ORANGE BEACH — St. Michael inches closer to an undefeated season with a 49-7 win over Orange Beach on Friday night.

Despite a couple of mistakes, the Cardinals cruised past the Makos to remain undefeated, and are now only a win away from a perfect 10-0 regular season record heading into their final game on Thursday.

“We really wanted to keep them at zero, but that’s part of it,” Cardinals head coach Philip Rivers said. “You start doing some mass substitutions, and I thought out guys fought hard, of the young guys we put in there, but it’s tough, and we turned the ball over in a game with short fielding, but it was a good game.”

The Cardinals struck first in the first quarter with a rushing touchdown from Noah Moss. However, despite Orange Beach not being able to score on the Makos’ opening offensive drive, the Makos did force a turnover when St. Michael fumbled the ball due to a miscued pass from quarterback Gunner Rivers to Moss.

The Makos’ momentum was short lived when quarterback Tucker Wade threw an interception to St. Michael defender Jack Kurth during their ensuing drive. Following that, Rivers would throw a touchdown pass to Tucker Tomlinson to make it 14-0 in the first quarter.

After that, it was all Cardinals, with Orange Beach’s defense no match for St. Michael’s high-flying offense. The Makos’ only touchdown of the game came at the 9:27 mark of the fourth quarter when Wade ran into the end zone for a rushing touchdown.

With the win, St. Michael advances to 9-0 overall for the first time in team history, along with finishing first in the 4A Region 1 standings with a 6-0 record. They will finish the season on Thursday, Oct. 30, with a home matchup against UMS-Wright Prep at 7 p.m.

“It’ll be a heck of a challenge for us,” Coach Rivers said. “It’ll be great as we get into the postseason to play a playoff football team, and it’ll be at our place. It’ll be a great atmosphere. Looking forward to that challenge.”

Meanwhile, Orange Beach will end their season with a 4-6 overall record, in addition to a 2-4 record in 4A Region 1 play, finishing fifth in the standings.