American Heritage reaches semifinal with marathon win
BASEBALL: The agent for Japanese star P/OF Shohei Ohtani asked for written explanations in English and Japanese on how he would fit into each organization intending to bid and what makes the team attractive, according to details obtained by The Associated Press . ... The Tigers agreed to a one-year contract with LHP Blaine Hardy, avoiding arbitration with the 30year-old reliever.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Chip Kelly agreed to a five-year, $23.3 million deal to coach UCLA. Kelly, who turned 54 on Saturday, spent the last year out of coaching after four seasons in the NFL. He entertained serious overtures from Florida before deciding to take the UCLA job. Kelly replaces Jim Mora, who was fired last week with one game left in his sixth season. Kelly went 46-7 in four seasons at Oregon before coaching the Eagles and 49ers . ... Nebraska fired coach Mike Riley after three disappointing seasons, including a 4-8 mark this year. Riley was under contract through February 2021 and is due a buyout of more than $6.6 million.
GOLF: Jason Day shot a 2-under 69 to take a one-stroke lead over Lucas Herbert after the third round of the Australian Open. Day birdied the 18th for a 54-hole total of 203, 10-under par, after a tough, windy day . ... Shiv Chawrasia shot a 1-under 69 for a one-stroke lead over Rafa Cabrera Bello and Wade Ormsby after three rounds at the Hong Kong Open.
NFL: Former Bears DE John Thierry, who was drafted in the first round in 1994, died at 46. Former teammate Marcus Spears wrote on Instagram that Thierry suffered a massive heart attack Friday night . ... The Lions waived DE Jeremiah Valoaga, who had one sack in nine games . ... Bills WR Kelvin Benjamin was ruled out for Sunday’s game against the Chiefs because of a knee injury . ... The Jaguars will be without RT Jermey Parnell (knee) and LG Patrick Omameh (quadriceps) against the Cardinals
... The Titans activated WR Harry Douglas (knee) from injured reserve and waived WR Darius Jennings.
SOCCER: Lionel Messi signed a new contract with Barcelona that will keep the Argentina forward with the Spanish club through 2021, when he will be 34 . ... Ashley Young scored in the second half as Manchester United defeated Brighton 1-0 to move within five points of English Premier League leader Manchester City . ... Naldo scored in the fourth minute of injury time as Schalke rallied from four goals down to draw at Borussia Dortmund 4-4 in the German Bundesliga.
TENNIS: Richard Gasquet and PierreHugues Herbert beat Ruben Bemelmans and Joris De Loore 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4 to give France a 2-1 lead over Belgium in the Davis Cup final. France is one win away from a 10th Davis Cup title.
ALSO: Germany’s Viktoria Rebensburg edged Mikaela Shiffrin to win her second straight World Cup giant slalom in Killington, Vt . ... Germany’s Bruno Massot and Aliona Savchenko overcame Massot’s back injury to win the pairs at Skate America in Lake Placid, N.Y. The duo persevered to win the free skate with a final score of 223.13. American skater Nathan Chen won the men’s competition.
PLANTATION — When Cardinal Gibbons scored a pair of first-half touchdowns in proximity to each other to go up by two and then three scores, American Heritage coach Patrick Surtain relayed the same message to his players as they ran back to the sideline.
“Long game, long game,” Surtain reminded them each time.
He was right, but not even he could imagine just how right he would be and how “long” the Region 4-5A final between the rivals would turn out.
Down 27-6 then, Heritage reeled off 35 straight points to lead 41-27 — only to have the Chiefs rally back with two touchdowns to force overtime.
And after three back-andforth overtime periods, an extra point would end up being the difference. Heritage blocked Gibbons’ pointafter attempt and then converted on the one that followed the score for the Patriots to come away with a 58-57 triple-overtime victory at home on Friday night.
“We hung in there,” Surtain said. “That’s what championship teams do. Hang in there and find a way to win. We did.”
The Patriots (11-0), the third-ranked team in the nation, according to MaxPreps, have now reeled off 25 consecutive victories dating back to last year when they won their third state title in four seasons. Heritage hosts Immokalee in a Class 5A state semifinal next Friday night.
Senior defensive lineman John Alyn came up with the block on the point-after that followed Gibbons running back Vincent Davis’ touchdown on the opening play of the third overtime. Anthony Schwartz came down with the touchdown catch delivered by Cam Smith on third down to set up Jimmy Lowery’s extra point to seal it and bring the Patriots storming off the sideline onto the field in celebration.
“I thought it was going to come down to one play, and I was right,” Cardinal Gibbons coach Matt DuBuc said. “I just thought we were going to make that one play this time.”
Over the last two seasons, Cardinal Gibbons (11-2), while going a perfect 20-0 against all other opponents has lost all four meetings with American Heritage.
Schwartz scored three touchdowns – two receiving and one on a kickoff return that ignited Heritage’s 35-point run.
“When the ball’s in the air, it’s mine,” Schwartz said. “This game was the best game I’ve ever played – optimist and high school.”
Smith, also tossing a tying score to Josh Alexander in the first overtime, threw for five touchdowns and ran in two more.
For Alyn, the blocked kick was redemption for an earlier mistake where he thought he heard a whistle and stopped pursuit of Chiefs quarterback Nik Scalzo on a play where he connected with Lavontae Decius to bring Gibbons within one possession at 41-34.
“I felt responsible for that, the continuation, the reason they had the fight like that,” Alyn said. “The only thing going through my brain was, ‘Alright, cool. I’ve got to make it up.’ ”