MONTGOMERY — St. James strutted out to a 13-0 half time lead, and scored late in the fourth quarter to beat Straughn 20-0 Friday night in region action.

The Tigers got off to a hot start, driving the ball down the field into Trojan territory. A fumble by Straughn gave the Trojans the ball back.

From there, the Tigers (1-1, 0-1 in Class 4A, Region 2) couldn’t recover, and St. James earned its first shut out since 2004.

SHS head football coach Trent Taylor said the team played really hard during the second half.

“To be honest with you, as good as what that quarterback (St. James’ C.J. Duncan) was, and if you had asked me earlier in the week and said they’re only going to get 13, I would’ve said that we would’ve had a good chance to win the football game,” Taylor said. “I thought keeping them out of the end zone that many times, and then them scoring less than a minute few times would’ve been enough to win the ball game.”

The Trojans scored their first touchdown with 1:09 left in the first quarter on a 19-yard pass from Duncan to Jake Jabour.

St. James added six points within a minute left in the first half, executing three plays to do so.

“They had a great scheme,” Taylor said. “They executed, and we did not. We’ll learn a lot about ourselves Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week. We’ll find out what kind of football team we’ve got. I think we have some young men that are going to respond.”

The extra point on the second touchdown of the first half was no good for the Trojans.

In the second half, Straughn and St. James remained scoreless in the third quarter.

The Tigers couldn’t get a first down on offense, as the Trojans’ defense held them at bay.

The Trojans tried attempted a couple of field goals in the fourth quarter from 34 and 21 yards, but were no good.

Straughn’s Zack Turvin had a pass deflected by St. James’ Chase Ritter that ended up being intercepted by a fellow defender with 9:52 left in the contest.

However, the Tigers never gave up late in the game.

Turvin launched a pass to Mason Farley, but it was incomplete.

After St. James scored its last touchdown on an 8-yard rush from outside linebacker Cal Cherry, and the Tigers showed some life as junior running back Chase Short scooted down the field 33 yards with less than a minute remaining.

Straughn will continue its region play next Friday night at home against Alabama Christian Academy.