No. 1 St. Thomas Aquinas fights off No. 2 Byrnes

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The fourth meeting ever between the top two high school teams in the nation was more fun than a three-ring circus.

It featured 861 yards, pretty passes, spectacular speed, dazzling runs and five touchdowns 39 yards or longer.

In the end, host St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale) escaped with a wild 42-34 victory over Byrnes (Duncan, S.C.) Friday night before more than 15,000 fans at Lockhart Stadium and a national television audience.

"That's the first dog fight St. Thomas has been in for a long time," said Aquinas all-purpose star Lamarcus Joyner, a transfer from Southwest Miami. "This just showed the world that we're No. 1. It feels great."

The Raiders (4-0), winners of 28 straight games, won despite giving up 558 yards including 416 passing and three touchdowns from Rutgers-bound quarterback Chas Dodd (26 of 44).

Byrnes (5-1) had won four straight games against Florida opponents, but this was the first time it played one on the road.

Three turnovers did in the Rebels, all fumbles by All-everything running back Marcus Lattimore, who rushed for 118 yards and two touchdowns and added eight catches for another 94.

Dodd’s counterpart, Aquinas junior quarterback Jacob Rudock threw for 196 yards and four touchdowns, including a 52-yarder to Joyner, who added a key 93-yard kickoff return in the fourth quarter.

Byrnes looked cooked more than a few times in the second half, the last time after Joyner’s scintillating kickoff return for a touchdown with 9:58 remaining.

"I felt a little disrespected that they would kick to me in that situation," said Joyner, a 5-foot-11, 180-pound senior considered the top cornerback in the country. "We call that an automatic six when Lamarcus Joyner is back on the return."

But the Rebels, like they did all night, came right back on a 59-yard touchdown bomb from Dodd to Torian Richardson with 7:58 left in the final quarter.

That cut the lead to 35-28.

"We're never going to give up or give in," Dodd said. "We just kept fighting back."

But after a three-and-out, the Raiders held for one of the first times all game and Rudock put it away with his fourth touchdown pass, a beautifully designed 23-yard strike over the middle to James White with 1:39 remaining.

"Byrnes just wouldn't go away," Rudock said. "They showed a lot of toughness and gave us a fight to the end. (Dodd) was amazing. I didn't get a chance to congratulate him but I wanted to. He played a great game."{VIDEO_9246de9d-5c6f-42f2-b30a-07c93720c4a0,floatRightWithBar}

Byrnes showed more grit and scored on the last play of game, a 24-yard TD pass from Dodd to Jazz King (9 catches, 156 yards) on the last play of the game.

It was a fitting conclusion to the battle between Aquinas, ranked No. 1 in the country in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25, and No. 2 Byrnes.

"It was a great high school football game," Dodd said. "I'm sure people got their money's worth. We wanted it real bad, but we can go home with our heads high. We're going after another state championship."

Said Rudock: "It was a lot of fun going back and forth like that. They were up. We were up. That's only going to help us the rest of the season."

Fireworks started 45 minutes before the game when Byrnes crossed over midfield during pregame warm-ups, setting off a near fracas. The two teams – and even coaches – had to be separated.

The fireworks continued throughout a wild first half that featured trick and big plays, three spectacular touchdowns and an ejection right at the halftime buzzer.

Appropriately, a fake punt and double pass set up the game’s first score on the game’s first possession – a 1-yard TD burst over right tackle by Lattimore.

Lattimore made it possible when he took a short punt snap at his own 15 on third-and-15, somehow evaded a couple tacklers to go for 21 yards and a first down.

It wasn’t a designed fake as Lattimore, the upback in punt situations, seemed shocked the snap came to him.

It was Aquinas that was shocked on the next play as Dodd took a backward pass, then fired a 58-yard bomb to Lee Weick to the Aquinas 6.

"We put in a lot of new things considering the team we were playing," Dodd said. "Some of them worked. But we knew tricks weren't going to help us move the entire game."

