ORLANDO – Best in Florida. Best in nation? St. Thomas Aquinas made its case big time Friday night in the Class 5A state championship football game against powerhouse Lakeland at the Citrus Bowl.
An offense which rolled to 388 total yards on 39 plays, nine touchdowns and a running clock in the fourth quarter provide all the proof you need to make the case that ESPN’s Cris Carter made Saturday morning following the Raiders’ 56-7 thumping of the Dreadnaughts before more than 9,000 fans.
Carter, a former NFL great, an Aquinas assistant coach and the father of Raiders wide receiver Duron Carter, proclaimed Aquinas to be No. 1 in the nation to his fellow Sunday NFL Countdown crew members Chris Berman, Mike Ditka, Keyshawn Johnson and Tom Jackson.
Coach George Smith’s Raiders have been just that in the USA Today national rankings the last couple of weeks, while Bill Castle’s Dreadnaughts were No. 6. Both teams entered Friday’s game at 14-0, but the gap couldn’t have been wider between the two state powerhouses as it was.
St. Thomas Aquinas led 28-0 after the first quarter and 35-0 at halftime before Lakeland would score its only touchdown on the night, an 86-yard touchdown pass from Jarred Haggins to Javares McRoy 23 seconds into the second half. The Raiders answered that 91 seconds later when Beau Bucci scored on an 8-yard run. Then Duron Carter caught a 5-yard scoring pass from quarterback Ryan Becker, who had three touchdown passes and ran for another himself, later in the quarter go make it 49-7, much to the delight of former St. Thomas Aquinas player Michael Irvin, a NFL Hall of Famer.
Gabrison Holmes, who has committed to play at Smith’s alma mater Purdue next fall, opened the scoring on a 53-yard strike from Becker just 53 seconds in. By the end of the first quarter, James White would have a 45-yard touchdown run, Becker a 1-yard quarterback sneak and Conor O’Neill would score on a 20-yard interception return. O’Neill, who is headed to Wisconsin, finished with 11 tackles and a fumble recovery.
In the second quarter, Dwayne Difton hauled in a 12-yard pass from Becker to make it 35-0.
Defense was the name of the game for St. Thomas Aquinas, which harassed Haggins all night. The Raiders racked up three sacks of Haggins who completed just 3 of 13 passes on the night for 93 yards with one touchdown and one interception. In all, Lakeland managed just 236 yards of total offense on 54 plays.
Becker finished 8-of-11 passing for 100 yards and three touchdowns. Junior Gio Bernard finished with 104 yards on just 8 carries, while White added 98 yards on 4 carries. Ronnie Kennedy added 47 yards and Bucci 32, each on five carries as the Raiders finished with 288 yards on 28 carries. Steward Butler was Lakeland’s leading rusher with 83 yards on 12 carries.
The Raiders finished the season outscoring their opponents 695-117 in 15 games, including 241-50 during their 5-0 run through the playoffs. They beat Deerfield Beach, the top-ranked team in Class 6A football at the time in mid-October, by a score of 65-10. It’s no wonder more than a dozen current players could be playing at Division I teams next fall, and the cupboard is hardly bare for future Raiders teams.
This is the fifth state championship team coached by Smith in 32 years to go along with titles in 1992, 1997, 1999 and 2007. The Raiders also have been runners-up seven times. The loss was the worst in the long and storied career of Castle, who has coached six state championships, and the game was the first in Florida high school history matching two coaches with over 300 victories.
The 2008 St. Thomas Aquinas team ranks right up there with 2007 Miami Northwestern and 2005 Lakeland teams as among the storied high school teams in Florida high school history.
Being No. 1 in the country only adds to the legend.