Saint Stephen’s dominant from start to finish. Here’s how Falcons sent ODA to its first loss

Progress came in long offensive plays and short defensive stands for Saint Stephen’s.

Both the offense and defense dominated as Saint Stephen’s defeated Out-of-Door Academy 31-3 in a Sunshine State Athletic Conference game Friday night at Thunder Field.

The Falcons were aiming to correct mistakes made in a loss earlier this season against Windermere Prep. Saint Stephen’s held ODA to negative yardage until late in the first half and rode the backs of quarterback Xavier Williams and running back Daniel Clark.

“It’s hard to ignore that our defense has come out, week in and week out, and played lights out,” Saint Stephen’s head coach Tod Creneti said. “We went in at halftime and … said, ‘You’ve got to learn to finish.’ The defense went out in the second half and laid the hammer down.”

Having fallen to Saint Stephen’s twice last year, the Thunder hung tough with the Falcons in the first half. After a scoreless first quarter Saint Stephen’s went up 3-0 on a field goal by Noah LaBelle with 10:51 left in the half.

Williams then broke a tackle and scored on a 5-yard run with 3:28 left in the half. LaBelle’s kick made it 10-0.

The Falcons’ next score was set up by a 49-yard Williams pass to Camden Vining. Clark scored on a 36-yard run with 1:08 remaining in the half, as Saint Stephen’s led 17-0.

Clark rushed nine times for 161 yards in the first half. Williams rushed 10 times for 47. The Falcons defense held ODA to 11 yards on seven carries in the half.

Saint Stephen’s went up 24-0 with 5:43 left in the third quarter as Williams scored on a 4-yard run, capping a 74-yard drive.

ODA’s Filip Svoboda made a 27-yard field goal with 8:05 remaining to make the score 24-3.

Patrick O’Keefe gave Saint Stephen’s a 31-3 lead on a 2-yard run with 2:08 remaining.

Svoboda played despite having been in the hospital earlier in the day with food poisoning.

“Filip played really, really well,” ODA head coach Chris Kempton said, adding he didn’t know what Svoboda ate. “But I know to stay away from it.”

Tanner Fairchild excelled on defense for the Thunder, Kempton said.

Saint Stephen’s raised its record to 4-1, 2-0 in the conference. ODA fell to 4-1, 2-1 in the conference.

“We’ll take a tremendous amount from this tonight,” Kempton said. “How much more physical we need to be and, from a scheme standpoint, things that we need to do against a really good football team.”