Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Chaminade-Madonna wins first state title since 2005
ORLANDO — ChaminadeMadonna went into the season with the mantra of “Unfinished Business.”
Motivated by last year’s state runner-up finish, the Lions desired to return to the title game and finish the job this time. They had to finish, all right. Watching a two-touchdown fourth-quarter lead evaporate, they marched down the field in the final minutes to set up a 19-yard field goal from Daniel Longman with 4 seconds left as Chaminade knocked off Oxbridge Academy 31-28 in the Class 3A title game on Saturday at Orlando’s Camping World Stadium.
Senior running back Shaun Shivers completed his decorated high school career, running for 216 yards and two touchdowns. The Auburn commit finished his senior season with 2,241 yards.
“We’ve been trying to get back here since last year, and it’s just big for us to win,” Shivers said. “Nobody can really say anything anymore because we’re state champs.”
Dameon Jones, in his second season leading the Lions (11-2), got Chaminade its first state title since
2005. The program has won three overall, having also won in 2003 — those first two under Mark Guandolo.
Quarterback Daelen Menard, who finished with 144 yards passing and two touchdowns, had a key third-down conversion to Akeem Hayes plus a scramble for 23 yards and another first down on the final drive.
“Since last year we took that L, we knew we weren’t going to lose this time,” Menard said. “We were clutch, and we did what we needed to do.”
Shivers then got the Lions down to the 2-yard line to set up Longman’s game-winning kick that capped the 11-play, 79-yard drive that started with 3:27 remaining.
“It was just like an extra point,” Longman said. “It was all for them — all for Chaminade.”
Oxbridge quarterback Gio Richardson threw a pair of fourthquarter touchdowns — first to Herman McCray and then to De’John King — to bring the ThunderWolves rallying back to tie Chaminade. Richardson threw for 286 yards and three touchdowns while adding 53 on the ground and another score.
Shivers scored a pair of firsthalf touchdowns from 2 and 7 yards out. He reeled off long runs earlier in those drives to set up his short scores. With Shivers’ threat to the Oxbridge defense building, Menard was able to connect on a pair of long touchdown passes.
Late in the first quarter, off a play-action fake, Menard connected with a wide-open Hayes, who is committed to Kentucky, for a 44-yard touchdown after a breakdown in coverage.
The Lions extended a 21-14 lead to two scores in the third quarter when Menard hit Alabama commit Xavier Williams deep down the sideline for a 55-yard touchdown. The connection came shortly after Menard, on the run, threw an impressive pass over the top to Williams that was just out of his reach.
Junior safety and Kentucky commit Keontra Smith finished with 13 tackles and a sack. The Lions also got sacks from Zachary Dixon (two), CJ Williams and Ernest Felder while James Williams intercepted a pass early in the fourth quarter.
In what was the third consecutive playoff meeting between Chaminade and Oxbridge, the Lions have now taken two in the series. Last year, Chaminade eliminated Oxbridge in a regional final en route to the state final loss to Jacksonville Trinity Christian. In 2015, the ThunderWolves (10-2) won a regional semifinal meeting.