No. 10 De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) at No. 5 St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)De La Salle has won the last two California Open Division state titles and owns seven national poll championships since 1994. The 2-0 Spartans are ranked No. 10 in the
MaxPreps Xcellent 25 and No. 5 in the MaxPreps Freeman Rankings. Led by junior running back
Tiapepe Vitale's 114 rushing yards, De La Salle crushed St. Mary's (Stockton) 35-0 last week. It was a more convincing effort than its 26-23 double-overtime win over Bellarmine (San Jose) in the opener. Wisconsin-committed quarterback
Bart Houston has
struggled statistically in the early going, completing only 39 percent of his throws with three interceptions and only one touchdown.
St. Thomas Aquinas owns three of the last four Florida 5A state titles and won national poll titles in 2008 and 2010. The 2-0 Raiders rank No. 7 in the Freeman Rankings. They opened the season with a 34-31 win over nationally ranked Prattville (Ala.) then crushed state-ranked Cypress Bay (Weston), 42-0, on Sept. 9. Junior
Fred Coppet ran for 111 yards and a score against Prattville and senior
Dami Ayoola eclipsed the 100-yard mark with two touchdowns against Cypress Bay. St. Thomas Aquinas has outstanding defensive linemen, led by MaxPreps Top 100 prospect
Jelani Hamilton (a Miami commit) and
Bryan Cox. The Raiders' front seven should have an interesting matchup against De La Salle's running game driven by a relatively small group of linemen who rely on leverage and tremendous quickness off the ball.
Mitch Stephens: St. Thomas Aquinas 24, De La Salle 21
Steve Montoya: St. Thomas Aquinas 27, De La Salle 21
Stephen Spiewak: St. Thomas Aquinas 21, De La Salle 17
Kevin Askeland: De La Salle 35, St. Thomas Aquinas 34
Jamie DeMoney: St. Thomas Aquinas 27, De La Salle 13
Graphic by Ryan Escobar
Photos by Stuart Browning/Dennis Lee
