St. Thomas Aquinas Beats Dillard

    The St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders held on to defeat the Dillard Panthers 21-10 in a kickoff classic at Brian Piccolo Stadium in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday night. Both teams, who both made the FHSAA playoffs last season, play their home games less than four miles away from each other.
    Things did not start out right for the defending FHSAA Class 7A champions on their first possession when Raiders tight end Sean Bender fumbled the ball away after a catch at the Panthers 20-yard line.
    Dillard responded quickly on the first play of the drive as quarterback Lee Martin found wide receiver Dennis Turner down the left side for a 40-yard reception. The Panthers took the ball as far as the Raiders one-yard line before they settled for a 30-yard field goal by kicker Joseph Bazlie and a 3-0 lead with 7:46 left in the first quarter.
    St. Thomas Aquinas took the lead at the 3:35 of the first quarter as running back Mardre London finished a long drive with a seven-yard touchdown run through the left side of the offensive line. Raiders kicker Charles Courtney converted the extra point to make it 7-3.
    The Raiders extended their margin to 14-3 with 4:09 to go in the second quarter. Quarterback Wade Freebeck fired a 32-yard pass toward the right sideline where wide receiver Devante Peete jumped and caught the ball in the front part of the end zone for the score. Garrett Rivera came in to kick the extra point for the team.
    The Panthers got one more good drive in to close the gap before halftime. Martin connected with an eight-yard pass to wide receiver Elijah Johnson in the back right corner of the end zone with 24 seconds remaining in the first half. Bazlie nailed the extra point as Dillard was down 14-10.
    There was only one score by either team in the entire second half. Late in the third quarter, Panthers quarterback Jason Collins lost the ball when he was sacked on third down by defensive end Anthony Moten and it was recovered by defensive end Nicholas Bosa at the Dillard 11-yard line. The Raiders capitalized on the opportunity during the first play of the drive as quarterback Jake Rizzo threw a lob pass to the left back corner of the end zone where it was caught by Peete with 1:56 left. Zachary Cicero made it 21-10 as he kicked the extra point.