Raider Press Box

Raiders blank Spartans, 42-0

Aquinas opened district play with a convincing 42-0 win over Hollywood Hills at Brian Piccolo Stadium.

QB Ryan Becker threw 4 touchdown passes, two to Phillip Pierre-Louis and one each to Dwayne Difton and Giovanni Bernard. Becker finished the day with 175 yards on 6 of 8 passing.

Jeremiah Harden returned after missing a game due to injury. He rushed for 89 yards on 12 carries including a long of 34 yards.

The Raiders defense was led Christian Thompson, Dan Reeves and Ronnie Kennedy, who returned a fumble 77 yards for a touchdown.

Aquinas hosts Cooper City next week for Homecoming.

DO YOU RECOGNIZE THE 3 EARLY WARNING SIGNS OF A RAIDER VICTORY?

The Hollywood Hills Spartans (3-1, 1-0) currently on a three game winning streak march into Brian Piccolo Memorial Stadium to face the Raiders on Friday night.  St. Thomas (3-0, 0-0) coming off a bye week looks to send the visitors back to Hollywoodland with their first District 16-5A loss.

Again, this year Hills enters the game with a lot of pre-game momentum and hype with thoughts of defeating the Raiders.  Not so fast young Spartans.  The teams have two common opponents this season - South Plantation and Everglades - both the Raiders and Spartans have victories over those opponents.  Hills won their games by a total of 8 points, while Aquinas rolled over the Paladins by 37 and stomped the Gators by 15.  You do the math.

Look for these signs.

1. With the offensive line leading the way, Raider offense scores early and often.
2. Raider defense tightens to give Aquinas the edge in field position.
3. St. Thomas' special teams force Spartan turnovers.

Different season, same result.  The rested Raiders spear the Spartans.

Raider Press Box Prediction: Raiders by 17

MAKES NO SENSE TRIVIA

Each Monday during the regular season, a trivia question will be posted to test your knowledge of Raider Football History.  A randomly selected correct answer will be awarded 2 tickets to a Raider home game.

Aquinas has a long tradition of sending Raiders on to play college football, but here's a player that decided college football was not for him.

What Raider was named the Broward County Defensive Player of the Year, but never played college football?

Hints: This player was a linebacker on the 1997 State Championship Team.  He wore #41.

More Clues:  You can find the answer to this question in the 2007 Football Program in one of the program advertisements.

Post your answer in the comments section below. If you want to try and stump the Press Box Crew with a Raider Trivia question of your own, place it in the Comments section.  If we cannot answer your question, we will also place your name in the drawing for 2 tickets.

BYE WEEK - ANYTHING GOES POST

The Raiders (3-0) are idle this Friday due to a bye week in their schedule.  They will return to action Friday September 28 at "The Picc" versus the Hollywood Hills Spartans in a District 16-5A contest.

Since there is no pregame story to post this week and having already covered last week's victory against the Everglades High Gators on aquinasfootball.com and on this blog, we take this opportunity to feature a You Tube music video.

The music video is a cover of The Shins song, "New Slang", performed by Kyle Reid (STA Class of 2004).

Have a listen.

Raider Press Box will return with 2007 season coverage of St. Thomas Aquinas Football next week.

JUST FOR KICKS TRIVIA

Each Monday during the regular season, a trivia question will be posted to test your knowledge of Raider Football History.  A randomly selected correct answer will be awarded 2 tickets to a Raider home game.

The Raiders have had a long history successful place kickers. Name the former Raider kickers that are currently kicking for Division I programs?

Hint: The former Raider kickers currently attend Duke University, Michigan State University and Auburn University.

Post your answer in the comments section below. If you want to try and stump the Press Box Crew with a Raider Trivia question of your own, place it in the Comments section.  If we cannot answer your question, we will also place your name in the drawing for 2 tickets.

JV team rolls to 2-0 start

The Aquinas JV team has outscored its opponents by a combined score of 79-3 in its first two games of the 2007 season.

The Raiders began with a 40-3 thumping of city and catholic school rival Cardinal Gibbons. Last week they continued the domination by shutting out Dillard, 39-0. The Aquinas defense suffocated Dillard by holding them to 75 total yards of total offense.

The team is led by freshman QB Jacob Rudock and super sophomore Ethan Grant.

Raiders win ugly

Aquinas traveled down to Miramar on Friday and came home home with a not-so-pretty 45-30 win over Everglades.

Everglades scored first and last but Aquinas put up 45 points in between with strong performances from James White, who led the team with 129 yards rushing, and Dorian Graham on defense.

Ryan Becker struggled but still managed to throw 2 touchdowns, one to Duron Carter and the other to Gabrison Holmes. He finished with 71 yards passing on 5 completions.

Aquinas has a bye week coming up followed by a district match up with Hollywood Hills on September 28.

DRIVING COACH SMITH TO THE EVERGLADES

Head Coach George Smith, coaches and the Raiders board the buses for the 26 mile trip to play the Everglades Gators in the first-ever football game between the schools.

This game features two teams in a non-district game with no rivalry and no history.   Aquinas (2-0) has no losses and Everglades has no wins.  Not too much pregame stuff to write about this week.  How about this-it is a game of no's.

Everglades (0-2) has suffered two close losses to Parkway Academy and Hollywood Hills to begin the 2007 season.

In last week's game despite possessing the ball for only 10 minutes against South Plantation and running 31 plays to the Paladins 64 plays, the Raiders scored 51 points with an average of 11 yards per play.  All this with a running clock in effect during the 4th quarter.

Enjoy your ride, see you there.

Raider Press Box Prediction: Raiders by 21

ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TRIVIA

Each Monday during the regular season, a trivia question will be posted to test your knowledge of Raider Football History.  A randomly selected correct answer will be awarded 2 tickets to a Raider home game.

The 1999 State Title game is remembered as the Raiders 3rd title of the 90's. But the game is equally remembered for the trick play - a double forward pass - on the final winning drive.

Name the 3 Raider players involved in that trick play?

Hint: QB, Chris Cormier threw the first pass.

Winning Hint: The other 2 players were wide receivers.

Post your answer in the comments section below. If you want to try and stump the Press Box Crew with a Raider Trivia question of your own, place it in the Comments section.  If we cannot answer your question, we will also place your name in the drawing for 2 tickets.

Raiders win home opener, 51-14

Aquinas used the running of Jeremiah Harden and the passing of Ryan Becker to roll past South Plantation, 51-14, in front of 4,500 fans at Brian Piccolo Stadium.

The new FieldTurf served as a stage for the Raiders' rushing attack to break out. Aquinas running backs combined for 296 yards on the ground, including a spectacular 88 yard touchdown run by Beau Bucci in the 4th quarter.

Quarterback Ryan Becker only attempted 5 passes but 2 of them were touchdowns, the first to Dwayne Difton and the second to Duron Carter.

The defense was led by Dan Dougherty, Chase Geaney, John Hearns and Conor O'Neill, who recorded 2.5 tackles for loss and returned an interception for a touchdown.