St. Thomas boys’ lacrosse wins overtime thriller to reach state title game

Locked in a tense overtime thriller with Orlando Bishop Moore, the St. Thomas Aquinas boys’ lacrosse team needed somebody to step up in a big moment.

That person turned out to be senior Kyle Engel, who bobbed and weaved his way through the Bishop Moore defense and scored with 33 seconds left in the first overtime to give the Raiders a thrilling 13-12 victory over the Hornets in a state semifinal on Friday night at Boca Raton High School.

St. Thomas (20-3-1) advances to the state championship game where the Raiders will look for their second state title in three years when they take on Ponte Vedra on Saturday at 6 p.m. at Boca Raton.

The Raiders trailed 11-8 with just seven minutes left before rallying with three unanswered goals to tie it with four minutes remaining. After Bishop Moore re-took the lead with two minutes left, Aquinas was down to its last 30 seconds when Brock Gonzalez scored with 22 seconds left to tie it.

“We never quit. That’s what this team is all about,” Engel said as he was being mobbed by his teammates. “Somebody had to make a play. I had the ball, saw an opening in the defense and managed to get myself in front of the net and one-timed it.”