The St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders won their seventh state football title in school history as they romped the Tallahassee-Lincoln Trojans 41-25 in the Class 7A state final at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando on Friday night. The Raiders had previously won three FHSAA Class 5A titles at the same stadium in 2007, 2008 and 2010. They are now tied for the second most Florida high school football titles in the state along with Glades Day of Belle Glade, University Christian of Jacksonville and North Florida Christian of Tallahassee.
After kicking off for short distance every time against Bradenton-Manatee last week, STA decided to send the opening kickoff deep. It turned out to be a mistake as John Burt returned the ball 95 yards for a score 15 seconds into the game. Lincoln missed the two-point conversion run and had a 6-0 lead, which was the only time they were ahead in the contest.
St. Thomas Aquinas(13-2) scored on their final three possessions of the first quarter. Quarterback John O'Korn finished off a three-play, 55-yard drive as rushed up the middle from 51 yards away at 5:40 and Aquinas led 7-6. On the third play of their next possession, O'Korn rifled an 80-yard touchdown pass to Corey Holmes at 2:38 for a Raiders 14-6 margin. STA struck quickly again on the first play of their next drive as Mark Barr had a 71-yard touchdown reception from O'Korn with 18 seconds left in the first quarter.
Lincoln(12-2) would dominate the second quarter as they handled the ball for almost the entire period and scored on both of their possessions. Quarterback Cameron Joseph would end a 15-play, 68-yard drive with a one-yard spurt for a touchdown at 6:05 and cut the deficit to 21-13. On their following drive, Joseph fired a 50-yard touchdown pass to Taj Williams with 1:16 left in the first half. The Trojans failed on the two-point conversion run to tie the game and were down 21-19.
Aquinas had enough time to get a 23-yard field goal by Alex Knight with no time remaining in the second quarter and were ahead 24-19. Neither team were able to score in the third quarter.
The Raiders compiled 17 unanswered points during their first three possessions of the fourth quarter to put the game away. O'Korn culminated an 11-play, 67-yard drive with a run from three yards out at 8:37 and extended their lead to 31-19. Knight followed on their next possession with a 27-yard field goal with 6:04 left. Running back Fred Coppet added another touchdown as he raced through with a 40-yard run at 2:18 to finish a three-play, 64-yard drive for a 41-19 Raiders lead.
The Trojans scored on their final drive of the game and closed the margin to 41-25 as Edward Gaines had a 15-yard touchdown reception from Joseph with 43 seconds remaining. They missed on the two-point conversion pass.
O'Korn went 11-26 passing for career-high 339 yards, two touchdowns and one interception in his final game with the Raiders. He also had ten carries for 95 yards and two touchdowns. Coppet, also playing his final game, had 22 carries for 151 yards and one touchdown. Holmes(167 receiving yards) and Barr(132 receiving yards) both had four receptions and one touchdown each. Rocco Casullo won his first state title as a head coach. Former Aquinas head coach George Smith had won the six previous state titles with the school.
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