Episcopal recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff to help spark a dominant 34-0 lead at halftime and eventual 40-18 victory over St. Thomas Aquinas on Friday night in a Division III select bi-district football playoff game at EHS.

Episcopal's defense held St. Thomas Aquinas to 4 yards of total offense and no first downs in the first half.

No. 15 Episcopal (8-3) advances to a regional game at No. 2 Lafayette Christian Academy next week. No. 18 STA finishes 4-7.

"We really set the tone of the game on the opening kickoff," EHS coach Travis Bourgeois said. "Our kickers practice on getting the ball to the right location. Their deep guy didn't have possession of the ball and we got the turnover and cashed that in."

Brycen Bolden recovered the fumble for EHS. James Inzer scored on a 33-yard run on the first play from scrimmage and EHS led 7-0 with 11:49 left in the first quarter. Episcopal drove 74 yards in seven plays with Chandler Amacker scoring on a 22-yard run. Luke Dickerson ran for two points for a 15-0 lead. Episcopal's Landry Boyce had a 15-yard punt return to set up a three-play, 58-yard drive. Aiden Bradford scored on a 2-yard run to put EHS up 22-0 with 3:56 left in the first quarter.

Episcopal senior defensive end Henry Kucharchuk sacked STA quarterback Brycelyn Young in the end zone with 2:40 left in the first quarter for a 24-0 lead.

"Henry Kucharchuk is a spark plug for our defense," Bourgeois said. "He plays hard and gives us everything he has. He's willing to play anywhere to help the team. I'm proud of my team. Last year, we lost in the first round of the playoffs on our field, and our seniors didn't want that to happen. St. Thomas is a good program ,and we have a lot of respect for them. We're excited to be moving on to the second round. We really executed on offense and played together."

EHS quarterback Michael Kelleher scored on a 1-yard run with 5:30 left in the second quarter for a 31-0 lead. The Knights got the ball back with 1:40 left in the second quarter and drove 55 yards in seven plays to set up a 27-yard field goal for Trace Macias.

EHS got the kickoff to start the third quarter and needed just two plays to cover 65 yards and start the running clock. Dickerson scored on a 59-yard run for a 40-0 lead with 10:55 left in the third quarter.

STA quarterback Young tossed TD passes of 17 and 18 yards to Grant Forrest in the second half. Kaden Lee also had a 50-yard scoring run for the Falcons.

Dickerson led EHS in rushing with 124 yards on nine carries. Inzer had 50 yards on two carries. Bradford rushed six times for 41 yards. Kelleher had a 57-yard pass to Eli Miller.

Lee rushed eight times for 75 yards to pace STA. Forrest had five catches for 64 yards.