It took Robbinsdale Armstrong standout Kevon Johnson a little while to get rolling Friday night.

But while the Falcons waited for their standout senior running back, their defense held serve.

And when Johnson finally broke free on touchdown runs of 21 and 73 yards in the second half, it proved just enough to lift Armstrong past St. Thomas Academy 20-14 at Armstrong Stadium.

The Falcons (5-0) — ranked No. 5 in the state in Class 5A — held the No. 9 Cadets (3-2) to just one first down the entire first half, that coming on St. Thomas Academy’s opening play from scrimmage.

The lone first down came after the Cadets picked off a pass on Armstrong’s opening possession to take over the ball at the Falcons’ 32-yard line. But the Armstrong defense held tough, stopping St. Thomas Academy on downs at the Falcons’ 15.

From there, it remained scoreless until Armstrong drove 57 yards to score on a 9-yard touchdown pass from senior Dawson Franke to junior Farelle Deline with 1:18 to play before halftime. The Falcons lined up to kick the extra point, but the Cadets broke through, forcing a successful pass for a two-point conversion that put Armstrong in front 8-0 at halftime.

The Falcons expanded their lead to 14-0 when Young scored on a 21-yard touchdown run with 5:49 to play in the third quarter.

But that’s when the Cadets’ offense finally came to life, driving 76 yards to score on a 1-yard quarterback sneak by senior Chase Young that cut the gap to 14-7 with 10:26 remaining.

Armstrong needed just two plays to answer, though, expanding its lead to 20-7 on a 73-yard run by Johnson.

The Falcons defense then came up with an interception by senior Noah Gorgos on the Cadets’ next possession, but St. Thomas Academy didn’t roll over — cutting the Falcons’ lead to just 20-14 when senior Finn Benz returned an interception of his own for a touchdown with 5:55 to play.

St. Thomas Academy then forced an Armstrong punt that gave the Cadets the ball back at their own 29 with 2:31 remaining but could not pick up a first down.

Young’s pass on 4th-and-10 at the 29 fell incomplete, sealing the win for the Falcons.

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