St. Thomas Aquinas back in 7A title game

St. Thomas Aquinas took a one-score lead into halftime of its

7A state semifinal matchup against Bloomingdale on Friday in Valrico, but the Raiders had their way in the second half en route to a 37-14 win.

The victory sent the Raiders on to the state title game in Tallahassee on Saturday at 7 p.m. against Orlando Edgewater.

It’ll be the Raiders’ 20th appearance in the state championship game, 11 of which ended with a title.

Jacksonville Bolles is tied with Aquinas with 11 championships of their own and also headed to Tallahassee.

If Bolles loses to the Raiders’ cross-town competitor, Cardinal Gibbons, on Thursday afternoon, St. Thomas will be one victory from having the most state championships of any program.

Bloomingdale opened the scoring Friday night, recovering a fumble on the Raiders’ opening possession and cashing in on a

1-yard quarterback keeper from Tre Simmons.

From there, St. Thomas Aquinas took over, scoring on back-to-back possessions with a 7-yard Anthony Hankerson touchdown run and

33-yard field goal from kicker Max Larson.

The Raiders picked off Bloomingdale on their final two drives of the first half, and Aquinas added one more score on a

1-yard quarterback keeper by Zion Turner top grab a 16-8 intermission lead.

Hankerson scored the first points of the second half just minutes in on a 27-yard touchdown run, and immediately following a Simmons fumble near the goal line, Raiders running Corey Reddick had a 54-yard run to help set up yet another touchdown. St. Thomas (7-1) took a 30-8 lead into the fourth quarter.

In the final 12 minutes, the Raiders forced another turnover, picking off Simmons.

On the next play, Hankerson broke away for his third touchdown of the night, this time for

42 yards — all the way to the state championship game.