St. Thomas Aquinas wins 11th state title

By Lynn Ramsey - Florida Catholic

Photography: LYNN RAMSEY | FC

DAYTONA BEACH | Those who enjoyed St. Thomas Aquinas’ 28-23 victory over Orlando Edgewater can thank Lakeland. They can thank sophomore quarterback Zion Turner, who carried the offense on his back. They can also thank the defense that came up with second-half stop after second-half stop.

By the time receiver Marcus Rosemy’s cameo appearance on defense led to his end-zone interception, Raiders fans had one more thing to be thankful for — a state championship.

“Glory to God. Hat’s off to Edgewater. They’re an exceptional team,” St. Thomas Aquinas coach Roger Harriott said. “Our objective was to celebrate Christmas. The best way to do that was to give the ultimate gift to our family and back to God, and that was to give our best effort. That’s what we did.”

The Raiders ended a three-year title drought with their 11th state title, putting them even with Bolles all-time. They denied Edgewater their first title. St. Thomas Aquinas entered the Dec. 14 game No. 5 in the MaxPreps’ Xcellent 25 rankings, so a national championship may not be out of the question.

 

NEWCOMERS SPARK THE RAIDERS

A couple of sophomores carried a Raiders running attack that gradually chipped away at the Edgewater defense. Turner helped deliver the state championship by carrying the offense. He ran 11 times for 72 yards and two touchdowns. He also threw for 112 yards on 13-of-20 passing and one touchdown, finishing the season with 1,635 yards passing and 23 touchdowns. Anthony Hankerson added 190 yards rushing to finish with 1,080 yards on the season.

“We made the adjustment. We had to keep telling ourselves that we had to keep pounding the ball,” Turner said. “The run game complemented the pass game, which was two of the things people said we can’t do, and just do what we do best.”

 

SHOCK AND AWE

Before the game, the consensus was that the nationally ranked Raiders would crush Edgewater. Someone forgot to tell Eagles receiver/running back Christian Leary. He ran for 141 yards and two touchdowns on only six carries. He jolted a Raiders defense geared toward stopping Isaiah Connelly. Leary’s running also helped the Edgewater line give quarterback Canaan Mobley time to throw for 208 yards on 22-of-32 passing.

Leary took an end-around for a 54-yard touchdown early in the first quarter to shock the Raiders. Early in the second quarter, Leary turned a wildcat-formation run into a 75-yard score and a 14-0 Edgewater lead.

Hankerson jolted the Raiders out of their doldrums with his longest run of the season — a 63-yarder that cut the Eagles’ lead to 14-7 with 3:41 left in the first half.

“The way they were getting tired, their front four was getting tired, we took advantage of it,” Hankerson said. “We kept pounding the ball.

 

RAIDERS PICK EDGEWATER’S COMBINATION

Aquinas began to solve Edgewater’s offense early in the second half, holding Leary to 12 second-half yards. Harriott said the defensive line has excelled all season.

“At halftime, we had to buckle down,” said senior defensive lineman Kiyah Wilmot. “(Leary), he’s a terrific player. Edgewater, I give them props. We had to come back and really game-plan some more and adjust to their wildcat.”

Defensive lineman Bobby Washington said the defensive line was struggling. “We weren’t getting pressure up the field, and we weren’t lining up,” he said.

The game turned on the first three Edgewater series of the second half. Derek Wingo sacked Mobley to force a punt on Edgewater’s opening drive. Then Blaine Anderson followed a Raiders three-and-out with an interception that set up Turner’s first touchdown run. That 13-yard scoring run tied the score 14-14.

The next Raiders score was set up by a busted Edgewater trick play. After Turner’s first touchdown, the Eagles tried a reverse on the kickoff return, but Keion Smith and Rohan Brown sniffed out the return and pinned Edgewater on its 9-yard line.

Wingo and Wilmot hurried Mobley into a third-down incompletion on the next drive, and the Raiders started the series at the Edgewater 42. Turner’s second 13-yard touchdown gave the Raiders a 21-14 lead. Edgewater managed only a 25-yard Joey Ruggiero field goal to cut the Raiders lead to 21-17 with 9:22 left in the game.

 

CLINCHER, THEN ANOTHER CLINCHER

Turner then mixed up the offense for an insurance touchdown. Turner hit Rosemy and Jahvante Royal for several first downs until Turner found Rosemy for an 11-yard touchdown to put the Raiders up 28-17.

“Once the offense gets rolling, there’s no stopping us,” Turner said. “We just complement each other and keep moving.”

Mobley’s 26-yard touchdown pass to Tommi Hill brought the Eagles within 28-23 with 4:18 left, but the Eagles botched another trick play when the Raiders stopped kicker Ruggiero’s 2-point rush attempt. That forced the Eagles to drive for a touchdown instead of a field goal.

Punter Noah Botsford boomed a 55-yard punt on the next series, forcing Edgewater to go 84 yards for a potential go-ahead score. But the Eagles had 2:05 left. A personal-foul penalty and Hill’s 29-yard grab put the Eagles at St. Thomas Aquinas’ 23 with 4 seconds left. Then Rosemy, who hadn’t played defense since middle school, entered as a safety, and raced halfway across the field to pick off Mobley’s final pass and trigger a huge celebration.

“We knew they were going to take a shot into the end zone,” said Rosemy, a University of Georgia commitment. “My coach trusted me to go into the game, and I just had to react and make a play.”

 

ERASING LAKELAND

Look back to a year ago for the spark that fired up the Raiders into state champions. Lakeland defeated the Raiders 33-20. Aquinas was determined to not allow a repeat.

Senior offensive lineman Marlon Martinez said the Lakeland loss put a chip on the Raiders’ shoulder, a chip that no team could knock off. Rosemy and Wilmot said the loss also left a sour taste in their mouths.

That loss drove the Raiders to work harder to avoid that taste. “We were very hurt after that game,” Rosemy said. “This offseason, we worked so hard. I got up early in the morning, running, lifting. That loss was extra motivation for us to go harder.”

A schedule that included preseason No. 1 Concord (Calif.) de la Salle and several South Florida powers proved the crucible for that work. But the Raiders went through the schedule unbeaten — the only team in the state to do so.

Harriott said the schedule built character and faith in the program. Turner said the schedule also required the best out of the Raiders every week.

“The goal wasn’t to get here; the goal was to win a state championship,” Turner said. “Being a state runner-up was not what we were looking for. Just getting here was nothing that we reached for. We always wanted to reach for the stars and play our hearts out.”

That schedule also helped form Turner into the Raiders’ starting quarterback. He lauded his coaches and teammates for pushing him. He also thanked the receivers for putting in the extra work to help him acclimate to being the Raiders’ starting quarterback.

Harriott said that several coaches and upperclassmen taught him the Aquinas way, but he also lauded Turner’s maturity.

Rosemy said that Turner excelled despite pressure and backlash from his getting the job. “I’m proud he was able to step up and make the plays that we need throughout this whole season, and especially during this game when it counted. He did a great job of leading us, and his toughness. In the future, he’ll be a great quarterback, a great role model and a great leader on this team.”