SARASOTA COUNTY (SNN TV) — If you asked John Peacock back in August where he expected his Venice Indian team to be come December, he would have said right here.
For the fifth straight year, it’s Venice and St. Thomas Aquinas squaring off in the Florida High School Athletic Association state playoffs.
“We know that we have to come out tomorrow night and give it our all, give it our best every single play, and hopefully we will do enough to get the win,” Venice senior quarterback Colin Blazek said.
The Raiders, from Fort Lauderdale have won three of the past four meetings between to the two schools. Peacock could care less about history.
“But none of that tradition really matters, it is all about 2020,” Peacock said. “Whatever they have done in the past and whatever we have done in the past will not get us any points tomorrow night.”
According to MaxPreps, St. Thomas Aquinas enters Friday’s game ranked as the number two team in the state of Florida. The 11 times state champions are defending their Class-7A title from last year, when they knocked off Orlando Edgewater 28-23.
“You think about St. Thomas, it is all about the athlete,” Peacock said. “They overwhelm you with their roster.”
The Raiders didn’t start their regular season until Oct. 16, making their regional final tilt with Venice just game number six. Meanwhile, even in a year with so much uncertainty, Venice played one of the tougher schedules in the entire state, and now brace themselves for game number 14 when they travel to Brian Piccolo Memorial Stadium in Fort Lauderdale.
“That is definitely an advantage,” Peacock said. “I was kind of hoping we would play them in the play-in to be honest with you. The sooner the better for us to play them.”
Venice has put up 148 points in their last three games spanning back to Nov. 6. The Indians road to the Class-7A-Region 4 title game has come rather easy. Peacock’s team picked up a forfeit win against North Port due to lack of healthy players for the Bobcats. The Indians didn’t miss a beat with the week of from competition, drubbing Riverdale 47-0 at home and going on the road Black Friday to hand Miami Homestead a 50-13 loss in the regional semifinal.
Signal caller Blazek got his opportunity at Venice when he and his family relocated to the Suncoast from Illinois. All the senior has done is throw for 27 touchdowns in 12 starts. High school football in Florida is known for it’s explosive play makers at skill positions — and Blazek loves having that in his back pocket while he leads the Indians offense.
“It takes a lot of pressure off of me having to throw the ball everywhere,” Blazek said. “I can just get to my guys hands and I can trust them that they are going to make the plays when we need them to.”
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at Brian Piccolo Memorial Stadium in Fort Lauderdale.