The St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders faced off against the Columbus Explorers in a highly anticipated game on September 5, 2025. The Raiders were coming off a 72-6 blowout win the previous week against Boyd Anderson. Conversely, the Explorers were coming off a 14-7 loss to Our Lady Of Good Council, and were looking for a bounce-back win against the well-known STA team. This game was the Raiders first test on the road, and the conditions only made this test harder thanks to a heavy downpour and thunderstorms.

The game started off on a lightning delay, but, when it was cleared to play, there were no more interruptions. The Raiders started the game on offense, and put together a long drive capped off by a Jaden Desir touchdown on 4th and goal.

This, however, was not Desir’s only time in the endzone, as he scored three times in the game.

The Raiders defense was on another level, as they let up only two first downs in the entire first half. There were two defensive takeaways in the game, one coming from Jaden Carey, and the other from Zayden Gamble. The Explorers had high hopes for this game, but found themselves in a hole with the score being 28-0 at halftime.

Coming out of halftime, the Raiders controlled the clock and continued to put points on the board. Later in the second half, though, the Explorers started moving the ball a little better, but still couldn’t find a way to get in the endzone. In the fourth quarter, however, Columbus got their first touchdown of the game. The final score was 42-6, with the Raiders getting their first away win of the season, despite poor conditions and a tough opponent. On Friday, September 12th, the Raiders will face the Western Wildcats, while Columbus will play Palmetto.