St. Thomas Aquinas resets and rolls past Monarch in rout
St. Thomas Aquinas didn’t just turn the page on Friday. The Raiders rebounded in a big way by easily disposing of Monarch, 44-6, on a misty-rainy night.
Senior quarterback Andrew Indorf ran for two touchdowns and threw for a pair of scores, and the Raiders (7-2) controlled the game in all phases.
Cedric Wyche rushed for 93 yards on 10 carries in the second quarter alone, and added a touchdown run.
Sophomore quarterback Derrick Baker saw playing time in the running-clock stage of the second half, and capped the scoring with a 3-yard run.
In rainy conditions, especially in the first half, the Raiders were nearly flawless.
Defensively, Justice Fitzpatrick had one of two interceptions.
The running game helped St. Thomas open up the passing game, and by the second quarter, Monarch trailed by three scores.
“I think they’re the best O-line in the nation, and they just continue to push forward to get our running backs room,” Indorf said.
Wyche took on a bulk of the running after Chance Washington was injured in the first half.
The convincing win for Aquinas came after the Raiders suffered a disappointing 29-22 loss last week to Chaminade-Madonna.
“Don’t let down,” Wyche said of this week’s focus. “We’re going to fight harder. We’re going to finish out the season and show everybody who we really are by winning states.”
The message this week for Aquinas was to wipe the slate clean, and push forward for another run at a state championship.
“We just really restarted, 0-0, that’s our record,” Indorf said. “We know we’ve lost two games now, so we just have to continue to go game-by-game, and continue to strive for greatness, because that’s really what it is. You just have to win the last game of the season.”
Monarch (4-3) wasn’t able to get much going offensively. And now the Knights have dropped back-to-back games to perennial national powers. On Oct. 5, they were tripped up, 37-8, by Chaminade-Madonna.
On Friday against St. Thomas, Monarch was held scoreless until less than 2 minutes remaining.
Jack Spaeder hooked up with Jabari Brady on a 15-yard touchdown pass play in the closing minutes, capping an 80-yard drive.
St. Thomas opened the scoring at 4:37 of the first quarter on Indorf’s 1-yard touchdown run.
The Raiders kept the pressure on and scored again on Indorf’s 19-yard pass play to Ah’mari Stevens. Richard Scott scored the 2-point conversion, making it 15-0.
Even in the kicking game, St. Thomas excelled, as the Raiders recovered an onside kick.
Wyche’s 13-yard touchdown run gave the Raiders a 23-0 lead.
The running of Wyche late in the second quarter, who accumulated 49 yards rushing on six carries, set up Indorf’s 21-yard touchdown pass to Isaac Forbes, giving St. Thomas a 30-point lead at halftime.
Indorf’s 8-yard touchdown run with 5:33 left in the third quarter, started the running clock.
“We came out with a good game plan,” Indorf said. “We knew what we were going to do. We just had to execute. We had it last week. We just didn’t execute.”