American Heritage eliminates Northwestern
As soon as its 2019 season ended with a secondround playoff loss to Northwestern, Plantation American Heritage was thinking about the inevitable 2020 rematch. The narrow loss haunted American Heritage for almost a year and the Patriots spent the winter, spring and summer thinking about the Bulls.
Once the fall arrived and the Florida High School Athletic Association put out its playoff brackets, American Heritage had something even more tangible to grab on to: Nov. 20.
The date — two days shy of a year after the Patriots’ 2019 loss — was when their two spots in the bracket would collide. American Heritage would, in all likelihood, welcome Northwestern back to Plantation for the Region 4-Class 5A semifinals. The road to a Class 5A title runs through the Bulls and the Patriots, mired in a two-year title drought, has now crossed its biggest hurdle with a
12-3 win at Heritage Field.
“We knew we would have to play the three-time defending state champs again,” American Heritage coach Patrick Surtain said. “We knew the exact date when we were going to play them and we wanted that challenge.”
The Patriots (7-2) held Northwestern (3-2) without a touchdown for the first time since 2017. It was the first time a team other than Bradenton IMG Academy kept the Bulls out of the end zone since 2013.
A year ago, American Heritage fell three points short and Northwestern went on to win a third consecutive state championship. On Friday, the Patriots pieced together an even better defensive performance to reach the Region 4-5A championship, where they’ll go on the road to face Rockledge next Friday.
On four trips into the red zone, the Bulls scored only three points and threw two interceptions. American Heritage finished with four takeaways, including a strip sack by star edge rusher Marvin Jones Jr. in the third quarter to set up a field goal. The Patriots shut out Northwestern for the final 38:05 after Bulls kicker Leo Zuazo made a 40-yard field goal in the final minutes of the first quarter.
“They’ve been doing this the whole year,” Surtain said. “We have some ballers over there and every single last one of those guys stepped up and played their [expletive] off, played their hearts out.”
American Heritage started the third quarter at its own 45-yard line and stuck with its game plan. It fed star running back Mark Fletcher over and over again, and the sophomore started picking up chunks of yardage. He opened the half with a 20-yard run, then a 2-yard run, and then Patriots quarterback Blake Murphy ripped off a 16-yard gain and American Heritage was into the red zone. Murphy eventually sneaked into the end zone on a 1yard run to give the Patriots a 6-0 lead and the only touchdown of the game.
“They have a hell of a D,” said Fletcher, who ran for 102 yards on 19 carries. “They came pumped up. We had to come and finish.”
Region 4-3A semifinals — Edison 41, St. John Paul II Academy 0: Their Miami-Dade County partners in the state series this year are mostly perennial contenders like Miami
ACentral and Northwestern, but Luther Campbell didn’t hesitate as he thought through whether Edison should enter the state series and risk the season lasting just two or three regularseason games, plus the chance of a one-and-done trip to the playoffs. His Red Raiders continue to reward his confidence.
“This is special. That’s what the goal has been, to build this program,” Campbell said. “We expected to be in this position. We came in this year and said, Hey, look, we want to compete for state and it’s state or bust. There’s no doubt about it. We’re right where we want to be.”
For the first time since 2016 and just the third time this century, Edison (4-1) is headed to the region finals after another blowout win at Traz Powell Stadium.
The Red Raiders will host either Chaminade-Madonna or get a rematch with Calvary Christian next Friday in Miami with a chance to reach the state semifinals for the first time since 2003.
Campbell’s postseason gamble so far hasn’t yielded any suspense. A random draw gave Edison a bye through the play-in round earlier this month, so the Red Raiders opened the postseason last Friday with a 40-point rout of Benjamin. Even the regular season was mostly devoid of drama for Edison, which began the season with a 26-point win against Homestead last month and closed it out with a 40-point win against Norland. The Red Raiders’ only loss was by 14 to Central in a game shortened to two quarters because of lightning.
Region 4-4A semifinal — Cardinal Gibbons 29, Gulliver Prep 7: For the second consecutive week in the FHSAA playoffs, the Chiefs rolled to a victory. The Chiefs (5-1), who are now slated to play at Delray American Heritage next week in the Re
Agion 4 final, have outscored their two playoff opponents 66-14 after defeating Clewiston 37-7 in the regional quarterfinals.
“I mean, all I’ve heard all week, and probably for months was how great they were,” Cardinal Gibbons coach Matt DuBuc said of Gulliver Prep, “and nobody was talking about what we’ve done or what we did. It was a bit of a personal game for us. ... We had a little chip on our shoulder.”
Cardinal Gibbons, ranked as the No. 12 team in the state by MaxPreps, made quick work of Gulliver Prep, holding a Raiders team that averaged 47.6 points per game — albeit against a schedule of Belen Jesuit, Somerset Academy South Homestead, Palm Beach Benjamin, Dade Christian and Monsignor Pace — to just one touchdown.
The Chiefs jumped out to a 19-0 halftime lead, extended the advantage to 22-0 midway through the third quarter before giving up its only points of the game and dominated on both lines of scrimmage while taking advantage of Gulliver Prep miscues.
Cardinal Gibbons turned a pair of missed Raiders field goals and a thirdquarter Isaiah Farris interception into 16 of their 29 points. Running backs Kamari Moulton and Torrence Miller each scored first-half touchdowns. Moulton’s came from 2 yards out to complete an 80-yard opening drive. Miller scored from 50 yards after breaking a pair of tackles and finding an open lane down the left sideline.
St. Brendan (7-1) 21, Palmer Trinity 0: Richard Dandridge had 102 all purpose yards and one touchdown. Christian Lowry had 6 tackles and a 40-yard interception for a TD. Anthony Gray had 9 tackles and 1 sack. Eric Rangel had 9 tackles. Verdieu Guillaume had 3 tackles and a block field goal returned for a touchdown. Terrell Franklin had 7 tackles.
AGIRLS’ SOCCER
LaSalle (1-1) 4, Coral Shores 0: Nicole Nielsen 2 goals, 1 assist; Hanah Gonzalez 1 goal, 2 assists; Deanna Prieto 1 goal; Ashley Fonseca shutout (1).
St. Brendan (3-1) 8, Mater Academy 0: Regalado 2 goals; Dow 2 goals; Dennis, Pro, Rincon 1 goal each.
AAGIRLS’ BASKETBALL
Westminster Academy 70, Cardinal Newman 28: Emma Wallhoff 24 points, 6 rebounds; Claire Erickson 15 points, 5 assists; Lena Girardi 15 points, 6 rebounds; Addy Atkinson 6 points, 8 rebounds; Taelyn Carey 8 points, 10 rebounds.
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