Three runs later, Lattimore was in the end zone and Byrnes led 7-0, the first time Aquinas trailed since Nov. 20 of last year, a game it won 49-8 over Dillard.

The Raiders weren’t down long as Rudock threaded the needle on a crossing pattern and Joyner, rated the top cornerback in the country, caught it at the 30 and blazed untouched to complete a pretty 52-yard touchdown, making it 7-7 with 2:34 left in the first quarter.

"He led me perfectly - it was a great pass," Joyner said. "Those guys had just scored and I didn't want them to get too much momentum. I had to bring us right back."

Said Rudock: "When our receivers and running backs get the ball they don't look back. My job is pretty easy. Get them the ball. They do the hard part."

Lightning struck again midway through the second quarter – this one in even more shocking fashion – when Phillip Dorsett, caught an intermediate pass over the middle and appeared to be spun down for a 10-yard gain.

But instead of landing on the turf, he landed on the tackler’s knee, bounced outside and sprinted the distance to complete a 73-yard catch and run, giving the Raiders a 14-7 lead with 7:51 left in the half.

Before Byrnes could recover from the shocking touchdown, Lattimore fumbled after a 10-yard reception.

Ken Hankerson, listed as a 6-1, 200-pound defensive lineman, picked it up and like a skilled running back, weaved back and forth 39 yards for a touchdown, making it 21-7 with 6:26 left in the half.

"We have a lot of guys on this team who can make a lot of different type of big plays," Rudock said.

The score remained that way the rest of the half even though Byrnes had more yards 231-194 and gave up just five first downs.

On the last play of the half, Byrnes receiver Nick Jones, a Division I recruit who missed the first five games because of a knee injury, was ejected after a small skirmish.

Scoring Summary

First quarter

B – Marcus Lattimore 1 run (Kaleb Patterson kick), 8:36
A – Lamarcus Joyner 52 pass from Jacob Rudock (Michael Palardy kick), 1:38

Second quarter

A – Phillip dorsett 73 pass from Rudock (Palardy kick), 7:51
A – Ken Hankerson 39 fumble return (Palardy kick), 6:26

Third quarter

B – Lattimore 2 run (Patterson kick), 10:14
A – Rashad Greene 12 pass from Rudock (Palardy kick), 4:47

Fourth quarter

B – Jazz King 8 pass from Chas Dodd (Patterson kick), 10:14
A – Joyner 93 kickoff return (Palardy kick), 9:58
B – Torian Richardson 59 yards pass from Dodd (Patterson kick), 7:58
A – James White 23 pass from Rudock (Palardy kick), 1:39
B – King 24 yard pass from Dodd (kick not attempted), 0:00

Team Statistics

First Downs: Byrnes 23, Aquinas 12
Rushes/yards: Byrnes 34/142, Aquinas 27/107
Passing: Byrnes 26-44-0-416, Aquinas 9-17-0-196
Total yards: Byrnes 558, Aquinas 303
Fumbles-lost: Byrnes 6-3, Aquinas 2-2
Penalties: Byrnes 5-50, Aquinas 13-95
Possession: Byrnes 26:53, Aquinas 21:07

Individual Statistics

RUSHING
Byrnes: Lattimore 23-118, Nick Jones 2-30, Tony Hillman 3-5, Shakeem Wharton 1-(0-1).
Aquinas: James White 7-82, Giovanni Bernard 12-37, Phillip Dorsett 1-1, Nicholas Arena 1-(-3).

PASSING
Byrnes: Chas Dodd 26-44-0-416.
Aquinas: Jacob Rudock 9-17-0-196.

RECEIVING
Byrnes: Jazz King 9-156, Lattimore 8-94, Lee Weick 4-87, Torian Richardson 4-80.
Aquinas: Rashad Greene 2-34, James White 2-28, James Dolan 2-15, Phillip Dorsett 1-73.