St. Thomas Aquinas put last week’s loss to Bishop Miege firmly behind it as the Saints jumped on Blue Valley West for 28 first quarter points en route to a 47-14 win Friday at Saints Stadium.

Aquinas, now 3-1 pounced on the 0-4 Jags with touchdowns on six of the first seven drives to take a 40-0 lead into the halftime intermission. It was a game where Saints head Coach Randy Dreiling was able to liberally play his underclassmen after the first two scores.

“I am pleased how we came out and played hard from the opening kickoff,” Dreiling said. “We had a good week of practice. The kids were focused and came out and took care of business.”

For the game, the Saints outgained the Jaguars 584-265 yards, and averaged an impressive 11.9 yards per play. Of the Saints total, 471 came on the ground. Freshman Tyron Young took advantage of his opportunity, coming off the bench to rush for 181 yards on 20 carries and a touchdown. Starting fullback, senior Cam Jackson had 115 yards on only four totes and junior Joe O’Leary had 55 yards on three carries, two of which were touchdowns.

“It was good to give the younger kids and backups some time,” Dreiling said. They work hard in practice and I know they were excited to play under the lights. There were some mistakes, but those will happen. Experience and repetition will help us overcome those.”

Aquinas scored 47 seconds into the game when Jackson scored from nine yards out on just the third play of the drive. After holding the Jags to minus one yards on their opening drive, the Saints made it 14-0 on a four-yard run by senior quarterback Wil Swanson with 9:12 left. That was a four-play drive.  At 2:17 left, senior running back Drew Hicks sprinted around the right side for a 31-yard score to expand the lead to 21-0. The quarter was punctuated with a 93-yard touchdown pass from Swanson to senior running back Tristan Davis with :08 left.

“West is a very young team and start a lot of underclassmen,” Dreiling said. “They are in the midst of building the program back up. The thing that impressed me is they never quit playing. They are only going to get better.”

“For us, it’s about improving each day. We had some little things that we did not execute or have the proper technique. Those things can jump up and bite you in a close game.”

Aquinas is on the road next week to play Mill Valley in a 7 p.m. kickoff. The Jags, two-time defending Class 5A champs, are 2-2.