The St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders had no problems in their 52-7 rout over the Royal Palm Beach Wildcats in a Class 7A regional final at Brian Piccolo Stadium in Fort Lauderdale on Friday night. They will host East Lake, who was a state semifinalist in 2013 and defeated Fort Myers 40-7, next week.
STA was eliminated in the same round last year when they lost on the road to eventual FHSAA Class 7A champion Dwyer. The Wildcats still have not won a regional final game in their school's history.
Royal Palm Beach(11-2) showed signs of being nervous in the first half on the big stage. Things began to break apart for them on the third play of their opening drive. Quarterback Toddy Centeio fumbled the ball on a run and it was recovered by defensive end Nicholas Bosa.
Two plays later, running back Jordan Scarlett ripped through the right side for a 24-yard touchdown run just 49 seconds into the game to give St. Thomas Aquinas(12-1) a 7-0 margin.
The Wildcats had to punt on their next possession. James Oliphant bobbled the catch, picked up the ball and ran it 74 yards for a score at 9:10. However, it was negated due to a holding penalty.
That did not stop the Raiders as Scarlett would rush through the middle, avoided several tacklers downfield, cut back to the right side and scored from 55 yards away to give Aquinas a 14-point cushion.
RPB had their best opportunity to score in the first half on their next possession. They had a 4th-and-3 from the Raiders 10 when Centeio threw a dump pass to the right side toward the first down marker, but wide receiver Da'von Brown dropped the ball to end the drive. Aquinas responded on their next drive as they capped it off on a 42-yard field goal by Christopher Kirtley with 14 seconds left in the first quarter for a 17-0 lead.
In the second quarter, St. Thomas Aquinas regained the ball when defensive back Rashard Causey intercepted a pass and returned it 57 yards to the Wildcats five-yard line. Quarterback Jake Rizzo would score from one yard out two plays later as he went up the middle on a sneak to make it 24-0 at 8:39.
Running back Deltron Sands added to the rout with 4:44 remaining in the first half with a carry around the left end and down the sideline from 12 yards away. He had a 92-yard touchdown run not allowed earlier in the quarter due to a holding penalty downfield.
St. Thomas Aquinas poured it on in the last couple of minutes of the first half. Scarlett made it 38-0 with 2:01 remaining in the second quarter on a two-yard burst up the middle. Defensive back Claudeny Jeudy would intercept a screen pass to the left side on the Wildcats next drive. The Raiders struck again on the next play when Rizzo connected with wide receiver Jawuan Harris on a 36-yard reception and extended their lead to 45-0 with 21 seconds to go.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment