By Dave Brousseau

FORT LAUDERDALE – It wasn’t the most glamorous St. Thomas Aquinas playoff football victory in recent years, but when the clock ran out on Coconut Creek season, the Raiders continue another state championship run.

Led by senior quarterback Mason Mallory’s pair of touchdown runs and two scoring passes Aquinas rolled to 45-13 victory over the Cougars in a Class 5A regional semifinal on Friday.

The Raiders (11-1) will host McArthur, a 17-16 victor over Atlantic, in a Regional Final this Friday.

Aquinas, winners of 32 consecutive playoff games, are 18-2 all-time against the Mustangs, including a 31-7 win earlier this season.

Up 17-7 at the half, the Raiders put the game away in the third quarter on a 15-yard scoring pass from Mallory to Julius Jones and a 13-yard touchdown pass to Shavis Linder Jr. for a 31-7 lead.

“We just came out and made sure we executed everything we worked on in practice,” said Mallory. “We knew certain looks they were going to give us and knew what we would usually hit.”

“We got sloppy at some points, but we’re a bend don’t break team and made some adjustments,” 

The down by 24, the Cougars weren’t quite ready to fold as sophomore quarterback Josiah Sanchious connected wide open Jordan Thompson for and 83-yard touchdown pass cutting the deficit to 31-13.

The Raiders shut down any thoughts of a Creek (9-3) comeback with a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns.

Back-up quarterback Brady Palmer scored on a 13-yard run, followed by a 25-yard scamper by Morris Choice III with 5:18 to play.

Aquinas took advantage of two early interceptions of tipped balls to take a 10-0 lead.

Mallory scored on a 15-yard run just 1:17 into the first quarter. That was followed by 30-yard field goal from Johnny DiSalvatore.

“They are an extremely talented team, and we had some opportunities from their mistakes and turnovers,” said Aquinas coach Roger Harriott. “We capitalized on them early that set the tone for us for a solid victory.”

The Cougars showed some grit as they battled back with a Sanchious two-yard pass scoring pass to Thompson.

Mallory completed a 10-play, 65-yard scoring drive on a 1-yard run with 9:59 left in the second quarter for 17-7 lead at the break.  

“Our mistakes hurt and we didn’t capitalize on plays we could have made,” said Coconut Creek coach Johnnie Sloan. “We got to get better. They played better than we did today.

We’ll be back next year. We’ll go to the lab and make our corrections, but we have a young group and we’ll be back.”

Dave Brousseau is a veteran journalist who worked at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and is a longtime BCAA Correspondent. Need to reach out to him? Contact him at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.