St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders Vs. Western Wildcats

By: Seth Packer II, Andre Jones

On September 13,2024, “Friday the 13th” —the St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders traveled to Western to play their 4th game of the season, this game was on rain delay for about an hour so it started late and was played in a wet/muddy environment. 

First Half 

To start the game, the Western Wildcats started off with the ball. The Raiders defense forced a three-and-out and a punt on the first drive of the game. But, the Wildcats defense also started strong by forcing a Raiders’ three-and-out. On the next drive the Wildcats tried to get some things started but on 3rd and 9 the quarterback rolled out and threw an interception to Joseph Ramjas. The Raiders got the ball back with a great field position. After a couple of nice plays the Raiders were in a good position to score, however the Wildcats defense forced a Raiders fumble. After a few scoreless drives for both teams the Wildcats drove down the field and scored the first points of the game with a 1-yd rushing touchdown making the score 8

-0 to the Western Wildcats. The Raiders got the ball back and started driving down the field. After a few plays, Chance Washington went for a big gain to put the Raiders in the opponent’s territory. Two p

lays later, Cedric Wyche scored the first Raiders touchdown with a 20-yard rushing touchdown. The Raiders tried a two-point conversion to tie the game but unfortunately it failed, making the score 6-8 Wildcats. The Wildcats got the ball and started driving immediately. The Wildcats drove all the way down the field and scored a 2-yard rushing touchdown, making the score 15-6 Wildcats. The Raiders got the ball with little time in the half hoping to lessen the deficit. Yet, they ran out of time taking them into halftime down a score of 15-6.

Second Half 

To begin the second half, the Raiders received the ball, ready to get out of the offensive slump. After a couple tough runs by Chance Washington the Raiders were in scoring position, but were stopped

on third down. This led to a Nick Romero field goal making the score 15-9 Western. After a couple big runs by Johnathan Bueno the Wildcats were back in striking distance. The Raiders had other plans, making a few plays, they brought Western to a 4th down, causing the field goal unit to come out. In need of a big play, Joseph Ramjas delivered, blocking the field goal and flipping the momentum back to the Raiders. The Raiders started the next drive on their own 30 yard line. After great play calling and mixing up the defense, the Raiders were in position to score. This is when Andrew Indorf connected with Julius Jones on a 34-yard touchdown pass. This and the extra point by Nick Romero put the Raiders back ahead 16-15. Now it was the defense’s turn to make a play and they stepped up forcing a big 3-and-out. The Raiders had full momentum of the game now and on the second play of the drive Andrew Indorf connected with Julius Jones once again for a 60-yard touchdown. This touchdown made the score 23-15. The Raiders defense came up with another big stop, and now the offense just needed a few first downs to close the game. The offense did just that; Chance Washington picked up multiple first downs to cap off his 200-yard game. The Raiders took victory formation defeating the Wildcats 23-15 and taking the Raiders to a 3-1 record.