couldn't tackle. But we knew we could wear them out in the second half and that's what happened."
Little time was wasted in lighting up the scoreboard at Dixon Doll Stadium as St. James quarterback Jackson House went up top and connected with John Niesen, who hauled it in at the Miege 12. A few plays later, Tiave Watts ran it in, and St. James led 7-0 less than two minutes into the game.
The Stags’ response came quickly with a scoring drive of less than three minutes. Jaylen Burch punched it in on 3rd-and-goal to make it 7-7 at 7:36 of the first.
St. James went right back to the air as House's pass to Niesen took it inside the Miege 5. On 4th-and-goal, Watts scored his second rushing TD to put the visitors back up by seven.
Not to be outdone, Burch recorded his second score on the ground on Miege’s next possession. However, a missed PAT kept St. James ahead 14-13 with nearly the whole second quarter left to play.
A 33-yard field goal at 8:13 of the second made it 17-13, in favor of the Thunder.
With 4:25 to go in the half, Mac Armstrong found Daegan Jensen on a bomb to the St. James 3. Miege took its first - and only - lead of the game (20-17) on the very next play.
That lead lasted until the final play of the first half when House threw a strike to Tyler Claiborne from the 3-yard line as time expired to put the Thunder back ahead for good (24-20), at the break. The big score late in the half lifted St. James as they dominated the third quarter to the tune of 14-0.
A pass from House to Claiborne made it 31-20 with 4:04 left in the third. House did it with his legs on the next drive, which was sparked by Tre Clark's interception, with a 12-yard run to put the Thunder up by 18.
Miege finally found the end zone in the second half with a pass to Christian Bowen-Webb and a two-point conversion run by Mac Armstrong at 5:22 of the fourth. But the Stags could get no closer than 10 down the stretch as St. James came right back with Watts' third score of the game to take a 45-28 lead.
"We've been playing really well the last few weeks," Radke said. "I know they (Miege) wanted it bad after last year, but we wanted it to. They've been ranked higher than us all year and I think we made a point tonight."
St. James racked up nearly 500 yards of offense led by House who threw for 275 yards and ran for another 124 yards, while accounting for three TDs. Niesen finished with 143 yards on six receptions.
The win was the second for the Thunder (4-4) over a ranked team this season as Miege came in as the No. 2 team in 4A. St. James also beat then-undefeated and Top 10 in Missouri Class 3, St. Pius X, on Oct. 1.
"We have eight seniors and a lot of guys who are figuring out how to play varsity football," Radke said. "They're showing what we thought we were going to be week one."
