It can be hard to translate regular season success to the playoffs, but St. Thomas Academy had no problem doing just that on Friday. They strolled past the Apple Valley Eagles with points to spare, taking the game 29-14. Given the Cadets' advantage in MaxPreps' Minnesota football rankings (they are ranked 30th, while the Eagles are ranked 86th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Dominic Baez was his usual excellent self, rushing for 197 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 9.9 yards per carry. With that strong performance, he is now averaging an impressive 109.3 rushing yards per game. Another player making a difference was Chase Young, who rushed for 61 yards and a touchdown.
St. Thomas Academy was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 290 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted since back in November of 2023.
St. Thomas Academy didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Anderson Dose and Todd Rogalski. Rogalski also made four total tackles, which is notable because St. Thomas Academy is undefeated when he posts at least four total tackles, but 0-3 otherwise.
St. Thomas Academy is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five matches, which provided a nice bump to their 7-3 record this season. As for Apple Valley, with the loss, they broke their three-game winning streak and moved their record to 5-7.
As of now, neither St. Thomas Academy nor Apple Valley have any future games scheduled.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
