Winners of seven consecutive state championships, St. Thomas Aquinas will square off against Columbus (Miami, Fla.) next week, which pulled off a 33-28 upset win over No. 1 Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.) earlier in the day.
With Gorman losing, Aquinas could be the No. 1 team in the nation when the MaxPreps Top 25 is released Monday.
Ohio State commit Jaden Carey of St. Thomas Aquinas returned an interception for a touchdown in the Raiders’ victory over DeSoto in the Broward County Showcase. (PHOTO: Jeff Klein)
The Raiders started the scoring when Pitt commit Tyler Reid rushed for a 57-yard touchdown 97 seconds into the game.
Four-star Ohio State commit Jaden Carey made it 14-0 when he intercepted a DeSoto pass and returned it for a touchdown.After a field goal, senior Jackson Leimberger of Aquinas forced a fumble that was picked up by teammate Andre Jones. Less than a minute later junior Collin Francis made it 24-0 when he rushed for a touchdown.
The Florida power scored twice in the final 90 seconds of the first half when Notre Dame game commit Zayden Gamble returned a punt 65 yards to the house. After quickly getting the ball back, junior quarterback Blake Calixte found Notre Dame pledge Julius Jones Jr. for six.
With a running clock in the second half, DeSoto got on the board with seven minutes left when SaRod Baker rushed for a touchdown and two-point conversion to make it 38-8.