St. Thomas Aquinas High School Football

Published Saturday November 7, 2009 in The Miami Herald

St. Thomas Aquinas rolls past South Broward 51-7

By MANNY NAVARRO

mnavarro@MiamiHerald.com

Kevin Grooms glanced across the field toward his opponents before kickoff Friday night and angrily muttered words of encouragement to himself -- something his coach said he does every week to fire himself up.

The 5-9, 170-pound South Broward running back had high hopes facing No. 1-ranked St. Thomas Aquinas. But the Bulldogs' spark plug just never got going, and the Raiders rolled to a 51-7 victory in front of a standing room only crowd at Brian Piccolo Memorial Stadium.

James White ran for 133 yards and scored twice, Lamarcus Joyner ran one in from seven yards and scored on a 99-yard kickoff return and quarterback Jacob Rudock returned from an ankle injury and tossed two touchdown passes for the Raiders (9-0).

But it was Aquinas' defense that really stole the show. Led by linebacker Vinnie Mauro, the Raiders shutdown Grooms after he collected 17 yards on his first four carries and stripped him of the ball twice in the second quarter as Aquinas scored 16 points in less than three minutes to build a 30-0 halftime lead.

With the victory, Aquinas won its 33rd game in a row and locked up the District 16-5A crown -- it's 13th district title in a row and 26th overall. South Broward will enter the playoffs for the first time since 1997 as the district runner-up.

''Kevin is our playmaker and we tried to get the ball to him as much as we could. He's carried us so far this year,'' South Broward coach Allen Held said. ''But they're not the No. 1 team in the country for nothing.''

The Bulldogs caught a break early when Phillip Dorsett muffed a punt and Ryan Mosca pounced on it at the Aquinas 32-yard line.

But instead of going forward, the Bulldogs went in reverse and when quarterback Bryan Parnes was sacked at the 34 on fourth down with 5:26 left in the first quarter, the Raiders flipped their switch to overdrive.

Between White and Joyner, Aquinas marched right down the field and capped a nine-play 66-yard drive with a 34-yard touchdown pass from Rudock to junior receiver Rashad Greene. South Broward went three and out on their next two possessions and Aquinas scored on back-to-back drives -- first on a White 32-yard run and then a Rudock to Dorsett 14-yard pass -- to take a 21-0 lead.

That's when Grooms, one of Broward County's leading rushers, began having trouble holding onto the football. He fumbled on back-to-back carries, leading to nine quick points for Aquinas.

Joyner then opened the second half with a 99-yard kickoff return for a score. Junior Sylvestre then fumbled on the first play from scrimmage on South Broward's next possession. On the following play, White scored on a 32-yard run to make it 44-0 and to start a running clock with 11:16 left in the third quarter.

Grooms finished with 75 yards on 19 carries, but got 63 of those yards when Aquinas' backups were in the game.

''We came out all week, watching film and saw how No. 26 [was so good,'' Aquinas cornerback Keion Payne said. ''But our defense is real physical. Once we got out there and gave him his first real hit, he didn't know where he was at. We wanted to take him out and we did.''