EXETER – For a half, the John Stark Generals were playing their style of football.

Running back Jake Cole had Stark’s old-school rushing attack churning out yards, the defense was bending, but not breaking in containing St. Thomas’s lethal passing game and the Generals were within striking distance down by three after the first 24 minutes.

And then Cole went down with an injury and the contest flipped.

Edwin Estevez opened the final half of play with a long touchdown catch and No. 2 St. Thomas never looked back, outscoring No. 7 John Stark by 20 in the second half to leave Bill Ball Stadium Saturday with a 37-14 victory in the opening round of the Division II tournament.

“I thought our team brought the fight to them,” said Stark’s first-year coach Kevin McGinty. “We didn’t have the depth that they do, and that definitely played out as the game wore on. We lost Jake Cole, our top running back, who’s really an unbelievable safety, too. He gets us lined up in the right coverage and he can cover a lot of ground and make up for our mistakes.”

Without Cole, it seemed like every mistake was costly for the Generals (6-4).

While Stark limited quarterback Shawn Dekorne and the St. Thomas offense to just 10 points in the first half, the Saints spread out the field and began to hit their stride as the second half opened.

On just the second play of the third quarter Dekorne found Estevez on a short pass to the flat, and Estevez did the rest, using his speed to beat everybody down the left sideline for a 75-yard touchdown and a 17-7 lead for the Saints.

Dekorne then added on with two short touchdown runs, leaning on his offensive line for a pair of quarterback sneaks – the first with 6:26 left in the third quarter and another with about nine minutes left in regulation.

“We definitely played our game in the first half. And then we played their game in the second half,” McGinty said. “They were definitely able to play their football game. (They) spread us out and picked us apart. We just didn’t have enough guys left on the bench to keep moving the ball down the field and score with them.”

Offensively, Stark saw Cole rush for 84 yards before leaving the game. Logan Beliveau added 57 yards on the ground with a touchdown, and Aaron Bergeron had the highlight of the day for the Generals, hauling in a 47-yard touchdown pass from Bo Lyons.

“I think we exceeded even our expectations with the season. Although, we’re still disappointed in the season and believe we left some things on the table this year,” McGinty said.

No. 2 St. Thomas will host the winner of Sunday’s Alvirne-Milford contest in the semifinals on Saturday at 1 p.m.

(Jay McAree can be reached at 369-3371, jmcaree@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @JayMcAree.)