U-School hangs on as Vattiato returns

King of Davie title goes to Sharks as defense comes up big to beat Western

Nick Vattiato’s return to the University School lineup coupled with a defensive stand with six seconds remaining helped the Sharks survive a Western comeback as U-School laid claim as the King of Davie this season with a 14-9 win.

Western (2-1) trailed 14-2, until backup quarterback Collin Hurst, who replaced starting quarterback Cedquan Smith in the first quarter, scrambled for a 9-yard touchdown with 1:48 to play making it 14-9.

After the Wildcats forced the Sharks to punt, Western took over on its 20. Hurst led the Wildcats down to the U-School 7-yard line, however, his fourth-down pass with six seconds to play fell incomplete and the Sharks held on for the 14-9 win.

U-School (3-1) capitalized on three crucial Western penalties in the first quarter to take a 7-0 lead..

On a third-and-13 from the Wildcats 41, Western was flagged for offside. After an incompletion on third down, the Sharks appeared to be forced to punt on fourth down.

However, the Wildcats were called for an illegal substitution on back-toback plays, resulting in a USchool first down and on the next play, Vattiato, who missed the past six quarters due to a possible concussion, tossed a 25-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Inniss, giving the Sharks the lead.

Leading 7-2 early in the fourth quarter, the Sharks took a 14-2 lead when Deion Small took a backward pass from Vattiato for a 36-yard touchdown run.

Western’s James Williams was ejected in the third quarter for receiving two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in the game. —Steve Evans Dillard (4-0) gets second win of week with rout of Northeast: Devaughn Mortimer and Patrick Bowen each scored a pair of touchdowns for Dillard as the visiting Panthers routed Northeast 42-0 in Oakland Park in the District 15-6A opener for both schools.

The Panthers, (4-0, 1-0), ranked sixth in Class 6A by the Associated Press, set the tone early on defense, forcing two Northeast fumbles in the first quarter. The first came just two plays into the game on a fumble recovery by Nyjalik Kelly. Two plays after that, Mortimer scored the first of his two touchdowns, hauling in a 21-yard pass from Zamir Jones.

Dillard, playing on a short week, was coming off a win on Monday at Pahokee.

Mortimer finished with 67 yards receiving. His second score came on an 81-yard punt return in the second quarter.

Bowen finished with 80 yards rushing. His scores came on runs of 1 yard and 5 yards, both in the second quarter. Bowen briefly left the game in first quarter with a left knee injury. —Tim Dwyer Gibbons’ 27 second-half points shake off L’s: Junior quarterback Brody Palhegyi shook off two early interceptions and a fumble to break open a tight game in the third quarter and give host Cardinal Gibbons a 41-16 win over Fort Lauderdale in a non-district game on Friday night.

Palhegyi threw for two scores and ran for a third as the Chiefs grabbed a 41-9 lead at the end of the third quarter. Palhegyi finished the game 13 of 20 for 134 yards with two TDs and two interceptions before coming out to start the fourth.

“It was sloppy,” said Chiefs coach Matt DuBuc. “I don’t want to blame the weather because both teams had to deal with it. We’ll go back to the drawing board; we have a Class 4A game against American Heritage-Delray [Friday] which we need to win, and we have to play a heckuva lot better than we did tonight.

“I was happy with the way our defense played for the most part,” DuBuc added. “We have been waiting for a breakout game from our special teams and we got it tonight…I am glad we came out of this ahead. They are a quality football team and they are going to win a lot of games.”

Tajae Davis ran for two touchdowns in the first half as host Cardinal Gibbons took a 14-6 lead into the intermission. Davis, who had 10 carries for 77 yards in the first half, finished the game with 11 carries for 80 yards.

Cardinal Gibbons (3-1), coming off the first state football championship in school history, opened the season with a loss to Miami Northwestern, but has rebounded with wins over Palmetto, North Miami and Fort Lauderdale the past three weeks.

Fort Lauderdale took a 3-0 lead when Demetri Fields returned an interception 97 yards to the Cardinal Gibbons’ 1. Unable to score, Fort Lauderdale (2-1) settled for a 21-yard field goal by Cali Canaval-Ejem.

Cardinal Gibbons’ Donnell Bennett returned the ensuing kickoff 30 yards to set up Davis’ first TD of the game from 8 yards out. The Chiefs upped the lead to 14-3 on a 5-yard run by Davis with 3:51 left in the first half.

Fort Lauderdale’s Canaval-Ejem booted a 42-yard field goal with 11.2 seconds left in the first half to pull the L’s to within 14-6 at the intermission.

Cardinal Gibbons extended the lead to 21-6 when Antonio Spencer returned the second half kickoff 95 yards for the score. After the Chiefs defense held, Davor Kiser returned a punt 60 yards to set up a 14-yard scoring toss from Palhegyi to Elisha Edwards to make it 28-6. After a short punt, Palhegyi found Jackson Marseille for a 13-yard score and a 34-6 lead. —Gary Curreri St. Thomas Aquinas gets back on field, cruises: St. Thomas Aquinas, ranked No. 1 in the country by USA Today and No. 6 by MaxPreps, scored on all six of its first-half possessions on the way to a 61-0 rout of host South Plantation in a district game.

The Raiders (2-0, 1-0) led 48-0 by halftime and the second half was played with a running clock.

“It was a solid win for our guys,” said St. Thomas Aquinas coach Roger Harriott. “Coming off a couple weeks of inactive play I think our guys responded well. Great job of staying competitive throughout the past few weeks and I am proud of the way they performed.”

It was just St. Thomas’ second game of the season. Its contest with Bergen Catholic (N.J.) was canceled because of Hurricane Dorian.

St. Thomas sophomore quarterback Zion Turner went 6 for 10 passing for 99 yards and two touchdowns in less than two quarters of action. The 6-foot, 185-pounder opened the scoring with a 21-yard strike to senior The’Andris Freeman to cap the first possession of the game.

He followed that up with a 19-yard TD pass to senior tight end Jacob Ray and Turner made it 21-0 on a 1-yard run with 11:01 left second quarter. St. Thomas played three quarterbacks in going up 48 points in the first half.

The loss drops South Plantation to 2-2. —Pat Lammer Joseph, Atlantic dominate Glades Central: Atlantic junior running back Montahj Joseph rushed for three touchdowns and passed for another score as the host Eagles cruised past visiting Glades Central 49-3 in Delray Beach.

Atlantic (2-0) had a dominant performance on defense and created four turnovers, including three fumble recoveries and an interception. The Eagles also blocked a field goal attempt and recorded a blocked punt in the victory.

Atlantic led 14-3 after the opening quarter before scoring 22 points in the second to take a 36-3 advantage entering halftime. They scored on their opening drive of the third and controlled the second half with the running clock.

The Eagles had an 80-yard scoring drive on their opening possession, capped by a 20-yard touchdown run by Joseph.

Glades Central (2-2) lost a fumble on the ensuing kickoff and the Eagles capitalized. Two plays later, Joseph bounced it out to the outside and raced for a 19-yard touchdown to extend the lead to 14-0.

Eagles junior receiver Tyler Burke had a 43-yard catch and run for score to make it 20-3 in the second.

Joseph exploded up the middle for a 31-yard touchdown run as he broke multiple tackles and dragged defenders into the end zone and the Eagles took a 28-3 advantage after converting a two-point conversion. —Alex Kushel