St. Thomas downs Hallandale
FORTLAUDERDALE— There would be no dramatics like last season’s matchup. Itwas just an oldfashioned whupping by St. ThomasAquinas.
While St. Thomas (3-1) andHallandale (2-2) played to one of the wildest games in Broward County last year, the Raiders made it clear there would be nothing of the sort on Friday night at Brian Piccolo Stadium.
Instead, they got a tuneup before the big trip to Las Vegas to take on national No. 1 Bishop Gorman in the formofa42-0homecoming victory that was cut short early in the third quarter as the lightning alarmwent off and the Chargers agreed to call the game.
“Wehadanumberof distractions we were working with thisweek with regards to homecoming and the futuregameagainst Gorman,” St. Thomas coach Roger Harriott said.“[Ourplayers] were able to demonstrate some real maturity by playing Hallandale extremely hard.”
Quarterback Jake Allen went 15 for 19, throwing for 282 yards and two touchdowns while adding another one on the ground.
He shrugged off an interception on his third pass attempt that was nearly returned the other way by Hallandale's Shemar Thornton on Aquinas' first drive to put together his stellar performance.
“Once you hit adversity, you have to bounce back,” said Allen, the senior UF commit. “After that interception, I knew we had to come back and score the next drive.”
The Raiders did. Following a missed Hallandale field goal, Allen capped a six-play, 80-yard drive with a 32-yard touchdown pass to Elijah Moore, who finished with four catches for 64 yards.
Aquinas outscored Hallandale 28-0 in the second quarter. Allen hit Trevon Grimes for a 16-yard touchdown and punched in a QB sneak froma yard out while Daniel Carter andMike Epstein, whofinished with146 total yards, also scored on the ground.
Mike Harley returned the second half’s opening kickoff90yards for a touchdown shortly before the siren indicating lightning in the area went off while the clockwas running.
AMERICAN HERITAGE 24, NORLAND 6: A defensive battle through three quarters, American Heritage forced two momentumturnovers that led to awinoverMiami Norland in a non-district game in Plantation.
The Patriots (5-0), ranked 17th nationally in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 National Football Rankings and tops in the state Associated Press poll in Class 5A, had their hands full trying to move the ball on a Norland (3-3) squad that gave the top ranked team in Class 6A Miami Central all they could handle last week.
Leading just 3-0 late in the third quarter, the Patriots thwarted the Vikings’ best drive of the game by forcing the game’s first turnover, a fumble recovery by Willie Hampton on theHeritage 23. Though the ensuing drive produced no points, the Vikings’ next drivewas short livedasWill Allen recovered a fumble on the first play fromscrimmage, setting the Patriots’ offense up on the Vikings 23.
The Patriots reached into their bag of tricks on the next play, dialing up a double reverse on which Anthony Schwartz would score the game’s first touchdown.
The score seemed to wake up the Patriots’ passinggameas quarterback Jason Brown would throw long scoring touchdowns on the next two possessions to put the game away. Brown hit Matt Solomon for a 70-yard strike with 8:28 to play in the game, then followed that up on the Patriots’ next offensive play with a 67-yard touchdown pass to Laress Nelson.