Staff photo by Steve Muscatello Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s running back Andrick Sanchez breaks free during a run in the second half of the Knight’s win against Mankato Loyola Friday in Sleepy Eye. For more photos of this event go to cu.nujournal.com

SLEEPY EYE — Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s stays undefeated as it defeated Mankato Loyola 66-26 in 9-man South District, Central Subdistrict play on Friday night.

St. Mary’s won the coin toss and deferred to the second half giving Loyola the ball to open the game.

Loyola scored on its first possession when Ben Ellingworth completed a pass to a wide open Matthew Helget for 58 yards and the touchdown to give the Crusaders a 7-0 lead after an extra-point.

St. Mary’s 59-yard drive was completed on its next possession when Nick Labat ran up the middle for the score on a first and goal from the 8-yard line. The Knights converted the 2-point point conversion after to lead 8-7.

The Knights sacked Ellingworth on a third-and-10 inside the Crusader 40-yard line to force a punt. After an illegal procedure by the Crusaders, they would botch on fourth down with 15 yards to go, giving the Knights the ball on the 1-yard line.

Brandon Wait then walked the ball in for a touchdown. The Knights did not complete the 2-point conversion after and led 14-7.

Pressure on the Knights quarterback forced Labat to try and throw the ball away which was intercepted by the Crusaders at their own 25.

Ellingworth broke open a 75-yard run on the following play and Crusader kicker Nora Coughlan’s extra point would hit the crossbar and go over to tie the game at 14 with 2:35 left to play in the first.

The Crusaders struck again in the second quarter when Ellingworth found a wide-open Carter Fogal for the 58-yard completion and the touchdown to trail the Knights 22-20.

The Knights found the end zone twice before the first half was over. Andrick Sanchez had both TD’s with runs from 10 yards out. Wait was credited with a fumble recovery to give the Knights a scoring drive before the half was over, giving the Knights a 36-20 lead the half.

The Knights put up 30 points in the second half, only giving up 6 points on a Crusader touchdown from Ellingworth.

St. Mary’s tallied 427 rushing yards total and Labat had 192 yards on the ground with three touchdowns. Sanchez led the Knights with 140 yards rushing and four touchdowns and Luke Miller tallied 63 rushing yards.

Loyola will be at home for a 7 p.m. Friday game to take on Nicollet.

St. Mary’s will travel to Madelia for a 7 p.m. game Friday.