St. Thomas Aquinas High School Football

Published on Monday December 11, 2006 in The Miami Herald

HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL

A better option?

In hindsight, the Raiders think a quarterback option play would have resulted in the winning TD in the Class 5A final game Friday.

BY JOSEPH GOODMAN

jgoodman@MiamiHerald.com

If George Smith could do it all over again, the St. Thomas Aquinas football coach still would have gone for it. But given a second chance, Smith said he might have called a different play.

'We decided when we were down there, `. . . Let's go for it,' '' Smith said. “We were moving the ball on them, running it and they were on their heels, too.

“You don't second-guess the call, but what we really should have done is run the option.''

Instead, St. Thomas called a halfback dive and junior running back Jeremiah Harden was tackled just short of the goal line Friday night at Dolphin Stadium on the final play of the Class 5A state championship game.

Lakeland beat St. Thomas 45-42 in double overtime.

An option would have put the ball in the hands of senior quarterback Wesley Carroll, who executed the play to perfection the entire game.

Despite playing with a strained shoulder injury, Carroll never shied away from the play.

Smith said Carroll's timing -- waiting until the last possible moment to pitch the ball -- can only be described as “bravery.”

''He was in pain,'' said Smith, who added that he received calls from ''30 to 40'' college and professional coaches between Friday and Saturday night regarding Carroll and the Raiders' comeback.

“[Carroll] is a gamer, plain and simple, and one of the best I've seen in 30 years.''

St. Thomas (12-2), which scored 35 points in the final six minutes of the fourth quarter, managed three touchdowns -- two set up by onside kick recoveries -- in the final 1:47.

That St. Thomas did it with no timeouts made the fairy tale rally all the more improbable.

''Courage and heart,'' Smith said. “Those are all buzz words that coaches use, but they're true of this thing.”

NATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

So awe-inspiring was the comeback, so gritty was Lakeland's goal-line stand to earn its third state championship that national media outlets immediately latched onto the game.

ESPN's SportsCenter highlights show featured Friday's thrilling Class 5A high school football state championship game.

Later during the broadcast, the combination of St. Thomas' two onside kick recoveries (by Major Wright and Matthew Douglas) was No. 2 on the show's segment counting down the sporting world's top 10 plays of the day.

''It was incredible,'' Smith said of seeing his team on ESPN.

“I think it's great for St. Thomas and Lakeland, but it was really just great for high school athletics in general.

“It was presented nationally and it should have been because it was a good story. There was no cheating or anything like that for someone doing something bad.”'

PROBE CONTINUES

Lakeland entered the game surrounded by controversy.

The team's star running back, senior Chris Rainey, played Friday despite being the center of an FHSAA investigation.

Rainey's eligibility was in question after he allegedly traded his autograph for clothing and jewelry, and also accepted cash from a Lakeland football fan.

If found guilty by the FHSAA for violating rules of amateurism, then Rainey and Lakeland could be stripped of their state championship.

State officials said Wednesday that the investigation could take several weeks.

Lakeland coach Bill Castle chose to play Rainey on Friday despite a warning from the FHSAA that the Dreadnaughts' state championship participation could be vacated if Rainey is found to have violated rules.