Cin. St. Xavier returns to its tradition — winning

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Cincinnati St. Xavier is back.

St. X built a 43-0 halftime lead and hung a 43-13 final score on traditional Kentucky power Louisville Trinity to get to 4-0 — matching the Bombers’ disappointing win total from a year ago.

“Wow,” coach Steve Specht said. “I’m kind of speechless right now, because I thought in the first half that our kids couldn’t have played any better than they did.”

Luke Massa, who helped lead the Bombers to the 2007 D-I state title as a sophomore, was 6 of 8 passing for 101 yards and three TDs. Committed to play at the University of Cincinnati next year, Massa retired to the sidelines just before halftime as Specht began subbing liberally.

Louisville Trinity has won the last four Kentucky big-school titles, but is 1-3 this year.

In case you want to make a note on your calendar, St. Xavier and Elder (4-0) meet in a battle of Cincinnati titans on Oct. 2 at St. Xavier.

A late field goal lifted Fairfield past Cincinnati Princeton 17-14, boosting the Indians to 2-2 after going 2-27 over the last three seasons; and Napoleon scored two touchdowns in the final 1:41 to rally past Bryan 28-21.

Steubenville has won 64 regular-season games in a row after topping Buffalo (N.Y.) St. Joseph’s; Springboro has won 11 consecutive games dating back to last season’s 0-3 start.