St. Thomas tops Ponte Vedra to take state championship
JUPITER — All season long, St. Thomas Aquinas used last year’s bitter 13-11 defeat to Lake Highland Prep in the state championship game as motivation to not come up short again.
On Saturday night, the Raiders played in the title game once again, but this time, heartbreak turned to triumph. Playing in front of a packed crowd at Velocity Community Credit Union Stadium, St. Thomas Aquinas topped PonteVedra13-11 to capture its first boys lacrosse state title.
“It’s unbelievable,” Raiders coach Terry Crowley said. “I didn’t think it was real. I kept counting it down going, is this actually happening? I think nowwhen I go to conventions that people won’t ask if [St. Thomas Aquinas] just has football players. Every time I go anywhere, they ask ‘Do you have football players?’ Hopefully, when I go now they’ll ask if we have lacrosse players.”
The Raiders are the first team other than St. Andrew’s or Lake Highland (Orlando) Prep to capture the boys lacrosse state championship.
“I kind of feel like I’m dreaming,” said senior midfielder Louie Yovino, who scored two goals on the night. “The camaraderie was out of control and on the field. I think the physicality of the game and how we play, playing JohnnyLunchbucket type lacrosse. Hitting hard, smashing heads, cracking skulls. That’s howwe play.”
In a battle of two undefeated programs, Saturday night’s title game lived up to the hype. Coming off a thrilling 11-10 overtime win over Benjamin in the semifinals the previous night, St. Thomas (19-0) jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead less than two minutes into a game off a goal from Kevin Crowley, who finished with a teamhigh four goals.
The Raiders, who never trailed the entire contest, took a 4-2 lead after one quarter. St. Thomas extended its lead to 7-3 midway through the quarter as Brennan Harhart — who had scored just six goals all season— fired in his third of the first half.
Ponte Vedra (23-1) responded immediately with three straight goals and cut the lead to 8-7 entering halftime. The Sharks — also looking for their first title— refused to let the Raiders’ coronation go smoothly. Behind Matthew Keeler’s third goal of the game, the Sharks evened the game at 10-10 with 1:10 remaining in the third quarter. But St. Thomas retook the lead with :11 left as Jimmy Harrington scored to give the Raiders an11-10lead heading into the decisive final frame.
From there, St. Thomas never gave up the lead, sealing its first ever title.
Ever since the loss in the state championship, Kevin Crowley said, “we came out to the next practice talking about state championship, state championship. We finally got it done and it’s an unexplainable feeling.”