ORCHARD LAKE — Championship mettle and experience certainly took over for Orchard Lake St. Mary’s on Friday in a high school football rematch against Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice.

Leading by one late in the first half against a Brother Rice team that beat St. Mary’s on its field just three weeks ago, St. Mary’s scored four unanswered touchdowns to win a Division 2 district final, 35-14.

The defending Division 2 champions advanced to meet Midland Dow in a regional final next week at Dow.

“I thought our boys were excited for the moment and I think experience helps,” St. Mary’s head coach Jermaine Gonzales said. “I told them all week that we’ve been in the playoffs before. This is not new to us. Just to stay the course and when there is adversity, don’t panic.”

Brother Rice, which earned a 43-31 win at St. Mary’s on Oct. 17, bounced back this year after some uncharacteristic down years.

A roster dominated by freshman and sophomore standouts, Brother Rice grew up a lot in the second half of the season after a 2-4 start, winning four straight to make the playoffs and signaling a possible return to the program’s glory days with all its young talent.

“Shout to Orchard Lake, they did a great job today and had a great game plan,” Brother Rice head coach Aaron Marshall said. “But our future is bright. I’m proud of our boys. We’ll get back in the lab and get better.”

On this night though, St. Mary’s was too much after most of the first half was pretty much even.

With 3:29 left in the first half, St. Mary’s went up 14-6 on a 54-yard touchdown pass from Jabin Gonzales to Lorenzo Barber, who got loose on the sideline and outraced the defense to the end zone.

Brother Rice received the second-half kickoff, but St. Mary’s forced a three-and-out deep in Brother Rice territory and got the ball back at the Brother Rice 45.

Two plays later, Gonzales and Barber hooked up for a 36-yard touchdown pass that gave St. Mary’s a 21-6 lead with 9:50 left in the third quarter.

After forcing another Brother Rice punt and taking over at the Brother Rice 31, St. Mary’s went up 28-6 with 5:47 left in the third on a 2-yard touchdown run by Barber on fourth-and-goal.

Following an interception by Luke Jackson, St. Mary’s went up 35-6 on a 32-yard touchdown pass from Gonzales to Chad Willis with 4:42 to go in the third quarter.

“We focused the whole week this week,” Barber said. “Got in the film room and saw what we did three weeks ago and the mistakes. We just took advantage of what they gave us and made the most of it, that’s all.”

Brother Rice ended the St. Mary’s run with 2:51 remaining on a 7-yard touchdown pass from Drake Martin to Christian Marshall and a successful 2-point conversion.

St. Mary’s opened the scoring with 7:43 remaining in the first quarter, taking a 7-0 lead on a five-yard touchdown run by Camari Patterson.

The score was set up by a 17-yard scramble on fourth-and-14 to the Brother Rice eight by quarterback Gonzales.

The drive was set up by a 53-yard kickoff return to open the game by Barber.

Brother Rice put together a drive and cut the St. Mary’s lead to 7-6 with 6:47 left in the second quarter on a one-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-goal by Deondre Hill out of a wildcat formation.

Following a penalty on St. Mary’s that moved the ball to the 1-yard line, Brother Rice decided to go for the 2-point conversion, but St. Mary’s defensive end Ryan Harrington batted down a pass to thwart the conversion attempt.