While all the talk last year centered around the loss of premier quarterback Eugene Smith, who signed at West Virginia, many at Miramar, including Smith, realized that 2009, not 2008, was the year the Patriots could actually field its best team in school history.

After five games, the Patriots have certainly lived up to the hype that its players and former standouts have talked about, and not the media that gave this program little or no love at the start of the season.

This Friday night, Miramar plays its biggest game in school history, and while it’s not the first ever meeting with the St. Tomas Aquinas Raiders, this game is the first time the Patriots have ever played the No. 1 team in the nation with so much at stake.

When the Patriots travel to play the Raiders, they will not just bring an undefeated team into the game, this program, under the director of Damon Cogdell with bring in the top-rated defensive in Broward County and one of the best in the state of Florida.

They also bring in an offense, that while it doesn’t have Smith at quarterback, they have enough major college talent to be regarded as an opponent that will get the attention of George Smith and his team.

While nobody has mentioned Miramar having a chance to dent the Raiders’ dominance in Broward County over the past decade, this is at least one of those Deerfield Beach moments, where you have to at least figure the Patriots will come in with enough talent to get warrant really being prepared for.

“St. Thomas Aquinas is the premier team in the nation,” offered senior linebacker Stephen Blissett. “This is a team that everyone respects and looks up to. Just to have the opportunity to see how good we are is something that all of our players are excited about.”

Over the past few years, Miramar has come up plenty short in attempt to even stay on the field with St. Thomas, and most believe that the same will hold true this Friday night. But this Friday evening, it’s actually a battle of No. 1 and No. 2 in the BCAA, and with the Raiders being overwhelming favorites, it puts the Patriots in a win/win situation.

“Nobody expects us to even stay on the field with them,” said senior receiver Ivan McCartney, who has lost to St. Thomas the past two years. “They are a great team, so we come in and play as hard as we can and see what happens.”

Defense is the name of the game for Miramar. Starting up front with seniors Sir Christian Gordon (6-2, 255) and Derion Pittman (6-2, 225), and junior Jordan Burdi, a 5-10, 180-pounder who has made major strides.

The linebackers are extremely impressive with seniors Jamaal Bass (6-0, 185), Blissett (6-0, 200), Dominick Bryan (5-9, 180), Julian Francis (6-1, 210) and Christopher Coleman (6-1, 207), and junior Markeis Hall (6-0, 215).

Bass and Blissett are three year starters and have received plenty of attention from colleges across the country.

“Everyone wanted to talk about all the other 6A teams in Broward and never mentioned us as being a factor,” said Blissett. “All we did was win just about everything we attended in the summer and worked harder than ever. We knew that this was a very special team.”

While programs such as Northwestern, Boyd Anderson, St. Thomas Aquinas and Plantation get much of the publicity, Miramar is very impressive in the secondary as well.

Led by seniors Keondrick Lyn (6-1, 200), Trevon Griffin (6-2, 180), Donald Jackson (5-9, 170), Derius Silas (5-7, 165) and Xavier Martin (6-0, 180), and very talented sophomore Tracey Howard (6-0, 160).

“This is a very physical secondary,” Cogdell said. “They play the run as well as they do the pass, which is something that was missing from this unit last year.”

Win or lose, this is the key game in the BCAA this week. Here is a look at some of the other matchups to watch for:

THURSDAY
McArthur at Stranahan (Lockhart)

FRIDAY
Ely at Cardinal Gibbons (4 p.m.)
Coconut Creek at Northeast
Archbishop McCarthy at Cooper City
Plantation at Dillard
Douglas at Coral Springs
Everglades at Hallandale
Nova at Flanagan
Pompano Beach at Fort Lauderdale (Lockhart)
Hollywood Hills at South Plantation
Monarch at Coral Glades
Pembroke Pines Charter at South Broward
Cypress Bay at Western

You can reach Larry Blustein via e-mail at FloridaKids1@hotmail.com. He can also be heard every Thursday night (9-10) on the Miami Dolphins High School Gridiron Report on WQAM (560 AM).