Aquinas running back Madre London had two touchdown runs in his team's 27-13 victory over Curtis on Friday night at the Superdome in New Orleans.
Photo by Roddy Johnson
Florida teams are especially tough when all eyes and expectations are upon them.
St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), the
nation's No. 3 team, raced to a 24-0 lead after three quarters and cruised to a 27-13 win over No. 6, host and defending mythical national champion
Curtis (River Ridge, La.) Friday at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans.
STA (2-0) used a stifling, fast defense and two touchdowns runs from
Madre London to win its eighth out-of-state game in nine tries and snap Curtis' 29-game win streak. This one came against one of the nation's premier programs. London's 61-yard touchdown scamper in the third quarter all but sealed this one.
Curtis, which has won 25 state crowns under legendary coach J.T. Curtis, just couldn't get anything going offensively, finally scoring early in the fourth quarter on a 22-yard run by
Dontae Jones. By that time Curtis (1-1) was down 24-0.
Aquinas quarterback Wade Freebeck
Photo by Roddy Johnson
Both coaching staffs clearly had their teams well-prepared, as the defense seemed to be one step ahead of the offense in a scoreless first quarter.
Aquinas finally got the scoring started with 11:54 left in the second quarter, when
Wade Freebeck found
Devante Peete for a 31-yard touchdown to give the Raiders a 7-0 lead. The five-play, 53-yard drive was highlighted by an 11-yard scramble by Freebeck.
With the Aquinas defense standing strong, the offense struck again with 2:42 left in the half, when
Madre London's 1-yard touchdown run capped a six-play, 66-yard drive that gave the Raiders a 14-0 lead that they took into halftime.
London put the game out of reach right out of the gates in the second half, bursting for a 61-yard touchdown run to put Aquinas up 21-0.
Charles Courtney added a 37-yard field goal with 11:56 to play in the fourth quarter to extend the lead to 24-0.
The Curtis offense finally broke the drought with 9:37 left in the game, scoring on Jones' 22-yard run, but the 2-point conversion failed and Aquinas led 24-6.
Aquinas tacked on another Courtney field goal, this one from 34 yards, to take a 27-6 lead with 3:57 left to play.
Curtis showed some fight down the stretch, tacking on a late 4-yard touchdown run by
Abby Touzet.
St. Thomas Aquinas, located just 25 miles North of Miami powers Booker T. Washington and Central, claimed mythical national crowns in 2008 and 2010. It opened the season with a dominant 38-3 win against another former national poll champion – Miami Northwestern – at Sun Life Stadium on Aug. 31.
Curtis opened last weekend with a victory against perennial New Jersey power Bergen Catholic (24-13). Curtis was 4-1 against out-of-state opponents coming into the game.
Florida and Louisiana are two of the nation's hotbeds for top college talent. On this night, Aquinas represented its home state very well.
