State championship football is back in Broward
The Florida High School Athletic Association on Tuesday announced the venues and dates for its state championship football games for the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
Fort Lauderdale’s DRV PNK Stadium hosts the Class 4A-8A state championship games Dec. 1618. Tallahassee’s Gene Cox Stadium will be the site for the 1A-3A title games Dec. 9-11.
Palmetto High (4-4) has clinched a playoff ticket with a district title in Class 7A. Braden River High
(7-1, Class 6A) is poised to join the Tigers as an atlarge team in 6A based on the strength of its RPI placing.
Southeast (5-3, 6A) is also looking to secure a playoff berth via the RPI at-large route and plays rival Manatee to wrap the regular season this week.
The FHSAA’s announcement marks the first time since 1987 that Broward County will host title games. The games are at Inter Miami FC’s stadium, according to the news release.
It’s also the first time South Florida has hosted state championship football games since 2006.
Due to COVID-19, all eight classification title games were held at Florida State’s Doak Campbell Stadium in 2020.
“The FHSAA is thrilled to partner with both the Tallahassee and Fort Lauderdale communities to host the 2021 & 2022 Florida High School Football State Championships,” FHSAA executive director George Tomyn said in a statement.
Tickets cost $12 in advance and $15 on game day. All games are streaming live via Spectrum Sports.
This week marks the final regular season week, with the FHSAA playoffs beginning next week.
— DAVID WILSON
DISTRICT BOWLING
The TERRA girls' bowling team bounced back from the loser's bracket to become a district winner and qualify for state.
District 17 (South) featured 14 schools at Bird Bowl in Westchester, and the tournament was similar to the Miami Dade County Youth Fair event, with teams playing headto-head, three games each. The top four schools (four boys’ teams and four girls’ teams) then advanced to the Baker Round, double-elimination finals, best three-offive.
TERRA defeated Ferguson back-to-back in the Baker Round to win the district title.
The champs are Ella Perez, Alexa Puett, Gillian Pons, Alyssa Sosa, Jezel Lopez and Jassidy Lopez. The coach is Catherine Manfra.
In the morning session, TERRA, Ferguson, Palmetto and Coral Gables advanced to the Baker Round.
Coral Gables upset TERRA in the first round of the Baker Round, dropping TERRA to the loser's bracket where they battled to become district champions, beating Ferguson twice, including the winner-take-all finale in straight sets (154-133, 200-116, 163-117).
Advancing to state for the girls: champion TERRA, runner-up Ferguson and Palmetto’s Ruby Tenbroek
and Maggie Meltzer.
In the morning session of the boys’ division, the top four schools were Ferguson, Southwest, Cutler Bay and TERRA.
In the semifinal of the Baker Round, Ferguson defeated Southwest. The Eagles dropped to the loser’s bracket where they defeated Cutler Bay to set-up a rematch with Ferguson.
Like TERRA's girls, Southwest's boys battled back. The Eagles avenged their loss to Ferguson, beating them twice in the finals to win the championship, with the finale 160-139, 126-141, 182-136, 166-154.
Advancing to state for the boys: champion Southwest, runner-up Ferguson, TERRA’s Casey Puett and Palmetto's Evan Viener.
Individually, the high scorers for boys and girls were TERRA senior twins Alexa Puett (537) and Casey Puett (649).
The state tournament is through Nov. 4 at the Boardwalk Bowl Entertainment Center in Orlando.
MORE DISTRICT BOWLING
The Columbus boys’ bowling team defeated Belen Jesuit three games to two games in the Baker Round finals of a district tournament at AMF Pembroke Pines Lanes.
The district champion Explorers had four bowlers score in the top 10. They are Marlon Ruiz, Chris Ferrer, Alejandro Johnson and George Kakouris.
Also on Columbus are Aidan Acevedo, Robbie Martinez, Luca Ordonez and Carlo Toca. The coach is Adam Scholer.
Champion Columbus and runner-up Belen advanced to state.
