Published on Saturday October 31, 2009 in The Miami Herald
St. Thomas Aquinas shuts out Deerfield Beach
BY ADAM H. BEASLEY
abeasley@MiamiHerald.com
St. Thomas Aquinas' second-leading rusher was a safety, its starting quarterback left the game with an ankle injury and the usually ball-conscious Raiders turned it over twice.
Perfect chance for Deerfield Beach -- the last team to beat St. Thomas -- to bookend St. Thomas' two-year winning streak with another loss, right?
Not when Cole Champion and the stout Raiders defense are involved.
Champion returned an interception for a touchdown and St. Thomas clamped down on dynamic Bucks quarterback Donte' Dotson, propelling the Raiders to a 27-0 victory at Lockhart Stadium on Friday night and extending Aquinas' unbeaten streak to 32 games.
Deerfield Beach, which beat the Raiders (8-0) in 2007 before losing 65-10 to the Raiders last year, had no answer for Aquinas' size, speed and scheme.
In all, the Bucks (5-3) managed just 47 yards of offense, produced only three first downs and never made it past the St. Thomas 35-yard-line.
''We stepped it up tonight when we needed to,'' said Champion, the sophomore linebacker.
''The interception was really a blur. He threw it right to me.''
''He'' was in reference to Khambrel Garland, the Bucks' backup quarterback, who was in the game only because Dotson left for a play with cramps.
But regardless of the signal-caller, the Bucks' offense couldn't generate a thing. Dotson, whose elusiveness allows him to take over games by himself, managed just eight yards on 15 carries.
''We played super defense,'' said St. Thomas coach George Smith. ''[Dotson] can break one, and we didn't want to let him run all over the place.''
The defense took pressure off a hobbled Aquinas offensive unit, which played most of the game without heralded running back Gio Bernard, who has been slowed by a hamstring injury.
Smith moved two-way threat Lamarcus Joyner, normally a defensive back, to the backfield to complement starter James White. Combined, they tallied 207 yards on 27 carries (16 for 127 for White, 11 for 80 for Joyner) and two scores.
Aquinas' defense absolutely stifled the Bucks' offense in the first half, limiting Deerfield Beach to negative-2 yards and two first downs.
Still the Raiders couldn't pull away, settling for a 35-yard field goal by Michael Palardy on their first possession and turning the ball over on their third.
In between, Aquinas strung together a textbook touchdown drive, going 78 yards in 14 plays over the course of 6 minutes, 5 seconds.
White punched it into the end zone from three yards on a possession that was dominated by St. Thomas' offensive line.
Raiders quarterback Jacob Rudock sustained a minor ankle injury in the first half and didn't return after the intermission.
Max Lescano took the snaps for Aquinas, which opened the second half with another long drive, this time resulting in a 32-yard field goal by Palardy.
Then, on the second play of the Bucks' next drive, Champion and Aquinas' defense salted the game away.
For good measure, White broke off a 63-yard touchdown run out of the Wildcat formation, making the score indicative of the game's true imbalance.
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