It's never really over in high school football until the clock hits 0:00. No. 11
St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) proved that Friday with an improbable 37-36 come-from-behind win over Cocoa.
When
Francesco Pileggi hit a 19-yard field goal it capped a wild final three minutes that saw Cocoa look like it was going to salt the game away only to see St. Thomas Aquinas grabs its second lead of the game – the first was at 7-6 – with six seconds left.
Cocoa, leading 36-34 with just over three minutes to play, was set up for a lead-padding field goal only to have the Raiders jump offside to give the Tigers a fresh set of downs and a first-and-goal. But the Aquinas defense stiffened and blocked a second field goal try.
St. Thomas Aquinas tried to move the ball for a game-winning field goal, but turned the ball over on downs near midfield with 1:37 left.
Cocoa just needed to kneel down and kill the clock but a penalty on second down gave the Raiders an extra timeout. St. Thomas Aquinas returned the punt to the Cocoa 38 and on first down
Chance Robinson caught an
Andrew Indorf pass, taking it down to the one.
Two plays later, Pileggi completed the comeback.
