Former St. Thomas Aquinas Head Coach George Smith to Talk About Showdown with De La Salle on NHSCA Sports Hour

by Jeff Fisher

High School Football America

There's a big football game in Florida Friday night between two of the best high school football programs in America.

De La Salle (Concord, CA) High School will square-off with St. Thomas Aquinas (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) on ESPN.

Joining me on tomorrow night's NHSCA Sports Hour to talk about the showdown is STA athletic director George Smith, who is the 2011 National High School Coaches Association's National High School Football Coach of the Year.

Had Smith not retired from coaching earlier this year, the showdown would have featured two of America's legendy coaches. De La Salle is led by Bob Ladouceur, who led the Spartans on that incredible 151-game win streak that began in the early-90's and ended in 2004. Ladouceur owns an incredible record of 375-24-3.

Smith stepped away from the sidelines after 34 years of building the Raiders into a Florida and national power. Smith's career record before handing the program's reigns over to Rocco Casullo was 361-66 with six state titles and two "mythical" national championships.  Ladouceur has led the Spartans to seven "mythical" national titles.

On May 1st on the NHSCA Sports Hour, I spoke with Casullo, the team's former defensive coordinator, about taking over for a legend. Click here to listen to that interview.

St. Thomas Aquinas enters the game ranked #4 by MaxPreps.com, while De La Salle is at #10.

Tune-in tomorrow night starting at 6PM EDT to listen to my interview with Coach Smith.  Click here to listen LIVE.