Riding Florida High School football's longest current winning streak at 30 straight wins, St. Thomas Aquinas (6-0, 1-0) meets district rival, the McArthur Mustangs (4-2, 0-1), at Brian Piccolo Stadium. A victory for St. Thomas can secure the Raiders a place in the 2009 state playoffs.
Last week's homecoming game against the Miramar Patriots saw the Raiders reach into their offense bag of tricks and pull out a new weapon--the Wildcat formation. The clash between Broward County's top two teams finished in a 31-6 win for the nationally # 1 ranked Raiders.
RB, James White was the triggerman in the 'cat. Early on the formation threw the physical Patriot defense out of their rhythm. The Pats struggled to defend it, while the Raiders built a 17-0 halftime lead. White gained 96 yards on 16 carries with a 22-yard TD run.
Junior Quarterback Jake Rudock had three touchdown passes on 10 of 19 for 155 yards. Rudock's TD passes were a 9-yard pass to Junior WR, Rashad Greene, a 60-yard strike to Junior WR, Phillip Dorsett and a 5-yarder to Senior RB, Nick Arena. The Class of 2011 passer has totaled 17 touchdown passes through six games in 2009.
Junior DB, Marcus Roberson lead the St. Thomas defense with 8.5 tackles with LB Vinnie Mauro adding 4 tackles.
The Raiders continued to benefit from the strong performances of kicking specialists, MPal and BHop, also known as, Michael Palardy and Ben Hopfinger. The Pal-Hop combination kicked 6 touchbacks, a field goal and added 4 points after touchdown. Palardy, a University of Tennessee commit, gave the St. Thomas defense great field position with four punts averaging 47.5 yards with a long of 52 yards. The Patriots average starting field position was their own 22 yard line.
McArthur started the season 4-0, but have dropped their last two games. Their first defeat was to South Broward High, a district opponent, by one point. The Mustangs lost the lead by giving up 12 points in the last two minutes of the heartbreaking loss.
Mustang Coach Mike Zarra is a STA alum and a former assistant coach under current Raider Head Coach George Smith.
Raiders make the homecoming for Mustang's Coach Z. not very much fun. The Raiders go ugly, early; and put this contest away by the middle of the 3rd quarter. Aquinas locks up their spot in the playoffs.
The St. Thomas streak continues to 31 and 52 straight district wins.
Raider PressBox Prediction: Raiders by 28
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