The seven lopsided wins. The four shutouts. The 366.9 rushing yards per game.</p><p>Everything the No. 3-ranked Gardner Edgerton football team had accomplished thus far in the season, all the dominance it had shown through the first seven weeks, had been building toward this: another showdown with St. Thomas Aquinas.</p><p>The Saints had been a perennial hurdle for coach Marvin Diener&rsquo;s budding Kansas 5A title contender &mdash; a hurdle the Trailblazers had yet to clear. Their last three losses dating to the 2007 Kansas 5A state playoffs had all come against Aquinas.</p><p>As Trailblazers junior quarterback Bubba Starling said after the game Friday, &ldquo;If we were to mark a game down, it was going to be this one &mdash; and we wanted to beat them.&rdquo;</p><p>Starling opened with a 46-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage and ran for a 13-yard score in the final minutes of the fourth quarter to all but clinch the victory for Gardner Edgerton, which secured a 28-26 win at home over the previously undefeated Saints.</p><p>A much-needed win, as far as their coach was concerned.</p><p>&ldquo;This really helps our momentum,&rdquo; Diener said. &ldquo;This would have been a hard thing for us momentumwise to lose this game. And at this particular state of our program, we need to keep our momentum going.&rdquo;</p><p>It wasn&rsquo;t easy. Between Starling&rsquo;s touchdown scampers, the clash of unbeatens was everything that could have been expected.</p><p>Aquinas, 7-1, took a 19-15 lead with 14.4 seconds left in the first half when junior quarterback Richard Davila connected on a 21-yard touchdown pass to junior Shane Nachbar. </p><p>It was the first time Gardner Edgerton, 8-0, had trailed all season, and Diener would talk afterward about how his team lacked experience in &ldquo;championship atmospheres.&rdquo; </p><p>That wasn&rsquo;t a problem Friday, though.</p><p>Junior Brett Jensen raced up the middle for a 51-yard touchdown with 4:32 left in the third quarter, and the Trailblazers led 21-19. They never relinquished that lead as the defense kept the Saints scoreless in the second half until the final minute.</p><p>Aquinas had its chances after falling behind, but it lost two fumbles in Gardner Edgerton territory &mdash; including one on a play that started at the Trailblazers&rsquo; 12.</p><p>With 2:20 remaining, Starling scored his second touchdown and made it 28-19. Aquinas added a late touchdown, drawing within two points, but it couldn&rsquo;t recover the onside kick. That&rsquo;s how it ended.</p><p>Standing on the field after the game, Jensen &mdash; who rushed for 100 yards in 15 carries and topped the 1,000-yard mark for the season &mdash; turned to senior receiver Justice Berry for help answering a key question: What did it mean for the Trailblazers to finally get past Aquinas?</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a long time coming, but we finally got it,&rdquo; Berry said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been waiting for this day since last year.&rdquo;</p><p>Starling finished with 93 rushing yards and 64 passing yards &mdash; all to Berry. </p><p>Davila completed 16 of 21 passes for 225 yards and three touchdowns for Aquinas, despite missing some time in the second half because of an injured ankle. Nachbar had seven receptions for 108 yards and two touchdowns.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll be fine, without a doubt,&rdquo; Davila said of Aquinas suffering its first defeat. &ldquo;Without a doubt.&rdquo;</p><p>And Diener talked about the possibility that these two teams may likely meet again in the 5A state playoffs &mdash; as they did last year in the semifinals. </p><p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no question that each team is going to work very hard to get better the next four weeks for that to happen,&rdquo; he said.</p><p><hr class="infobox-hr-separator" /> <div class="infobox"> @ Go to <strong>KansasCity.com</strong> for a photo gallery from Friday night&rsquo;s games and for Varsity Zone, our home for high school sports.</p><p></div>