Friday, November 23, 2018

St. Thomas Aquinas Blanks Dwyer

     The St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders shut out the Dwyer Panthers 35-0 at Brian Piccolo Stadium in a Class 7A regional final on Friday night. It was the third in the last four seasons that St. Thomas Aquinas eliminated Dwyer in the FHSAA playoffs.
     The Raiders won their 14th regional final in the last 15 years. The only time they did not was when the Panthers beat them in a regional semifinal back in 2013.
     St. Thomas Aquinas(12-1) moved out in front 7-0 with 4:22 left in the first quarter. Quarterback Curt Casteel connected a pass up the middle to wide receiver Marcus Rosemy for a 63-yard touchdown.
     Dwyer(11-2) tried to go for a fourth-and-one at their own 48-yard line and they were stopped with just over four minutes remaining in the first. STA took over on downs and reached the end zone on their ensuing possession. Running back Nigel White busted through the right side of line and scored from one yard away to make it 14-0 at 11:31 of the second quarter.
     The Raiders extended their margin to 21 points on their next drive. Casteel fired a pass down the right side to wide receiver Xavier Restrepo and Rosemy caught the ball behind him in the end zone on a 30-yard pass play at 9:20.
     The Panthers surrendered another touchdown with 2:37 to go in the second. Running back Jaedon Henry plunged up the middle from one out for a 28-0 Raiders lead.
     In the third quarter, St. Thomas Aquinas continued to roll. They ran a play to the right with running back Daniel Carter. His lateraled back to Restrepo, who came from the right side, reversed it and sprinted to the left sideline for a 13-yard touchdown at the 5:51 mark. The Raiders 35-point lead caused a running clock for the remainder of the contest.

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