No. 24 St. Thomas Aquinas rides playmaking defense past Heritage in clash of state powers
St. Thomas Aquinas typically sets a target number for takeaways in any given game — a challenge for its defense — and usually the bar is high. On Friday, Derrieon Craig said he wanted three against Plantation American Heritage and someone else told him to aim higher.
“They told me five,” the linebacker said. “For real, that’s a true story.”
In the fourth quarter, the Raiders hit their mark with an interception on the goal line to crush one of American Heritage’s last great scoring chances in Plantation. St. Thomas Aquinas held off the Patriots for a 24-16 win at American Heritage School.
The Raiders intercepted Blake Murphy in the first quarter and recovered two of the Patriots quarterback’s fumbles in the third, including a strip-and-score by Craig to knot the game at 14-14 on the opening possession of the second half. After Murphy was carted off the field after an apparently serious injury later in the third, American Heritage quarterback Ty Law Jr. entered and threw two more interceptions in the fourth quarter.
St. Thomas Aquinas, which dropped all the way to No. 24 in the MaxPreps rankings after a stunning loss to Tampa Jesuit last Friday, managed to rally for a road win despite getting just 251 yards of total offense thanks to two interceptions by safety Conrad Hussey, one by linebacker David Vadala and a pair of fumble recoveries.
“[Raiders defensive coordinator Jason] Taylor does a good job of getting the defensive guys excited and bought into the scheme,” coach Roger Harriott said. “They’re adamant about forcing turnovers and creating opportunities to change the momentum of the game.”
No singular play was more important than Craig’s touchdown in the second half.
The game was nearly three-and-a-half hours old by the time Craig blew up a broken play in the third quarter to tie the game at 14-14. At 7:30 p.m., Heritage Field was backed to the brim with a sellout crowd. Coaches from the Miami Hurricanes and Alabama Crimson Tide mingled on the sidelines. Even Miami Dolphins wide receiver Jaylen Waddle found a place near the corner of the end zone to watch the two defending state champions play in Broward County.
A half an hour later, a siren blared, both teams headed to the locker rooms and fans retreated to their cars to wait out a lightning delay. Even though a drop of rain didn’t fall, the crowd was thinner by the time the game resumed 1:55 later.
On the field, the Raiders (2-1) and Patriots (1-2) were tied 7-7, although St. Thomas Aquinas had just gotten an interception. The Raiders did nothing with the possession — they went three-and-out, punted away and American Heritage drove right back for an eight-play, 55-yard touchdown drive, capped by star running back Mark Fletcher’s 2-yard score. American Heritage took a 14-7 lead into halftime and got the ball to start the third quarter.
Two solid runs put the Patriots in a third-and-1 situation and Murphy ran up the middle. He easily got the yard, but Craig saw an opportunity. He reached into Murphy’s arm, pried the ball away and ran into the end zone for a game-tying 30-yard touchdown.
“That set the tone,” said Craig, who made the same sort of play in St. Thomas Aquinas’ win against American Heritage last year.
On the next third-down play, Murphy fumbled again and the Raiders took over at the Patriots’ 47-yard line. Star running back Anthony Hankerson ran for 10 yards and then 12. Star quarterback Zion Turner found star tight end Mason Taylor, who’s orally committed to the LSU Tigers, for another 10-yard gain. On the fourth play of the drive, Turner threw a jump ball up to Camden Brown and the star wide receiver, who’s committed to the Pittsburgh Panthers, pulled down a go-ahead 15-yard touchdown.
Turner finished 13 of 15 for 150 yards and two touchdowns, and added 13 rushing yards to carry the offense while American Heritage held Hankerson to just 51 yards on 13 carries.
The next play was Murphy’s last. The junior ran for a short gain and his right leg twisted beneath him. Play halted as a cart came out to retrieve the quarterback, who wore a cast on his right leg while the Patriots tried to cobble together a replacement.
Law’s second pass was an interception. His fourth pass was, too. American Heritage gave itself one last chance after the second interception when linebacker Jaeden Kinlock, who’s committed to the FCS Harvard Crimson, dropped Hankerson for a safety on the next play to cut the Raiders’ lead to 24-16.
For its final drive, American Heritage put Brandon Inniss at quarterback and the star wide receiver, who committed to the Oklahoma Sooners last month, led the Patriots to three first downs before they had to punt.
“We thrive on getting motivated through adversity, knowing that we’re going to meet those type of opportunities as a team,” Harriott said. “’Finish’ is one of our mantras and our guys did a good job.”
