No. 11
St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale) won its Florida record seventh consecutive state championship Thursday by taking down
Lakeland 29-0 in the Class 5A title game at Pitbull Stadium in Miami.
The record streak dates back to 2019 when the Raiders defeated
Edgewater (Orlando) 28-23. St. Thomas Aquinas has been to eight straight title games beginning with a 33-20 loss to Lakeland in 2018.
Aquinas (14-1) has 17 state championships in school history and head coach Roger Harriott has led the program to nine of them. Since taking the job in 2015, Harriott has a 142-15 record. Including his time at
NSU University (Fort Lauderdale), he has won 10 state championships and 223 games.
After a big night in Thursday's state championship game St. Thomas Aquinas finished the season with 3,084 yards of total offense while accounting for 36 touchdowns. (FILE PHOTO: Jeff Klein)
The title game pairing was a rematch of the 2024 final won by St. Thomas Aquinas 34-0.
Lakeland kept the deficit manageable, trailing 15-0 heading into the fourth quarter tonight as the first five Aquinas red zone attempts ended in field goals made by senior kicker
Johnny DiSalvatore. But the Dreadnaughts' offense couldn't get rolling.
With 7:58 left, St. Thomas Aquinas senior running back
Jaden Desir scored the first touchdown of the game after rushing in from two yards out to take a 22-0 lead. Senior quarterback
Mason Mallory set that score up with a 66-yard run.
Mallory finished with 272 passing yards and 101 rushing yards. Four-star junior
Julius Jones Jr. finished with 127 yards on seven receptions, notching his third 100-yard game of the season.
In the first quarter, Jones Jr. made an incredible one handed 44-yard catch to set up a field goal. See the highlight in the video via the NFHS Network.
With 6:27 left in the fourth quarter, the Raiders tacked on a touchdown run by senior
Morris Choice to make the score 29-0.
Lakeland (12-3) junior quarterback
Kelin Hendrix had 133 rushing yards and 92 passing yards.
St. Thomas Aquinas four-star defensive backs
Jaden Carey and
Zayden Gamble each had interceptions in the 2024 title game and both did it again in 2025 to end promising Lakeland drives.
The Raiders finished the 2025 season on a 14-game winning streak after
dropping the opener to then-No. 1
Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) 26-23 in August.
Third-year Lakeland head coach Marvin Frazier has reached a state championship game every season he has been on the sideline and owns a 37-7 career record.
