St. Mary Central Catholic coach Ryan Wikel figured Saturday's game against St. Paul at Strobel Field would come down to five or six plays.

"We talked to them before they took the field that there would be six plays that decide this game," Wikel said. "And if you look at it, they got five out of the six, if not all six."

St. Paul, which has won 14 of the last 18 meetings in the series, picked up 299 yards of offense and added a special teams score. It was the team's first game out in replacing 16 starters from the 2009 Division VI state championship team.

"There's no question it's a team still finding it's identity," St. Paul coach John Livengood said. "There's a lot of new faces, and there is a learning curve there, too. I thought they did a pretty good job overall, but we are trying to form an identity."

It was an ominous start for the Panthers as three quick plays to open the game lead to a punt that sailed over the punter's head and gave St. Paul the ball at the SMCC 11 less than two minutes into the game.

On the next play, Flyer senior Adam Smith ran through the middle of the defense for a touchdown, and after a failed PAT, it was 6-0 just 2:11 into the game.

Another Panther punt on the ensuing possession led to a 8-play, 58-yard scoring drive for St. Paul that culminated in a 1-yard run by Smith. The run for two points failed, but it was 12-0 halfway through the first quarter.

The Panthers strung together their best moment of the game on the ensuing possession, however. SMCC marched methodically on a 16-play, 73-yard scoring drive that took 5:55 off the clock.

The drive was highlighted by a 12-yard catch on third-and-eight by Denarius Harris and a 22-yard run to the St. Paul 4 by quarterback Patrick Sennish.

Freshman Wyatt Dye finished the lengthy march with a 3-yard run with 11:16 left in the half, but the kick failed, cutting the deficit in half at 12-6.

"We didn't see much positive out of them prior to that point," Wikel said. "But there was leadership in the huddle, the run game got going and coach (Toby)Notestine had things rolling there."

It was all St. Paul from there, however, starting with a 35-yard pass from freshman Joe Hinckley to running back Eric Bradt with 10:07 left in the half. Smith ran in the conversion for a 20-6 lead.

After a SMCC punt, Bradt capped a five-play, 50-yard drive with a 4-yard scoring run with 6:44 left in the half. Hinckley ran in the conversion to make it 28-6, which is where things stood at halftime.

A touchdown in each quarter of the second half by the Flyers closed out the scoring.

A Panther punt sailed long over the Flyers return team, but Tyler Dilger fielded the ball at the St. Paul 45 and outran a defender for a 55-yard punt return with 4:55 left in the third quarter.

The final score came on a 4-yard run by Alaric Newcomer with 9:11 left in the game, which capped a 7-play, 48-yard scoring drive. Freshman Scottie Slauterbeck kicked the final two extra points for St. Paul.

St. Paul had first-and-goal at the SMCC 10 with just more than three minutes left, but took four consecutive knees in an effort to run out the clock instead of going for another score.

"There was a lot of good things we did and a lot we need to work on," Livengood said. "Overall, I'm happy to come out with a win.

"It's a lot of new kids out there and you want to start off on the right foot with that group, and I thought they did a nice job with that."

Smith finished with 91 yards and two touchdowns on 12 attempts for St. Paul while Bradt carried eight times for 25 yards with a score to go with two catches for 52 yards and a score.

Hinckley was 7-of-12 passing for 102 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

For SMCC, Sennish carried 13 times for 38 yards and completed 9 of 17 passes for 64 yards. Harris led the receiving with two catches for 22 yards, while Dye added 21 yards rushing and a score on eight attempts.

"It was 42-6, but I think if we tighten some things up and take a positive out of this, we'll get things fixed," Wikel said. "Our kids fought and didn't put their heads down and got stops defensively. That's a good team we played.

"We have to eliminate the mistakes. We made them at wrong times tonight and good teams like St. Paul capitalize on them. We're learning on the job still."

SMCC travels to Fremont to take on St. Joseph next Saturday for the Golden Football, while St. Paul hosts Tiffin Calvert.

St. Paul 12 16 7 7 -- 42

SMCC 0 6 0 0 -- 6

STP -- Adam Smith 11 run (kick failed)

STP -- Smith 1 run (run failed)

STM -- Wyatt Dye 3 run (kick failed)

STP -- Eric Bradt 35 pass from Joe Hinckley (Smith run)

STP -- Bradt 4 run (Hinckley run)

STP -- Tyler Dilger 55 punt return (Scottie Slauterbeck kick)

STP -- Alaric Newcomer 4 run (Slauterbeck kick)

SP SMCC

First downs 13 7

Rushes-Yards 35-197 34-70

Passing 102 64

Comp-Att-Int 7-12-1 9-17-0

Fumbles-Lost 1-0 5-1

Penalties-Yards 1-5 2-15

RUSHING

STP -- Adam Smith 12-91, Eric Bradt 8-25, Joe Hinckley 2-10, Isaac Livengood 3-19, Alaric Newcomer 3-14, Justin Stoll 4-14, Kyle Brake 2-18; STM -- Brandon Green 9-20, Wyatt Dye 8-21, Patrick Sennish 13-38, Jon Scirappa 2-5, Alex Guerra 1-2

PASSING

STP -- Joe Hinckley 7-12-102-1-1; STM -- Pat Sennish 9-17-64-0-0

RECEIVING

STP -- Eric Bradt 2-52, Alex Foster 1-7, Ian Welch 1-9, Tyler Dilger 1-11, Kurt Walliser 2-23; STM -- Adam Guerra 2-13, Andrew Carruthers 2-10, Ethan Sennish 2-13, Denarius Harris 2-22, Garrett Kowalski 1-4