ST. THOMAS SUNK
Dreadnaughts Steam to Rout in Second Half
DAYTONA BEACH -- For one half the St. Thomas football team stuck with unbeaten Lakeland High School despite being outplayed. But the Raiders’ magical run came to an end as the Dreadnaughts routed the perennial Broward County power 40-6 Friday in the Class 5A state championship game at Municipal Stadium. It was the school’s most lopsided deficit since a 36-0 regular-season setback against Key West in 1977.
The Raiders (13-2) have made a habit of strong second-half showings. So when the first half ended with No. 4-ranked Lakeland nursing a 13-6 lead, there was still reason for optimism. St. Thomas trailed St. Petersburg Northeast 10-0 at the half in the regional semifinal but put up 24 points in the second to rally for a victory.
But there would be no comeback this time as the Dreadnaughts scored three touchdowns in five minutes to put the game away and secure the school’s second state championship.
“We felt like we messed up so much on defense we could correct those mistakes because we were still in the game,” senior defensive back Steve Rock said. “We thought we could come out with some fire in the second half, but they hit too many big plays and we couldn’t get any momentum.”
St. Thomas, whose only other loss this season came to district for Piper, was indeed fortunate to be behind by just seven after two quarters. Lakeland got inside the St. Thomas 10 twice but had to settle for 28-yard field goals by Brendt Talcott both times.
The Dreadnaughts managed 186 yards offense for the first half compared to just 40 for the Raiders. Lakeland totaled eight first downs while St. Thomas got just one, and it came when senior quarterback Mike Scott completed a 15-yard pass to Duc Augustin with only 29 seconds left in the half.
Lakeland got a field goal its first possession and went up 10-0 when Dewayne Gallishaw, who ran for 164 yards on 21 carries, ran 16 yards up the middle for the first of five Dreadnaught touchdowns.
St. Thomas got within striking distance thanks to a Lakeland mistake. Talcott was punting from his own 15 but never got the kick off as defensive end Ryan Vaughan jarred the ball loose and junior linebacker Scott Massucco scooped it up and rambled in for what would be the Raiders’ lone touchdown. The extra-point attempt failed, leaving the Raiders’ down 10-6.
“The first half we played a little tight,” long-time coach Bill Castle said. “I don’t know what happened on the punt, but we gave them a cheap touchdown. Our defense played great all night, so I don’t think they would have scored if it wasn’t for the punt.”
St. Thomas took the third-quarter kickoff and marched 46 yards to the Lakeland 42, but the drive stalled on a sack and two rushing plays that went for negative yardage.
“I thought we came out and did a decent job in the second half,” said St. Thomas coach George Smith, who was making his third state final appearance in sic years. “Then we came out with a six-minute drive and didn’t get anything out of it. They made big plays and we didn’t. That was the nuts and bolts of it.”
The first of those big plays came right after that Raider drive came to a halt. The Dreadnaughts started at their own 25 after an Eric Resta punt. On the sixth play of the drive quarterback Lewis Grier lofted a 39-yard touchdown pass to Prinshon Denson that boosted the Lakeland lead to 20-6 with 3:24 left in the third.
St. Thomas failed to get a first down on the ensuing possession and the Dreadnaughts again got good field possession.
Sun-Sentinel, December 21, 1996
Scoreboard tells little of a team’s character
DAYTONA BEACH -- The game was lost. The dream was dead. One by one, the St. Thomas football players came to midfield now for a handshake and a silver medal, some lips quivering, more tears falling; this team that had made such noise this high school football season now silent.
“Let’s keep our heads up,” defensive back Justin Ballotta said to his teammates. But there was a skip in the senior’s voice, and tears in his eyes, and even he had a hard time keeping his counsel as the Lakeland High players began accepting gold medals.
“This just doesn’t feel like the right ending to the story,” he said, and the fear suddenly was that St. Thomas would leave this way. With heads down. Without embracing this run to the Class 5A state championship game.
But then coach George Smith called his players together one final time on a sideline and pointed through the cold of a north Florida evening to the scoreboard. It read Lakeland 40, St. Thomas 6 a few minutes earlier.
“You see that?” he asked. “That scoreboard is turned off already. But I’ll tell you what’s going to stay with me forever. Next time someone asks me about the great teams I’ve coached, this is the one I’ll start with.”
‘Guts, Heart and Teamwork’
Smith had his players attention now. All looked at him. Some were nodding.
“This game is lost, but what you guys did will never be forgotten,” he said. “I’ll tell you right now what your contribution will be. People will try to emulate you in coming years.
“Your guts. Your heart. Your teamwork. In 25 years at this school, I’ve never had a better team than this one for those characteristics. Other teams will try to match that. That’s your contribution.”
There was a decency here missing in big-time sports, and an honesty that said sometimes it doesn’t matter. All the plays. All the scores. Sometimes sports at their best remains more about what you discover than what you do. That is what Smith was telling his team at season’s end.
This team had no big-time college prospects. It expected decency. St. Thomas is St. Thomas, right. But no one expected it to make a run deep into December, bringing 13 buses of fans to Daytona Beach, its players wearing “St. Thomas Swimming” jackets in the 36-degree weather because the football team had never needed any of its own.
So this night was about more than chasing a state title. It was about overachieving. It was about magic. Above all, it was about high school, and friends, and four schoolmates of tight end Ryan Vaughn strutting into the stadium shirtless on this frigid night. Each chest bore a letter to spell Vaughn’s nickname of “B-I-R-D” as they stood in order.
The Ending Didn’t Fit
“Ryan didn’t get any credit this year,” said St. Thomas senior Troy Cameron, the “D” in the alignment. “Didn’t get any first-team honors. Didn’t make second team. But he was the hero of the game last week.”
So shirtless they cheered for the first half. Then they put on jackets.
Sun-Sentinel, December 21, 1996
