Second half offensive explosion, Odoh’s career day, Young INT power No. 3. St. Thomas Aquinas past No. 7 St. Joseph-Metuchen

The home Falcons – in their first game against the rival neighbor Trojans in almost a decade – held a 14-6 lead at halftime and looked in control.

They held the St. Thomas Aquinas defense to under 100 total yards of offense en route to an eight-point advantage at the break.

But that quickly evaporated in the third quarter, as the No. 3 Trojans’ offense woke up, and pulled off a 34-20 come-from-behind win Saturday afternoon, in a game heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

Chu Odoh scored on STA’s first two offensive possessions – a three-yard run and a 10-yard run – to give his team its first lead of the game at 19-14.

St. Joe’s would answer right back, with a nine-play drive capped off by an 18-yard dump pass for a touchdown by quarterback Justin Scaramuzzo to Jacob Pappas.

But the Trojans answered, too, with two unanswered touchdowns: a one-yard run by QB Roman Blanks with 7:37 to go, and a 73-yard run by Ca’Si Thomas.

In the end, the Trojans finished with 396 yards on the ground on several huge runs, with all but 26 of them coming in the second half. Odoh finised with 227 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries.

St. Thomas extended its Big Central winning streak to 30 games, a record for the fledgling league that is only in its fourth season. They’re now 6-2 heading into a matchup with St. John Vianney next week.

It was also their first win of the all-time series between the teams. The Falcons had won all four previous meetings from 2012 through 2015, starting with Year Two of the Joe’s program.

St. Joseph lost its second straight, falling to 5-2, with a matchup at No. 1 Woodbridge next Friday night.