‘Nothing is taboo’: Aquinas doesn’t shy from 4-peat talk, even if this team is different
Another year, another great defense at St. Thomas Aquinas and the list of reasons why are, frankly, too numerous for Conrad Hussey to get through.
A few days before the Raiders play for a fourth state championship, the star defensive back walks off the practice field Monday at St. Thomas Aquinas High School’s Brian Piccolo Field and tries to list off all the names he feels are underrated or under-discussed on the Raiders’ defense, and every time he thinks he’s near the end, another comes to mind.
Could anything sum up St. Thomas Aquinas better?
“There’s actually a lot of names,” Hussey quickly started to realize.
It starts with he and fellow defensive back King Mack — who, just like Hussey, is a four-star safety in the 247Sports composite rankings for the Class of 2023 and orally committed to the Penn State Nittany Lions — and yet it doesn’t stop there because it almost never does for the Raiders.
Also in the secondary, there’s star cornerback Kimari Robinson, who’s orally committed to the Duke Blue Devils. Up front, star defensive lineman Jason Hammond has seven sacks and star edge rusher Zakiah Saez, who’s orally committed to the Oregon State Beavers, has nine. Star linebacker Jayvant Brown will play in the All-American Bowl next month and is orally committed to the Michigan State Spartans.
After years of riding a high-powered offense to state titles, St. Thomas Aquinas (13-0) is one win away from a fourth straight largely because of its defense and it can make some history Thursday if it fends off an upset from Homestead on Thursday at 7 p.m. at DRV PNK Stadium across town in Fort Lauderdale.
The matchup will be the first-ever between a Miami-Dade County team and a Broward County team in a state championship game and the first of two this week with Miami Central playing Plantation American Heritage in the Class 2M final on Friday at 7 p.m.
Even this defense is different from some in the past. These Raiders don’t have a five-star prospect anchoring their defense, like they did with outside linebacker Derek Wingo in 2019 or edge rusher Dallas Turner in 2020, and instead exemplify the holistic approach Roger Harriott preaches.
“Having an interdependent type of model, where the D-line complements the linebackers, the linebackers complement the D-line and the defensive backs, the defensive backs do a great job of managing the air attack to ensure that our defensive line has time to put pressure on the quarterback,” the coach said, “it’s a system our coordinators have done a great job of pulling together.”
It’s a major reason why the Raiders are No. 7 in MaxPreps’ national rankings and riding a 26-game winning streak into this weekend.
St. Thomas Aquinas hasn’t surrendered more than 14 points in a game a season-opening win against Philadelphia’s St. Joseph’s Prep, way back in August. It avenged its only loss of last year in the 3M semifinals by routing Tampa Jesuit, 45-3. The Raiders give up only 9.3 points per game and haven’t given up multiple scores in a game in nearly four weeks.
St. Thomas Aquinas is on pace for its best season-long defensive performance since 2018, when it gave up just 9.2 points per game.
Although their offense hasn’t been close to an issue with an average of more than 42 points per game, the Raiders in some ways needed the stability this defense has provided.
For each of its last three championships, St. Thomas Aquinas leaned heavily on star quarterback Zion Turner and star running back Anthony Hankerson, and those two are gone, now playing for the UConn Huskies and Colorado Buffaloes, respectively. The defense gave the Raiders an anchor.
Mack, Hussey, Robinson, Hammond and outside linebacker Nicholas Rodriguez were established all-Broward County performers, and it was more than enough of a starting point for St. Thomas Aquinas to once again be a title favorite, especially once it reloaded with a transfer quarterback, the emergence of a trio of star running backs and the natural progression of young role players into foundational seniors.
“It’s always a team effort, offense and defense,” Hussey said. “It’s a three-part effort — offense, defense and special teams — so we all took accountability in our efforts.”
The idea of winning a fourth straight is not a topic the Raiders have ignored.
It’s the standard at St. Thomas Aquinas, after all. A win against the Broncos (12-2) this week would give the Raiders a record 14th Florida High School Athletic Association championship.
“Nothing’s taboo to us,” Harriott said. “We’re not superstitious. We’re faith-based here. We understand the magnitude of this and we’ve prepared ourselves to take it one play at a time and our players are really focused on continuing our legacy and helping to put an exclamation point on what they like to call a history story.
“We’re really focused on the actual moment. And with that being said, every rep is a state-championship effort, and we firmly believe that the more assignments we’re able to win throughout the course of the game, the probability significantly increases to be victorious and leave with a state championship.”
This story was originally published December 14, 2022 at 10:24 AM.
