In matchup of high school’s consensus top 2 teams, St. Thomas Aquinas prevails over Byrnes

Aquinas wins matchup of high school 1 vs. 2

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Another mythical high school national championship seems like a very real possibility for Florida power St. Thomas Aquinas.

Standing on the Aquinas sideline, Urban Meyer had to be impressed.

With the Florida coach among the 20,000 or so who came to see a much-hyped matchup of the two teams generally considered the nation’s best, No. 1 St. Thomas Aquinas of Fort Lauderdale knocked off No. 2 Byrnes High of Duncan, S.C. 42-34, on Friday night.

Junior quarterback Jacob Rudock threw for 196 yards and four touchdowns for St. Thomas Aquinas (4-0), the two-time defending Florida Class 5A champions and the team voted atop most of last season’s national polls. Lamarcus Joyner ran a kickoff back 93 yards for a fourth-quarter TD for Aquinas, now winners of 28 straight.

“I don’t know if you can say anybody’s the best team in the country,” Aquinas coach George Smith said. “Who knows? That’s not what’s important and what I take away from tonight. We played a team that is one of the better teams we played in the history of this school and we won the game.”

Rutgers commitment Chas Dodd threw for 416 yards and three touchdowns for Byrnes (5-1). Marcus Lattimore, the most sought-after running back in 2010 recruiting class, had two rushing touchdowns for the Rebels, who had scored at least 52 points in each of its last four games, including 85 two weeks ago.

The atmosphere was probably unlike any other high school game in America on Friday night.

The 20,000-seat stadium seemed as full as the VIP pass list, with good reason. Besides Meyer, Oklahoma athletic director (and Aquinas alum) Joe Castiglione shook hands with people pregame and Sooners coach Bob Stoops — in town because his eighth-ranked team visits No. 17 Miami on Saturday night — was also expected.

“I follow St. Thomas real closely,” said Meyer, who spent much of the game chatting with Miami Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter, in full view of players on both sidelines. “And Byrnes is a national program as well.”

Rutgers coach Greg Schiano might have been the happiest guy in the stadium shortly after kickoff, when Byrnes quarterback Dodd — a Scarlet Knights commitment — connected with Lee Weick for a 52-yard gain on a throwback pass, setting up the game’s first touchdown.

Schiano came down on an eight-seat plane, joking that he had room to take six players home to New Jersey.

“South Florida football has been a big part of our program,” Schiano said. “And it always will be.”

It’s already the second time St. Thomas Aquinas has been on national TV this season. There’s a slew of Division I programs who can’t say that.

And it was a colossal deal for Byrnes, too: At least 2,000 fans made the trip from South Carolina. The Rebels have won six titles in the last seven years, have a $300,000 video screen in their home stadium, and hail from an area where every kid — at all levels of youth football — run essentially the same offensive scheme as they will if they ever make the varsity.

“You have to love high school football,” Schiano said.

The Raiders had trailed only once in their last 17 games, and that was by a mere point for all of 24 seconds.

But Byrnes took a rare lead on Aquinas early, using some bold trickery.

Faking a punt from its own 15 on the first drive of the game, Byrnes called on Lattimore to gain 26 yards. Dodd hooked up with Weick one play later, and Lattimore scored from a yard out for a 7-0 lead.

It didn’t last. Byrnes got within a touchdown four times in the second half, but never any closer.

“It’s something they’ll never forget,” Byrnes coach Chris Miller said. “I know we came out here to play a football game. This was a great opportunity for them. Some of them had never flown before, we went to the beach today, we had a great time.”

(This version CORRECTS St. Thomas Aquinas (Fla.) 42, Byrnes (S.C.) 34. UPDATES with quotes; corrects Rudock’s passing total.)