St. Thomas Aquinas broke the school banner running onto the field prior to the 7A State Championship Game.
It was about the only thing they did wrong Friday night.
The Raiders took advantage of several Plant mistakes for a 45-6 victory to claim their third-straight state title. It's the first time in school history the 10-time state champs had won three in a row.
"We're extremely proud," St. Thomas Aquinas head coach Roger Harriott said. "What better way to celebrate than with a three-peat and represent Broward County.
The Raiders got help in their quest for history. Two Plant miscues in the opening quarter led to 14 points for St. Thomas Aquinas.
On their opening drive, Plant was doing what they needed to against the Raiders. They kept St. Thomas Aquinas on their heels and marched deep into Raiders territory. The Panthers were threatening to score before quarterback Dane Frantzen was picked off.
St. Thomas Aquinas capitalized with a 24-yard touchdown pass from University of Florida commit Jake Allen to Michael Harley.
A mishandled snap on a Plant punt led to another Raiders touchdown, this time Allen to Joshua Palmer for a 28-yard touchdown reception.
The Panthers caught a break on the first play of the second quarter. St. Thomas Aquinas blocked a punt and it was scooped up by Plant's Nick Rice and returned to the Raiders 49-yard line for a fresh set of downs.
Plant was unable to capitalize when Frantzen was stopped short on fourth down.
St. Thomas then marched down the field. Plant's defense made a goal-line stand on second and third down. But on fourth-and-goal at the one, the Raiders Michael Epstein punched it in for the touchdown.
And just like that, Plant was down 21-0.
"There's three facets to the game and we didn't get it done in any of the three and they did," Plant head coach Robert Weiner. "They're a good football team, but we can't let them get rolling. "We had a chance to get at them early but then we let it roll after that."
The Panthers finally got on the scoreboard near the end of the second quarter. They converted a third-and-15 when Frantzen hit Whop Philyor who then made several Raiders defenders miss for a 50-yard gain.
Two plays later, Frantzen scored from one-yard out.
Plant got another break in the third quarter when Jamil Thomas snagged an interception at the Panthers 17-yard line and returned it to the Raiders 14-yard line.
This time though, Plant was unable to capitalize and turned the ball over on downs.
The Raiders scored just before the end of the third quarter when Allen (329 yards, five touchdowns) connected with Michael Harley for a 10-yard touchdown.
St. Thomas Aquinas scored a 62-yard touchdown with seconds remaining in the third to trigger a running clock.
"We knew we just had to come back out and keep fighting and our kids did keep fighting," Weiner said. "There weren't a lot of plays out there, but there were some plays out there and we made some and we didn't make some others. But against them, you've got to make plays and you've got to make some breaks and we didn't do either of those two things."