With a playoff win on the line, St. Thomas Aquinas rose to the challenge on Friday. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 16-13 victory over the Manatee Hurricanes. The 16-point effort marked the Raiders' lowest-scoring match of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.
Andrew Indorf was his usual excellent self, throwing for 231 yards and one touchdown while completing 76.7% of his passes, and also rushing for 60 yards on only six carries.
Most of the squad's points came courtesy of special teams, who contributed ten in total. All those points came courtesy of Nicholas Romero: he added nine points with three field goals, and another on an extra-point kick.
When it comes to explaining why Manatee lost, don't look at KeiShawn Smith. Despite the final result, he rushed for 117 yards and one touchdown on only ten carries.
Raiders
| 12/06/24 @ Manatee | 16-13 |
| 09/27/24 @ Bishop Moore | 50-15 |
| 09/13/24 @ Western | 23-15 |
| 08/30/24 @ Boyd Anderson | 51-0 |
| 10/20/23 @ Monarch | 35-19 |
| 10/13/23 @ Fort Lauderdale | 42-0 |
St. Thomas Aquinas' win was their sixth straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 11-3. Those victories came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 10.3 points per game. As for Manatee, their loss ended a seven-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 10-2.
St. Thomas Aquinas will take on Lakeland at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. Lakeland will roll in looking for their 14th straight victory, something St. Thomas Aquinas surely won't give up without a fight. Manatee does not have any more games scheduled as of now.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
