St. Thomas Aquinas tops Chaminade in battle of reigning state champions

Friday’s marquee match-up between the St. Thomas Aquinas and Chaminade-Madonna football teams was a classic back and forth game between a pair of teams hoping to defend their respective state titles.

Turnovers, however, played a critical role in the eventual 27-21 Aquinas victory in the regular season finale for both teams.

Trailing 21-14, a St. Thomas defensive back Samari Howard interception led to a Duke Daley 1-yard run tying the score with 23 seconds left in the third quarter.

The scoring play was set up by a Mason Mallory 37-yard pass to Julius Jones to the Lions’ 1.

Chaminade (7-2) lost fumble on its next possession and that was followed by a 37-yard field goal by Johnny DiSalvatore early in the fourth quarter for a 24-21 lead.

After an exchange of punts, the Lions attempted a field goal to tie the score, but Jerimiyah Douglas came off the edge to block the attempt.

“We’ve been talking about it all week coming off the edge,” Douglas said. “I saw the opportunity and got to it. They beat us last year and we came back strong to win it.”

The Raiders’ ensuing drive led to another DiSalvatore field goal, this time of 28 yards with 2:45 to play. It was his 10th field goal of the season.

The Aquinas (9-1) defense forced yet another turnover during the Lions’ final opportunity to rally.

Daniel Norman pulled the ball from Lions quarterback Malik Leonard’s hands and was recovered by Donovan Adras.

“This prepares you,” Chaminade coach Damien Jones said. “It makes you clean up all your mistakes. When we get to the playoffs, you are cleaning all that stuff up, and you are going. You lose games like this, and you learn from them. I feel great about my team. If we don’t make those mistakes tonight, it’s a different outcome. Those are the football gods. You can’t win all of them.”

The first half was a tight defensive bout with Leonard, who passed for 258 yards, scoring on a 14-yard run for Chaminade early in the second quarter for 7-0 lead.

Aquinas answered as Daley scored the first of his two touchdowns with a two-yard run with 5:46 left in the first half.

Chaminade opened the second half to take a 14-7 lead on a 1-yard run by Leonard.

Mallory responded for Aquinas with a 65-yard run after juking past a Lions defender and tied the game at 14 late in the third quarter.

“I just saw green grass and took advantage of that,” Mallory said. “A lot of people mess around with me and say I’m slow, but I definitely turned on the burners for that one.”

Despite the loss, the Lions still lead the series 8-5, that began when they first played Aquinas in 1963. Chaminade won last year’s meeting 29-22 after a 43-year hiatus.

Chaminade running back Derrek Cooper led all runners on the night with 100 yards on 14 carries.