The Father Gabriel Richard High School football team saved its best defensive performance of the season for when it mattered most, shutting out Capac 35-0 in a playoff-opening win Saturday afternoon.

It's the first shutout of the season for the Fighting Irish (8-2) and puts them one game away from their second consecutive Division 5 district title.

More coverage: Boxscore at MLive.com | Division 5 bracket | Friday night playoff results

Though the final score suggests the defense didn't necessarily need to be on its game, points were precious in the first half. The Fighting Irish led just 6-0 at the break with Nick Pauze's 4-yard touchdown run in the first quarter being the only scoring they could muster.

"Our offense took a while to get started, but our defense was tight, we didn't give up very many first downs," Lemons said.

Gabriel Richard pulled away with a 22 points in the third quarter as Pauze scored on a pair of 2-yard runs. Irish quarterback Joe Kendzicky also scored with his legs -- a touchdown and a two-point conversion run -- in the frame, but it was his arm that set the Irish offense up. He finished an efficient 10-of-13 passing for 208 yards with no interceptions

Pauze finished with 10 carries for 60 yards rushing. Ashton Hundley added a 24-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

The Fighting Irish will travel to Almont for a district title game next week. Almont (9-1), the No. 4-ranked team in the final Associated Press Division 5 poll of the season, beat Clawson, 54-15, on Friday night.

Almont also beat Capac, 28-0, early this season.