Raider Press Box

ONCE AND ONLY ONCE

The Regional Final Playoff Game, also called Round 3 of the FHSAA Football Championships, has been very good to the Raiders.  Since the playoffs were expanded to 5 rounds in 1993, Aquinas has reached this round eleven times with a record of 9 wins and 2 losses.

The Raiders will face the Melbourne Palm Bay Pirates (9-3) at Brian Piccolo Memorial Stadium in a state history making 81st playoff game for St. Thomas.  The Raiders and Pirates have never met in a football game.  The run-oriented Pirates have also had a successful football program winning the state championship in 2000 and 2002 under long-time coach Dan Burke.

Only once has Aquinas been defeated in a regional-final home game (5-1) with that loss coming in 1998.

The Raiders commit piracy on the artificial turf and rob Palm Bay of a Final Four appearance.

Raider Press Box Prediction: Aquinas by 10

10 STRAIGHT, MOVE AHEAD

Raiders (11-1) win their tenth consecutive game against the Dillard Panthers, 41-12, posting the most points ever against their long-time rivals; but more importantly move on to Round 3 of the Class 5A playoffs.

Aquinas amassed 437 yards of total offense-356 yards on the ground with Giovanni Bernard leading the rushing attack with 127 yards on 14 carries.  The passing combination of Ryan Becker to Gabe Holmes connected twice for touchdowns of 18 and 5 yards.  Duron Carter caught the third TD pass from Becker in the 3rd quarter.

Conor O'Neill lead the St. Thomas defense with 6 solo tackles, 2 assists and 2 tackles for loss.

With the victory the Raiders will next face the Melbourne Palm Bay Pirates in the Class 5A Regional Final on November 30 at Brian Piccolo Stadium.

HOME SWEET HOME

St. Thomas travels to Lockhart Stadium to face Dillard High School in a Class 5A - Round 2 - Regional Semifinal contest.

If the Raiders have to play an away playoff game, there is no better place than Lockhart Stadium.   Over the years the stadium has been very friendly to the Raiders and at one time served as their home field. 

In 64 games at Lockhart their record stands at 38-23-3 and go into the Dillard game on a 16 game Lockhart winning streak.  The last loss for the Raiders at the soon to be demolished stadium was to Dillard in 1995.

To win this game St. Thomas' offense will need to get back on track after a sub par performance against Round 1 opponent Ely.  Defensively, the Raiders need to continue their late season improvement and shut down a predictable Panther offense.

Both teams know that one loss and you go home at playoff time.  Dillard is the home team in this game, but there is no Home Sweet Home ending for the Panthers against the talented Raiders at their home-away-from home. 

Raider Press Box Prediction: Raiders by 14

SPECIAL DELIVERY

Raider Special Teams snatched a victory away from the Ely Tigers in a Round 1 State playoff game, 13-12, at Brian Piccolo Memorial Stadium.

Aquinas was heavily favored against the Tigers. But the Raiders needed two field goals and a PAT by Kicking Specialist, Mike Palardy, along with a 60 yard punt return by Philip Pierre-Louis to finish off Ely.

The Raiders' defense stopped a Ely drive in the closing seconds to secure the victory.

In the third quarter, Pierre-Louis put the Raiders ahead to stay when he muffed a punt at his 40, but quickly recovered to sprint down the Aquinas sideline for the winning touchdown.

MIRAMAR GOES DOWN WITHOUT A FIGHT

The Raiders' defense shut down the high-scoring Miramar offense with their best defense effort of the season.

The Raiders' defense sacked Miramar's Eugene Smith four times, picked off one of his passes and forced six fumbles en route to a 38-6 St. Thomas win over the Patriots.

Christian Thompson lead the way with 9 solo tackles and 2 quarterback hurries. An 85-yard interception return by Dorian Graham off an interception of Miramar backup QB, Brendin Pierre in the fourth quarter sealed the victory.

All-purpose Junior RB/DB Ronnie Kennedy was the offense leader with two touchdowns and chipped in on defense with a blocked PAT. Jeremiah Harden with 129 yards rushing and scored on a 2-yard run.

2007 PRESEASON POLL REVISITED

Raider Press Box polled Raider fans before the start of the 2007 season and asked "What will the Raiders final 2007 regular season record be?".

Raider fans voted and close to 75% predicted that the Raiders would be undefeated in 2007. Another 20% of voters believed that the Raiders would suffer only one loss during the regular season.

Aquinas finished 2007 with 9 wins and 1 loss. For those of you in the 20% group, congratulations. We all hoped for an undefeated season, but football perfection is not easily achieved.

Be sure to support the Raiders in the upcoming playoffs. As you know, in the playoffs it's one loss and done.

PASSING THROUGH

Believe it or not the 2007 regular season wraps up on Friday as Aquinas (8-1) faces the Miramar Patriots (7-2) at Brian Piccolo Stadium.

There will be a lot of action on and off the field.  The Raider Senior players along with their parents will be honored in a pregame ceremony.  Also, players from the 1997 State Championship will be recognized on the 10th anniversary of their title.

And that takes us to the game.  It appears that St. Thomas is the underdog.

The Raiders will be facing the high-powered Pat's passing offense with their junior quarterback, Gino Smith.  The pregame talk has centered around Miramar's offense being superior to the Raider offense and the Raider defense not able to stop the Miramar "spread" offense. 

As of now, Raider Press Box is not buying into this talk. 

This game reminds the Press Box crew of the Raiders 2000 State Semifinal playoff game at the "PICC" versus the Bradenton Southeast Seminoles. Southeast brought QB, Adrian McPherson,  Gatorade's Florida Player of the Year and their many lethal weapons, but took the long bus ride home with the "L".

Look for the Raider's own high-octane offense to match Miramar, while the Aquinas "D" does their part to hold off the aerial attack of the Patriots.

Take the dog at home.  Aquinas pats Miramar down and enters the playoffs on a playoff-type win.

Raider Press Box Prediction: Raiders by 6

PASSING TRIVIA

Each week 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 football is well known for having many record-setting running backs over the years, but not all of the offensive success can be accounted for by the running backs.  Several Raider quarterbacks have contributed to the success with their arms.

Name the Raider QB who holds the school record for "most passing yards in a season" and was the last St. Thomas signal caller to pass for "over 300 yards in an individual game"?

Hint #1:  One of 3 brothers to play football at Aquinas.

Hint #2:  He threw left-handed.

Super Hint:  Both his father and grandfather were players and head coaches in the National Football League.

Bonus Hint:  Go to this Steak House for a great meal.

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.  This will be the final Raider Trivia question of the season.

EVEN DOZEN

Game 9 of the 2007 regular season sends the Raiders (7-1, 4-0) to Western High School to play the Wildcats (1-8, 0-4) in a District 16-5A game.  This lopsided series has seen Aquinas on top in all eleven meetings since their first game in 1984.

St. Thomas clinched their eleventh consecutive district title last week with their 42-7 victory over the McArthur Mustangs.

No use trying to disguise the outcome of this year's contest.  The Raiders look to fine tune their performance this week and get ready for their upcoming playoff run.

The Aquinas offense jumps on the Mildcats early; and makes it an even dozen wins all time against no defeats in this series.

Raider Press Box Prediction: Raiders by 39