COHEA bowler Tyler Keller won a district title to qualify for the state tournament as well.
Teammate Adair Garcia also qualified for state, placing third at districts at AMF Pembroke Pines Lanes.
COHEA: Boys: Tyler Keller high game 258, series 736; Adair Garcia high game 251, series 565; Bo Williams high game 137, series 327, Vincent Teck high game 128, series 212; Miguel Gonzalez high game 111, series 204; Yusnier Fernandez high game 127, series 189.
COHEA: Girls: Krystal Fernandez high game 106, series 288; Kassandra Fernandez high game 97, series 234.
Dr. Krop won the girls’ district title, defeating Alonzo & Tracy Mourning School in the finals.
The champs are MaiLisa Atis (Sr.), Sagine Atis (Soph.), Alysa Marquez (Jr.), Thalia Nelson (Soph.), Sophia Platonov (Soph.) and Rebecca Vainstein (Sr.). The coach is Amy McMillan.
Both teams advanced to state. Victory Coleman of American and Florencia Merlino of Reagan/Doral qualified for state as well.
FOOTBALL HONORS
Ransom Everglades earned several Florida Independent Football Conference awards.
Coach of the Year - Roger Caron.
Player of the Year - Nick Rubino (Jr.).
Scholar Athlete - Levi Gans (Sr.).
Special Teams Player - Caleb Carlson (Sr.).
1st Team All Conference - Nick Rubino (Jr.), Levi Gans (Sr.), Jack Rivas (Sr.), Andy O’Brien (Sr.).
2nd Team All Conference - Gabe Alencar (Jr.), Ryan Courey (Jr.), AJ Srebnick (Jr.).
3rd Team All Conference - Brendan
Dyke (Jr.), Trent Mopsick (Jr.).
GOLF HONORS
The American Junior Golf Association announced its 2021 Rolex Junior All-America Teams.
Luke Clanton (Miami Lakes) First Team, American Heritage-Plantation.
Nicholas Prieto (Miami) Second Team, Florida Christian School.
The Rolex Junior AllAmerica Teams annually recognize the world’s premier junior golfers.
The 2021 class includes 48 boys and 48 girls, age 14-19, from 23 states and five countries, including Canada, China, Hong Kong, Japan and the United States.
These young men and women distinguished themselves through exceptional play in 146 national junior golf events, 128 conducted by the AJGA. The teams were determined exclusively through the Rolex AJGA Rankings as of Oct. 13.
WRESTLING HONORS
Somerset (Pembroke Pines) wrestling celebrated two USA Preseason National All Americans. They are Matthew Jimenez and Kendrick Hodge.
After losing to the No. 7 ranked Super 32 runner-up 3-1 in the first round, Jimenez battled back to take third overall.
Hodge lost in the second round to the top seed but then won nine consecutive consolation matches, including avenging his earlier loss in overtime to place third.
Also from Somerset, Kevin Concepcion and Matthew Velasco each went 3-2. Rashad Hannon was 0-2, losing each match by just one point.
Somerset won two team state titles in Florida high school wrestling last season under the direction of Coach Joe Blasucci.
SOCCER
The Soccer Locker/Miami Country Day Pre-Season Boys’ Soccer Classic is Nov. 3 and 4 at the Miami Country Day School Soccer Complex in Miami Shores.
Wednesday, Nov. 3:
5 p.m. Ransom Everglades vs. Miami Beach
7 p.m. Jackson vs. Miami Country Day
Thursday, Nov. 4:
5 p.m. Ransom Everglades vs. Jackson 7 p.m. Miami Beach vs. Miami Country Day
SUBMIT SPORTS RESULTS
For high schools in Broward and Miami-Dade, if you have varsity results, top performers and stats for this column, email hssports@miamiherald.com.
They will run in the newspaper and online. Photos accepted, too. No deadline. Send after the game, the next day or weekly. You will be alerted when it will appear in the newspaper and online.
Roundup compiled