St. Thomas Aquinas (Fla.) football winning state titles is a tale as old as time

MIAMI, Fla.- Every year, new optimism is abound across the state of Florida for high school football and brings new notions and opinions.

One at the beginning of this season was that could this be the year that the No. 13 nationally ranked St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders would finally see their streak of state championships, six before Thursday night, come to an end against a Lakeland squad that entered the game 5-2 all-time versus their Fort Lauderdale adversaries.

If you were someone that watched the 48 minutes of action in Thursday night’s Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) Class 5A state championship game, you saw just more of the same.

The Raiders cruised to a 29-0 defeat of the Dreadnaughts, which became the second straight shutout of their Lakeland adversaries dating back to last year’s meeting, a 34-0 decision. It’s the culture of St. Thomas Aquinas that really sets this program apart from others around the state and country.

“The true win here is these young men inspiring Christ and allowing other people to realize that faith can help you in multiple aspects of your life, especially when you’re going through challenges,” St. Thomas Aquinas head coach Roger Harriott said after the game. “So these guys are motivational, they’re a great inspiration. We need more of this in our country in our overall culture right now.”

Winning state championships and St. Thomas Aquinas have become synonymous of one another as the expectation every year for the Raiders is to reach the title game and be hoisting the trophy. Thursday’s matchup, for the most part, played out very similarly like the 2024 edition.

Though the Raiders went into halftime only carrying a slim 6-0 lead, there wasn’t any angst or rise in emotions along the sideline for St. Thomas Aquinas. There was a calmness that the team would begin to find its footing and it would come via an unsung player from a unit that’s become lost in the art of winning football games.

Not many folks would’ve had place kicker Johnny DiSalvatore being named the game’s Most Valuable Player before the night started, but Harriott said special teams is something the team works extremely hard at.

“I look at it as an unfair advantage because that particular phase of the game is neglected by most teams,” Harriott said about special teams. “We put a tremendous amount of time and effort in that particular phase of the game. So we have all the confidence in the world in our kicking game.
So if we’re not able to execute, you know, with regards to execute or with regards to the offensive attack, we know that we’ll put it away.”

It just almost seems inevitable when it comes to St. Thomas Aquinas winning state championships at this point against whomever they might run up against in recent memory. The only loss the Raiders had the entire 2025 season was a 26-23 decision versus No. 20 nationally ranked Mater Dei (Calif.) in the Broward County Classic High School Football Showcase.

If not for the loss to the Monarchs, St. Thomas Aquinas would assuredly be in the national championship conversation by folks as they own victories over teams like No. 16 Chaminade-Madonna Prep, NFL Academy and Plantation American Heritage.

The last time St. Thomas Aquinas experienced a loss on the state championship stage was back in 2018 when the Raiders fell to none other than Lakeland , 33-20, for the FHSAA’s Class 7A title that season. It’s the only time that Harriott and the Raiders pairing have lost a state championship since 2016.

Thursday night was the scene that folks have seen time and time again over the last seven years and next year will bring news questions and spring new opinions. For now, enjoy the greatness that is the St. Thomas Aquinas dynasty as its latest performance certainly adds to the aura surrounding the Raiders.

If you tuned in or drove to Miami to watch, you saw a team, a program that on the state championship level has become a tale as old as time.

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