No raining on P.B. Central’s parade
Broncos win their third straight district championship
WELLINGTON — Enduring sheets of rain was worth it for Palm Beach Central on Thursday night.
The Broncos hosted Palm Beach Gardens in the de facto District 10-8A championship game and came away with a dominant, but sloppy, 28-14 win in Wellington. The win gives the Broncos their third straight district championship.
“It is rewarding, it is validating,” said Palm Beach Central first-year coach Scottie Littles. “When I took the job, the language was, ‘Central won’t be this, Central won’t be that.’ Football is football, and these kids work hard, these kids take coaching. We’ve got a great staff, we’ve got a great administrative support staff, and at the end of the day, it feels great to do something people say you can’t do.”
As the skies opened right after kickoff, the teams traded turnovers. Gardens fumbled on its first drive, but Palm Beach Central fumbled the ball right back to the Gators.
Gardens held onto the ball, but a low snap on a punt resulted in a sacked punter. The Broncos couldn’t take advantage of their excellent field position, fumbling the ball away again.
“That’s nerve-wracking at times, but you’ve just got to stay the course,” Littles said.
Gators quarterback Lynden Moss, struggling with the wet ball, throwing an interception on Gardens’ next drive, and the
Broncos finally made them pay for it.
On the first play of the subsequent drive, Broncos quarterback Anarjahe Douriet threw a 16-yard touchdown strike to Super 11 wide receiver Bryan Robinson.
The rain slowed down and both teams’ passing games opened up. Douriet and Robinson connected a second time for a 27-yard touchdown pass,
“When you have that guy on the field with you, he can bail you out of situations that no other guy can,” Douriet said. “He’s very special.”
Gardens responded with a 70-yard touchdown pass from Moss to Jabril Jarrett in the first half to cut into the Broncos’ lead, but Central came right back with another score.
The weather would continue not cooperating, and another ball slipped from Moss’ hand and ended in the hands of Broncos defensive back Kamron Young, who took the pass 70 yards to the end zone for a pick six. Central took the 21-7 lead into halftime.
Robinson nearly had a third touchdown in the second half, but it was called back on an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
Robinson and Gardens wide receiver Myron Levy were later ejected from the game after a Palm Beach Central interception led to a skirmish between the teams’ players near the Central sideline.
Littles did not comment on the fight after the game.
Douriet tossed his third touchdown pass late in the third quarter, a 10-yard strike to Cedric Johnson. That touchdown would prove to be important insurance, as the Gators scored again on a 1-yard run by running back Ernest Blackshear but could not cut the Broncos’ lead further.
“It feels amazing to be back-to-back-toback district champs,” Douriet said. “Put in a lot of work for this during the summer and during the spring. We just knew that we had a team, so we stuck together and fought.”