St. Thomas Aquinas smacks Dillard in kickoff classic

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – In the national spotlight with a No. 1 ranking from USA TODAY, MaxPreps and PrepNation, the St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders kicked off their 2016 campaign against the Dillard Panthers in a kickoff classic – and they picked up where they left off in 2015. With Friday night lights right around the corner, the Raiders ran away with a 51-0 road victory.

THE BIG PLAYS: The St. Thomas Aquinas offense took it straight to the Panthers’ defense from the very first snap. On a hand-off from quarterback Jake Allen, Mike Epstein broke off a 30-yard run to put the Raiders in Dillard territory. The Dillard defensive line began pushing back with the Raiders threatening to score and forced a crucial third and goal for the Raiders. Allen calmly rolled out to his right and finished the drive off with the running back who started it – Mike Epstein who caught the screen and found the end zone to put the Raiders on the board just four minutes into the game.

On Dillard’s first possession, things went quite differently. A muffed snap recovered by St. Thomas Aquinas’ Lashawn Paulino-Bell set the Raiders up in the red zone once again. They were able to capitalize on their position after the turnover when Marco Salani split the uprights at 5:44.

Later in the first quarter, on just the second play of the drive, Allen hooked up with Mike Harley for a 30-yard score. Allen’s second passing touchdown of the game put St. Thomas Aquinas up 24-0 with the first quarter coming to a close.

Dillard quarterback Francois Moses, however, began to pick up the momentum in the second quarter. Moses was able to complete quick out routes that allowed the Panthers to march down the field, threatening to score. That was when the St. Thomas Aquinas defense made up for its missed tackles and penalties on that drive with an interception to take the wind out from under a driving Dillard team. St. Thomas Aquinas’ Anthony Solomon read Moses and was able to come up with the interception to put the ball back in his team’s hands.

After the defensive takeaway, Kyshaun Braun put the Raiders in the red zone, picking up a huge gain to the outside. Braun would have scored if he was not pushed out of bounds inside the 20-yard line. Allen, refusing to let an opportunity slip away, found Trevon Grimes in the end zone for his third touchdown pass of the game to put his Raiders up 31-0 with 3:33 left in the first half.

Dillard could not stop the bleeding when they were forced to punt the ball back to the Raiders and the offense, now being led by backup quarterback Beau Fillichio at this point, scored once again on a screen pass to Daniel Carter that went for 40 yards with just 10 seconds remaining in the half, to give the Raiders a commanding 38-0 lead.

With second units in for both teams, the second half was much less eventful than the first half. Moses was able to find complete passes every now and then, but the Panthers’ inability to mount a drive against the St. Thomas Aquinas defense ultimately led to their lack of points on the board.

With just seconds remaining in the game, the Raiders did not let up. Leading 45-0, Tavares Kelly Jr. broke off a huge run and walked into the end zone as time expired to put the Raiders up by 51.

WHEN IT WAS OVER: Down 10-0 with just over four minutes left in the first quarter, the Dillard Panthers were still very much in the game. After pounding the ball up the middle unsuccessfully, the offensive coordinator opted to throw the ball – only that proved even worse. Instead of finding his intended receiver, Moses found Asante Samuel Jr., who returned the interception 25 yards to put St. Thomas up 17-0 with 4:08 left in the first.

With the high-powered Raiders offense scoring at will and an early fumble and interception on offense for the Panthers, the game proved to be out of reach early in the first quarter – but St. Thomas Aquinas never let up.

STAR OF THE GAME: Jake Allen led his team to victory tonight just as he did in last season’s campaign in which his Raiders captured their second consecutive Class 7A title. Allen looked in mid-season form tonight, standing poised in the pocket and delivering on time and on target throws to his array of receivers. Allen threw three touchdowns to three different targets before exiting the game with a 31-0 lead in hand.

DID YOU KNOW: Next week marks the beginning of the 2016 regular season for Florida high school football, but also next week is when St. Thomas wide receiver Trevon Grimes plans to announce his commitment. Grimes is a five-star receiver in the 2017 class and is currently ranked 27th in the ESPN 300. His list of schools is as follows: Florida, Florida State, Miami, Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State. Grimes’ quarterback, Jake Allen, who is ranked 171st in the ESPN 300, is committed to Florida. Grimes’ decision is set for Wednesday, Aug. 24.

WHAT’S NEXT: On Friday, Aug. 26, Dillard will look to start fresh after tonight’s loss as they host the Stranahan Mighty Dragons in a non-district game to open the 2016 season. Last season, the Panthers defeated Stranahan on the road by a score of 32-13. As for the Raiders, they will look to keep up this momentum as they face off against Booker T. Washington in Miami next Friday at Traz Powell Stadium. St. Thomas Aquinas won 35-3 over the Tornadoes at home in a game that was televised by ESPN last season.