South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Deerfield Beach leaves Dillard at halftime trailing 21-0 due to COVID-related issue
FORT LAUDERDALE — Dillard led Deerfield Beach 21-0 at halftime in a much-anticipated meeting between two of Broward County’s top football teams. But as the Panthers prepared to take the field after the mid-game break, a bizarre sight unfolded before them: The Bucks were leaving the field. The game ended in confusion.
Deerfield Beach coach Jevon Glenn said the game ended abruptly because the Broward County Athletic Association said a player on his team had shown COVID-like symptoms.
“They said one of our players went to the clinic today and the nurse said he displayed COVID-like symptoms!” Glenn said in a post-game text message. “Dillard said (they) didn’t feel comfortable going back out on the field. ... Once they told Dillard that the player participated in the game Dillard said they were uncomfortable continuing the game. We pulled the player from the game in the second quarter.”
Dillard coach Tyler Tate said that he was told the BCAA said the game could not continue.
“I just know the BCAA said it was a situation with the Deerfield team so they had to forfeit the second half,” Tate said.
Reached after the game, BCAA Director of Athletics and Student Activities Shawn Cerra said the cessation of play was a mutual decision: “The game was called by both school administrations and they were unanimous in their decision. It was a joint school decision to cancel the game.”
Before the halftime commotion, Dillard was dominating the game. The Panthers held the Bucks to 111 yards of in the first half, and David Law-Mortimer and Joshua Bowen had secured interceptions for Dillard.
Dillard took the lead late in the first quarter on a 3-yard touchdown run by Jaferris Finley, and Christopher Johnson made it 14-0 with a 17-yard run in the second quarter. Finley, who put the Panthers in scoring position with a double-pass to star wide receiver Devaughn Mortimer, gave Dillard a 21-0 lead with a 5-yard touchdown run late in the first half.
“The good thing is my kids played a good half of football,” Tate said. “I at least got to see that tonight. My kids came out, played a good half of football before it shut down. So we’re going to use this confidence and take it to the next week.”
Gibbons crushes Newman
Junior running back Kamari Moulton carried 11 times for 92 yards and two touchdowns, while Isaiah Farris had two returns for touchdowns as Cardinal Gibbons downed Cardinal Newman 40-14 on Friday night.
Cardinal Gibbons, the defending Class 4A state champions, cruised to a 16-0 lead in the first quarter and coasted from there.
The Chiefs (1-0) were unable to play last week’s season opener and lost two more starters to COVID contact tracing before the game, but still pulled out the win.
The Chiefs, ranked No. 2 in the state in Class 4A by Max Preps, were also playing with heavy hearts as longtime assistant coach John Chikerotis passed away earlier in the day after a bout with cancer.
“This has been such a roller-coaster. We lost two starters before the game over this COVID stuff,” Chiefs coach Matt DuBuc said. “The emotions are so high and so low. Then we lost coach Chick and he was my coach when I went here in 1989-92. He was here 38 years and my emotions are all messed up tonight.”
— Gary Curreri
Palm Beach Central stays perfect
Palm Beach Central junior quarterback Ahmad Haston passed for three touchdowns and senior running back Markel King scored twice as the host Broncos cruised to a 44-14 victory against Dwyer in a non-district matchup on Friday night.
Palm Beach Central (2-0) jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the opening quarter and pulled away for a 31-6 lead at halftime.
“The first two weeks we felt like we started slow,” Palm Beach Central coach Scottie Littles said. “We switched some things in practice and they responded. We are extremely talented. We are only going to improve and get better. I am proud of them.”
The Broncos marched downfield on the opening possession of the game, which took more than five minutes off the clock. Haston tossed a screen pass out to the flat to King and he turned upfield toward the end zone for a 20-yard score.
— Alex Kushel