St. Thomas football ends skid with convincing win over ConVal

DOVER - Coming off a pair of losses, the St. Thomas Aquinas High School football team was left with the realization that it had to win its remaining four games for any hope at the Division II playoffs.

With no margin for error, the Saints thoroughly began their quest with Saturday night’s 35-0 Division II victory over ConVal. Junior quarterback Cam Paquette completed 21 of 29 passes for 326 yards and three touchdowns to lead St. Thomas (3-3).

“This was awesome for us, because we know in order to make the playoffs we have to win out and it starts with this right here,” Paquette said. “It’s just basically be 1-0 on a Saturday, and worry about the next game after.”

After a disastrous defensive effort in a 63-42 loss to Milford, St. Thomas followed that with a narrow 7-6 loss to three-time defending-champion Plymouth last week. The Saints limited ConVal (1-5) to 51 yards, while piling up 469 yards of their own.

The Saints would likely grab one of the eight playoffs spots granted in D2 by winning their final three games, beginning with next Friday’s game at Manchester West (3-3). St. Thomas then plays Pelham (4-2) and Hollis Brookline (4-2).

“They know,” St. Thomas coach Dave Bryant said. “They played very well. They feel pretty good and feel like they can go toe-to-toe with anybody, play anybody, anywhere.”

Throughout the season, Paquette has learned that every defense is aiming to neutralize senior receiver Will MacLean. Paquette completed three passes for 72 yards to MacLean on Saturday, but it his was a classmate he’s had a connection with since their freshman season that produced a career highlight.

Adam Stewart gouged ConVal’s defense by catching 13 passes for 215 yards with two touchdowns and 31 rushing yards.

“Cam has been my guy since freshman year, he’s been throwing that ball, and I know he throws the best ball in the league,” Stewart said. “He just knows when to find the open guy. I had the upper hand tonight, and he was able to find me.”

Stewart caught seven balls for 123 yards in the first half, but both of his touchdowns came on improbable fourth-down situations in the third quarter.

St. Thomas carried a 21-0 lead into the opening drive of the third quarter, when it was faced with a fourth-and-22. Paquette calmly found Stewart down the middle of the field for a 42-yard touchdown pass to give St. Thomas a 28-0 lead with 9:05 left in the third quarter.

“We’ve had a connection since freshman year, so to see it now at the varsity level is awesome,” Paquette said.

Paquette and Stewart followed that with a 23-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-17 to cap the game’s scoring with 2:38 left in the third.

“Cam and Adam have been playing together for two years, so if Cam isn’t looking at Will, who is he going to look at,” Bryant said. “The chemistry between Cam, Will and Adam is amazing, so if you take away one, we’ll find the other.”

St. Thomas cashed in on an 11-play, 68 yard drive in the first quarter that culminated with a 2-yard touchdown run by Hunter Lassard to give the Saints a 7-0 lead with 6:21 left in the first. Lassard finished with a season-high 133 yards and 23 carries.

“He kept telling me to give him the ball,” Bryant said.

Quinn Wade returned an interception of ConVal quarterback Caleb Sanborn six yards for a touchdown on the ensuing drive. The Saints took a 21-0 lead on Paquette’s 25-yard touchdown pass to Connor Toriello with 4:15 left in the second quarter

“We're a young team, I’m starting eight sophomores and they’ve got to pay their dues,” ConVal coach Robert Clauss said. “I thought we hung with them in the first half, but they wore us down.”

With every game remaining for the Saints acting as a playoff game, the Saints are confident they can run the table.

“It was tough to take those three losses, we were in every one of them and we put up a good fight,” Stewart said. “We know we can beat anyone.”