It will be a battle between two schools that have won the last three FHSAA Class 7A state championships as the St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders head to Palm Beach Gardens on Friday night and face the Dwyer Panthers in a regional semifinal at Blum Stadium. It will be the third time in the last five seasons that they will challenge each other on the same field in the postseason.
The Panthers had previously knocked off the defending state champion Raiders on two different occasions during the Class 7A regional final. Dwyer held on to win 6-3 against Aquinas in 2011 and got by 35-28 in 2013.
St. Thomas Aquinas(10-1) knocked off the Royal Palm Beach Wildcats for the second consecutive year. Last week they routed them with a 29-0 shutout victory in a regional quarterfinal. STA has impressed with wins over playoff teams such as the Booker T. Washington Tornadoes, Hallandale Chargers and Flanagan Falcons. Their only lost this season was on the road against the Deerfield Beach Bucks by the score of 6-3.
The Raiders have been successful despite several injuries to some of their top players. Defensive lineman and Ohio State University commit Nick Bosa will not play due to an ACL injury while their original starting quarterback and University of Florida commit Jake Allen is also out.
Beau Fillichio has stepped out at quarterback and played very well. His main targets are expected to be wide receivers Sam Bruce, Michael Irvin Jr. and James Jenkins. St, Thomas Aquinas are loaded in the backfield with James Charles and Jaxson Kincaide at running back.
Dwyer(10-1) come into the contest with not that much momentum. They barely got by a two-win team in the Blanche Ely Tigers 16-14 last week in a regional quarterfinal. The team was undefeated for their first nine games until they lost their season finale at home to the Atlantic Eagles 32-21.
The great news for the Panthers is that wide receiver and University of Florida commit Isaiah Johnson is returning to the lineup following a one-week suspension by the FHSAA. He will be the primary receiver that quarterback Toddy Centeio will throw to. Centeio led Royal Palm Beach to the regional final against the Raiders last year and lost.
Jakari Moses leads the running attack and is expected to get most of the carries along with Torey Brown. The wide receiver core consists of Noah Mathews, Austin Gold, Wesley Oldham, Oyeh Lurry-Davis and Cameron Jonas.
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