Hankerson, Turner lead 1st-half rout

The band finished playing and St. Thomas Aquinas senior quarterback Zion Turner stood alone at midfield looking down at the Raiders’ logo one last time.

“I was just soaking it in,” said Turner, who completed 12 of 13 passes for 205 yards and three scores as the host Raiders rolled to a 45-7 victory over Gainesville Buchholz in Class 7A state football semifinal on Friday night at Brian Piccolo Stadium.

“It’s my last home game and I came a long way — four years here and I did a lot of things, a lot of good things and now I just want to win state,” said Turner, who has thrown for 1,992 yards and 24 TDs this season. The dual-threat QB has also rushed for 300 yards and scored 11 TDs on the ground.

“It’s been an amazing journey,” Turner added. “We got off to a great start and then we got humbled in the second week [losing 24-21 to Tampa Jesuit]. We told ourselves we are going to be a comeback story because people were going to doubt us. We kept fighting and being the best team in the nation.”

Turner and St. Thomas Aquinas (13-1) will get that chance when they face Tampa Bay Tech in the Class 7A state final on Friday, Dec. 17 at 7 p.m. at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale.

Anthony Hankerson scored on three touchdown runs, while Turner threw for two TDs and ran for another to stake the two-time defending state champion Raiders to a 42-7 halftime lead.

Turner had scoring tosses of 50 and

26 yards and added an 11-yard scoring run, all in the first half, while Hankerson had scoring runs of 26, 6 and 1 yards to give host St. Thomas Aquinas, winners of a state-record 12 state championships, including the past two and five of the past seven, the win.

Buchholz held the Raiders on downs the first two series before Hankerson opened the scoring on a 26-yard TD gallop down the right sideline for a

7-0 lead with 2:30 left in the first quarter. Turner tried to run an option and fumbled the ball in the direction of Hankerson who scooped up the loose ball on one bounce and raced untouched to the end zone.

On the Raiders’ next series, Turner found a streaking Jaylan Sanchez for a

50-yard touchdown and a 14-0 lead with

42 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Turner threw his second TD of the first half, a 26-yarder to Isaiah Hardge with

6:56 left in the first half, to extend the lead to 21-0. The score capped a six-play,

60-yard drive.

Hankerson scored on a 6-yard run to up the lead to 28-0 before Buchholz would finally get on the scoreboard on an

89-yard kickoff return by Jacarree Kelly with 5:22 left in the first half.

The Raiders closed out the first-half scoring on touchdown runs by Hankerson from a yard out and Turner from 11 yards out for a 42-7 lead. After St. Thomas Aquinas was unable to move the ball on its first two series, the Raiders scored on its final seven straight possessions.

Junior running back Xavier Terrell finished the game with five carries for 92 yards, while sophomore running back Jordan Lyle had 7 carries for 69 yards and Hankerson finished the game with

9 carries for 43 yards and three scores. “The goal for us is to get a three-peat,” Hankerson said. “We’ve been taking it one game at a time. Every game we don’t take it lightly, it’s a state championship game.”

Hankerson said the loss to Tampa Jesuit hurt the Raiders but set them up for success.

“It woke us up,” said Hankerson, who has 19 rushing touchdowns and more than 900 yards rushing for the season. “We had some ups and downs, but we responded well. I also have to give a shoutout to my offensive line creating holes and the coaches for creating schemes.”

St. Thomas Aquinas padded the lead to 45-7 on a 32-yard field goal by Zachary Tolerico with 1:49 remaining in the third quarter.

The Raiders have won 12 straight games and have outscored opponents,

598-157. They are ranked 13th in the nation by MaxPreps and No. 1 in Florida in Class 7A. They are No. 6 overall.

“Like any other form of adversity, the loss put things in perspective,” Harriott said. “In ensured that you don’t take another one of these opportunities for granted…we are very fortunate to have a great group of leaders who are very mature and committed to this program.”

With its first loss on the road, Buchholz

(12-2) saw its nine-game winning streak come to a screeching halt. They had won nine in a row following a 16-7 loss to Cardinal Gibbons and had outscored the opposition 458-101 entering the game. The Bobcats are ranked No. 3 in Class 7A, No. 14 overall in Florida, and No. 63 in the nation by MaxPreps.

Buchholz, which won the Class 4A state title in 1990, fell in the Class 7A regional semifinals last season.