Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Playoff picture
Heritage-Plantation, St. Thomas advance. 1C and sunsentinel.com/highschools
Kyshaun Bryan, of St. Thomas Aquinas, runs through the Venice defense during their Class 7A semifinal game on Friday at Brian Piccolo Stadium in Fort Lauderdale.
PLANTATION — American Heritage jumped out to an early advantage and had to hold off a late charge by visiting Tampa Jesuit to pull out a 21-14 victory in the Class 5A state semifinal on Friday night.
“My hat’s off to Jesuit, they kept fighting,” said American Heritage coach Pat Surtain, whose team is bidding for a third state championship in four years. “We kept them in the game with stupid penalties, and turnovers.”
The Patriots (13-0) were poised to put the game away but Abraham Alce fumbled on the Tigers’ 4-yard line and Tampa Jesuit (12-1) then went the distance covering 96 yards in 17 plays and Daniel Boon scored his second touchdown of the night with 4:30 left in the game to draw within 21-14.
American Heritage went for a 30-yard field goal with 21 seconds left, however Anthony Nelson broke through and blocked the kick to give the Tigers one last chance on their own 20. On a fourth and 15 from their own 15, Boon was sacked by George Ellis for an 8-yard loss to end the game.
Ellis, a 6-3, 290-pound senior defensive end, said it was a big win.
“We worked every day in the summer to get us ready for this and we showed it on the field,” Ellis said. “This was tough. We told the boys to play every play to the end and we never give up.”
“Like championship teams do, we found a way to win,” Surtain said. “This is unbelievable. They fought for 48 minutes.”
The first-ever matchup between the state’s topranked Class 5A teams — American Heritage (No. 1) and Jesuit (No. 2) lived up to the billing you would expect from two 12-0 squads.
American Heritage will face Ponte Vedra in the Class 5A state championship game at Camping World Stadium (Orlando) Friday at 3 p.m.
American Heritage senior quarterback Jason Brown threw for two scores in the first half to stake his team to an early 13-0 lead.
The Patriots jumped out to a 6-0 lead with 10:28 left in the first half when Miles Jones took a swing pass from Brown and went 68 yards for the score. It marked only the second time all season that the Tigers trailed in a game.
The Patriots extended the lead to 13-0 with 3:32 remaining in the half on a 23-yard scoring toss from Brown to Laress Nelson.
For the most part, the Patriots were able to bottle up Jesuit senior running back Malik Davis in the first half. Davis, who entered the game with 2,130 yards rushing and 31 touchdowns on 173 carries, was held in check as he gained just 62 yards in the first half. He broke loose in the second half and finished the night with 177 yards.
American Heritage, winners of 27 of their past 28 games, took the opening kickoff of the second half and wasted little time going 85 yards in just four plays capped by a 70-yard TD jaunt down the right sideline by Jones. Jordan Johnson added a 2-point conversion run to extend the lead to 21-0.