Hurst, late-arriving Western pulls off stunner, tops Palmetto
HOMESTEAD — For the second time in three seasons, Western is on to a regional final in Class 8A.
Behind three touchdowns from freshman quarterback Collin Hurst and some timely defensive stops, the Wildcats went down to Homestead’s Harris Field to take down Miami Palmetto 21-19 in a Region 4-8A semifinal on Thursday night.
After also topping Homestead South Dade at home in the first round of the playoffs, Western (9-2) will be back in Miami-Dade County to take on Miami Columbus in the regional final next week with a spot in the state semifinal round on the line.
The Wildcats avenged their loss in the preseason kickoff classic to Palmetto and did it after their team bus was late to pick them up from Davie, causing kickoff to be delayed by 40 minutes on Thursday night.
“It was the craziest start to
agame that I’ve ever had,” Western coach Adam Ratkevich said. “The bus showing up an hour late, them not having enough gas to get down here, the buses taking two different routes, us showing up over an hour late, barely having time to warm up.
“It showed a lot of resiliency of our guys, really, because they stayed focused through all the nonsense. Came here and did the job they had to do against one of the best teams in the state. Tremendous effort on both sides of the ball.”
The Wildcats took a 14-10 lead on their opening series of the second half when Hurst hit Johnny Hoffman on a short pass and Hoffman broke a tackle to escape into the open field for a 50-yard touchdown.
After a Palmetto 23-yard field goal cut the Western lead to 14-13 late in the third quarter, Western went up eight early in the fourth, going for it on fourth-and-goal from the 13-yard line. Hurst found junior Omar Simpson on a slant to forge a 21-13 lead.
Palmetto drove down to the Western 1-yard line on the ensuing drive, but senior defensive end Kevin Izquierdo stripped Palmetto quarterback Kevin Smith on a sneak attempt for a forced fumble and recovery.
After the Panthers got a quick stop, Smith threw to Brashard Smith, who bounced off a defender and scored from 30 yards out. Needing the two-point conversion to tie, a shovel pass was stopped short of the goal line by the Western defense.
The Wildcats ran out the clock after recovering the ensuing onside kick attempt.
Western struck first early in the second quarter when Hurst threw a 9-yard touchdown on a bubble screen to the flat to Shamarr Wright. It was set up by a toe-tapping grab deep down the sideline by senior receiver Karaun St. Louis.
Palmetto answered with Smith running in a keeper for a 3-yard touchdown to tie it at 7.