St. Thomas Aquinas Survives Cocoa

     The Cocoa Tigers left Fort Lauderdale with a 37-36 loss to the St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders at Simmons Family Field on Friday night. It was a battle between two FHSAA state champions. 

     Cocoa(2-1) is the defending FHSAA Class 2S state champs. St. Thomas Aquinas(2-1) is the defending FHSAA Class 3M state champs along with capturing four consecutive state titles. 

     The Raiders reached the end zone first and had a 7-6 lead after the first quarter. The Tigers leaped by and were ahead 16-14 at halftime. Both teams exchanged two touchdowns during the third quarter and Cocoa led 29-27. 

     It came down to the final quarter. Cocoa scored two minutes into the fourth as Brady Hart completed a five-yard touchdown pass to Jayvan Boggs. STA was able to match it quickly one minute later on a Jordan Lyle 21-yard touchdown run to make it 36-34. The Raiders finished the contest on a 19-yard field goal with six seconds to go for a 37-36 victory.