St. Thomas Aquinas’ Roger Harriott is Broward County’s 8A-6A Football Coach of the Year
When state championships seem to come every year, what makes any individual one special?
For Roger Harriott, the answer is always simple: Every group is different, driven by different stars and different leaders in the locker room.
Still, St. Thomas Aquinas’ latest Class 7A championship — its third in a row — did feel similar to the last couple and it’s what made this one special. These Raiders, with their senior-laden roster and a group of three-year contributors, finished their run in Fort Lauderdale in the only proper way.
After helping lead St. Thomas Aquinas to its record 13th state title and its first three-peat since 2014-2016, Harriott is the Miami Herald’s Broward County Coach of the Year for Classes 8A-6A.
“I already miss them,” Roger Harriott said last month after St. Thomas Aquinas blew out Tampa Bay Tech, 42-14, in the 7A title game at DRV PNK Stadium. “I told them three months ago I already miss them. I’ve been doing this a long time and we send them off into the world to be extraordinary human beings and we’re thankful. We’re just thankful for them. We’re proud of them.”
The Raiders finished its season with 13 straight wins after a Week 2 loss to Tampa Jesuit and ended the year as the No. 9 team in the nation, according to MaxPreps. They averaged 42.7 points per game, allowed 11.4 and had an average margin of victory of 31.3 points. They opened the year with a win against No. 4 St. Frances Academy from Baltimore, beat Class 4A champion Cardinal Gibbons by 25 points and won each of its five postseason games by at least 28 points. Their only loss came by three points against No. 8 Jesuit in Tampa.
Yes, St. Thomas Aquinas had its usual deep roster with nine first-team all-county selections, but only one of those players — junior safety King Mack — is a four-star recruit in the 247Sports.com composite rankings and only two have signed a national letter of intent to play in a Power 5 conference.
The Raiders only had two All-Americans — second-team all-county offensive linemen Julian Armella and Dawson Alters — and still finished the year as the No. 2 team in Florida.
St. Thomas Aquinas’ dominance in 2021 came about from developing a core group of offensive players from their freshman year until now.
In an era where transfers are common, quarterback Zion Turner, running back Anthony Hankerson, tight end Mason Taylor, and wide receivers Camden Brown and Jaylan Sanchez all played four years with the Raiders, and won three rings. Turner, Hankerson, Taylor and Brown were all first-team all-county selections, with Sanchez getting a third-team nod.
On defense, St. Thomas Aquinas has only had one player sign to play in college so far and its two most productive senior defenders were a pair of undersized linebackers in Derreion Craig and Kyrie Samuel.
It was a typical Raiders team, but it also wasn’t. It all comes back to the tradition former coach George Smith established and Harriott is helping to carry on.
