QB Smith rallies Blue Devils
Passing game wakes up in time for winning drive against Bobcats.
BOCA RATON — Tyrone Smith was struggling to complete passes, with his first eight incomplete. But when the Blue Devils needed a quick drive down the field for a chance to win, he stepped up.
Smith completed five passes on No. 3 Pahokee’s ( 6- 0) l a t e , game-winning drive before scoring the go-ahead touchdown in a 17-14 victory on the road against No. 4 Boca Raton (4-1) on Friday night.
“He’s always been a gamer,” Blue Devils coach Orson Walkes said. “A lot of our kids do perform well under pressure. So when the pressure was on, he did what we expect him to do.”
On a rainy night with frequent pregame lightning delays, none of the quarterbacks could get a good feel for the ball. Smith started 0 for 8, while Boca Raton quarterbacks Micah Leon and Brandon Norman started off 2 for 8, with Leon throwing an interception to Blue Devils defensive back Devontrae Hampton.
But both teams managed to move the ball on the ground.
Rodney McKay c o ns i s t e nt ly pushed through the line, finishing with 113 rushing yards. He put Pahokee on the board with a 3-yard score after running the ball on all six plays of the drive in the middle of the second quarter.
“He’s a small guy to most people, but he’s a giant to us,” Walkes said.
The Bobcats also got the ball moving late in the first half. With Norman coming in at quarterback for Leon, Boca’s offense clicked. After completing his only pass of the game — a 22-yard screen to halfback Shelley Singletary — Norman finished the drive with a 1-yard quarterback sneak.
The second half was similarly close. The Blue Devils’ Ezekiel Hernandez, last year’s Groza Award winner for the county’s best kicker, hit a 42-yard field goal that clanked in off the crossbar. But the Bobcats responded with a long drive that ended with an 8-yard Stanley Bullard rushing touchdown.
With time waning, Smith started hitting his receivers and drove the Blue Devils down the field to give his team the win — by the same score as Boca’s victory against Pahokee last season.
“It’s a big win, I can’t lie about that,” Walkes said. “But we’re going to stick to what’s been working for us.” BOCA RATON — Even during football season, top-ranked Dwyer still is finding ways to pitch shutouts.
Senior quarterback Toddy C e n t e i o t h re w f o r t h re e touchdowns, senior running back Jakari Moses had two touchdowns of his own, and the defense earned its third shutout in five games as the Panthers improved to 5-1 with a 48-0 rout of No. 10 Olympic Heights on Friday night.
The Panthers — who have won five straight following a Week 1 l o s s t o p owe rful Miami Northwestern — scored first with a 19-yard touchdown run by sophomore running back Cedric Tucker, who made up for his fumble on the team’s first drive.
The Panthers added two more scores within the first six minutes of the second qu a r t e r a s C e nt e i o c onnected with Tommy Luke twice: the first for 7 yards and the second on a 58-yard pass in which Luke burned the Lions’ defense.
O l y mpi c He i g h t s ( 4 - 1 ) struggled to get its offense going for much of the first half.
After forcing a Dwyer fumble in the final few minutes of the second quarter and returning it to their 25, the Lions attempted a trick play on fourth-and-long that was intercepted at the goal line.
O l y mp i c H e i g h t s h a d another opportunity to score at the end of the first half, but a long throw to the end zone in the final seconds went incomplete.
Moses rushed for touchdowns of 37 and 32 yards in the second half to make it 34-0.
I n t h e f o u r t h qu a r t e r, Dylaan Lee sealed the victory with a 21-yard touchdown catch and a 72-yard interception return for another score. Coaches for all sports are asked to report results and statistics from their games – both home and away – immediately following their completion. Coaches can call in results to (561) 8204440 or email them to pbsports@pbpost.com.