Carol City snaps Heritage win streak
Nay’quan Wright made Plantation American Heritage know early that the Carol City Chiefs weren’t going to be the 29th victim of the Patriots’ winning streak.
The running back blasted through the Patriots’ defensive line on the second snap of the game for an 80-yard touchdown, sparking a 34-16 rout of the two-time defending Class 5A state champions Friday at American Heritage. Wright had 163 yards and a score on 22 carries in the win.
“I saw the crease and I hit it,” Wright said. “I wanted to hear the cannon, but they only do it for those guys when they score.
“We wanted to blow those guys out, but we’ll take that to the next game and fix our mistakes.”
The Patriots (0-1) answered back with 6:49 remaining in the first quarter when quarterback Edwin Rhodes sprinted in for a 16-yard touchdown. Heritage took its first lead on a 45-yard field goal from Jimmy Lowery at the end of the first quarter.
Then the Chiefs (1-0) defense got hungry. Carol City’s defensive line haunted Rhodes into errant throws and eventually got the ball back. Amari Johnson made the Patriots pay with a 25yard touchdown catch from Daniel Richardson.
The Patriots fumbled the opening kickoff of the second half, and the Chiefs capitalized when Richardson found Thaiu JonesBell for a 14-yard touchdown to go up 20-10.
Carol City added to its lead with a Katravis Geter scoring run in the third quarter and got a two- point conversion to go up 28-10. Greg Reddick added another score on a 35-yard interception return. The Patriots got a late touchdown reception from Jacolby Spells, but it was not enough to spark a comeback.
Heritage faces St. Joseph Regional (Montvale, New Jersey) on Sept 1. Carol City play Columbus on Sept. 7.
“What do you do? Do you hang your head the whole time or pick yourself up? Get up in the morning and go to work,” Patriots coach Pat Surtain said. “That’s what we are going to do. That’s all we need to do. This winning streak got the message wrong. But I think the message is more valuable in a loss. Tonight just wasn’t our night.”
NORTHWESTERN RECEIVES CHECK
Just 12 hours after recording a nice opening night road win against Miramar, there was more good news for the Northwestern Bulls football team Saturday morning.
That’s when the VICIS Foundation and representative Jared Green, son of NFL Hall of Famer Darrell Green, showed up at the school to present a nice-sized check to coach Max Edwards and athletic director Andre Williams as the players looked on.
The VICIS Foundation, a nonprofit organization committed to helping high schools and youth leagues gain access to the latest helmets, other sports protective equipment and sports safety educational programs, was in town over the weekend to present checks totaling nearly $40,000 in sports safety equipment grants to Northwestern and three other schools: Central, Booker T. Washington and Norland.
Each school received a $9,375 unrestricted grant to support their high school athletic programs.
“It’s a privilege and an honor to be able to provide grants to these phenomenal coaches and players so they can perform at their best moving forward,” said Jared Green, who played three seasons in the NFL with Carolina, Dallas and Oakland. “We believe that every athlete deserves access to the best protective equipment.”
Edwards added: “Just another fine example of an organization reaching out to demonstrate the importance of safety in the game to these kids. We are most grateful to VICIS for showing up here today and showing these kids how important they are.”
GIRLS’ VOLLEYBALL
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A