Given a second chance at a district title, both Affton and St. Mary’s knew what was on the line Friday night in their Class 4 District 5 football championship — all because Clayton had to forfeit its games for using an ineligible player.

A game that would have had no playoff implications became a game for all the marbles pending the appeal of the decision placing Clayton’s district record at 0-2. Unfortunately for Affton, it ran into a team that was elated to have that second chance and St. Mary’s took full advantage by handling Affton, 33-7 — improving its record to 8-2 on the year and moving into the sectional playoffs against Vashon Wednesday — after the Call went to press.

“We found out about the Clayton situation literally as we got on the bus,” Affton Coach Dan Oliver said. “The team seemed pretty excited about the opportunity, but it wasn’t our best performance on the field.”

St. Mary’s was led on the day by senior quarterback Mike Greaving, who ran for two touchdowns and threw for two more helping St. Mary’s get out to a 27-0 halftime lead that was temporarily cut to 27-6 at the end of three quarters. A six-yard-touchdown run by Kornell Simmons in the third quarter was all the scoring the Cougars could manage as St. Mary’s never allowed them to cut into its lead.

Affton ended the season with a 6-4 record.