St. Thomas Aquinas uses 5 takeaways to thwart Western upset bid. ‘That’s what we harp on’
At some point, maybe St. Thomas Aquinas will stop piling up the takeaways and an opponent will figure out how to crack the Raiders’ defense.
Or maybe not. St. Thomas Aquinas swears the forced fumbles and interceptions — five more of them in its 31-21 win against Western on Friday in Fort Lauderdale — are something it can rely on to create and, so far, the Raiders have mostly proven to be right.
“I think that’s what we average is like five takeaways,” St. Thomas Aquinas defensive lineman Jason Hammond said with a laugh, “but that’s what we harp on.”
The Raiders’ 10-point win wasn’t quite as close as the score indicated, but it also wasn’t quite a lopsided beatdown as the score indicated when they led 31-7 in the final two minutes. The Wildcats picked up multiple first downs on each of their first three possessions, only to have a pair of turnovers kill two of the drives. With less than two minutes left in the second quarter, Western forced St. Thomas Aquinas into a three-and-out, only to muff a punt and let the Raiders, who are ranked No. 17 in the nation by MaxPreps, score a touchdown with 25 seconds left in the half to go up 17-7 at the break.
St. Thomas Aquinas’ five-takeaway performance came just two weeks after the Raiders had five against Plantation American Heritage to win the meeting between nationally ranked teams.
St. Thomas Aquinas (4-1) eventually put away the Wildcats (2-2) by scoring on back-to-back drives to take a 31-7 lead in the third quarter, then forcing a turnover on downs early in the fourth at Brian Piccolo Stadium.
“We’re not happy with how it transpired,” Raiders coach Roger Harriott siad, “but we’re grateful for the win and that everybody’s healthy.”
On its first drive, Western marched all the way from its own 20-yard line out to St. Thomas Aquinas’ 36 and then fumbled. On their second, the Wildcats started at their 20 again and got out to their 47 before fumbling.
After the first takeaway, star quarterback Zion Turner scored on a 2-yard sneak to give the Raiders a 7-0 lead. After the second, St. Thomas Aquinas made a chip-shot field goal to go up 10-0.
Western finally answered by piecing together a complete drive and Wildcats quarterback Collin Hurst hit star wide receiver Jullian Lewis for an 8-yard touchdown on a slant. Western even followed it up by forcing a turnover on downs, but the Wildcats threw an interception on a double pass on their first play of the next drive, then muffed a punt after they forced the Raiders into a three-and-out.
With 25 seconds left in the half, Turner threw a fade to Camden Brown and the star wide receiver, who’s orally committed to the Pittsburgh Panthers, made a diving catch for a 25-yard touchdown.
“Cam just keeps on improving. He’s a great player, he has a great spirit. He’s such a great person. He just keeps improving weekly and we haven’t seen the best of him yet.”
Turner started off just 3 of 8 for 99 yards and all three completions went to Brown, with a pair of spectacular catches. The senior finished 4 of 9 for 111 yards and ran for a pair of touchdowns on sneaks before he sat out most of the fourth quarter with the game in control.
Star running back Anthony Hankerson also ran for 93 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries.
Western added a pair of touchdowns in garbage time, both on throws by Hurst, who finished 26 of 34 for 277 yard and ran for 26 on five carries. Lewis led all receivers with nine catches for 124 yards and two touchdowns.
For Western, it was a chance to show it could hang with one of the best teams in the state and it mostly did. St. Thomas Aquinas, however, has still never lost to the Wildcats — the Raiders are 15-0 all-time against the Broward County rival — and now heads into district play with a performance to improve on.
“It wasn’t our best showing,” Turner said.“We pride ourselves on getting motivated and we got motivated with those turnovers. We’ve got a lot of mistakes to correct, but we came out with the W, so I’m happy with the win.”
This story was originally published September 24, 2021 at 11:41 PM.
