Chaminade rolls over Northwestern
Usually on Saturday mornings, Chaminade senior nose tackle Wayne Peart is still asleep around 11 a.m.
Not this Saturday morning.
Peart and the Lions got up bright and early to take on Miami Northwestern in a matchup of two of the best teams in the country at Traz Powell Stadium.
By about 11:20 a.m. Peart was leading the push up front on a goalline stand that would swing the momentum in Chaminade’s favor for good during an impressive 42-14 rout of the Bulls.
“I just have to do my job,” said Peart, who followed up a six-sack game against Dillard last week with two more against Northwestern. “I always have my boys’ backs.
“I like keeping my boys locked-in and keep the momentum going.”
Peart (6-3, 290 pounds), whom coach Dameon Jones called “underrated” after the game, led the charge as the Lions defensive front stuffed Northwestern running back Marlin Cochran for no gain on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line with the score tied at 7 early in the second quarter.
Chaminade (3-0), ranked No. 11 nationally by MaxPreps, scored 35 unanswered points beginning with a 99-yard drive that was capped by Davion Gause’s 1-yard touchdown run on a direct snap.
Chaminade’s offense spent the rest of the game hitting big plays as Cedric Bailey threw four touchdown passes — two to Jeremiah Smith and two to sophomore Kyle Washington — as the Lions built a 42-7 lead.
It prompted a running clock midway through the third quarter — a rarity for Northwestern (2-1), which entered the game ranked 30th nationally.
Columbus 32, Tampa Jesuit 15: Columbus showed why it may have the ingredients necessary to win a state championship this season during an impressive comeback victory over the defending Class 6A state champions.
Columbus (3-0), ranked No. 6 in the Miami Herald’s South Florida Top 20, snapped a pair of winning streaks for the visiting Tigers (2-1). Jesuit had won 17 in a row overall and 29 consecutive regular season games, which was the longest active streak in the state.
Senior defensive back Ahmere Foster, who is the lone returning player from that 2019 championship team, recorded two interceptions in Friday’s game, including a crucial takeaway at midfield halfway through the third quarter.
On the ensuing play, Columbus running back Sedrick Irvin caught a deep pass down the far sideline on a wheel route from quarterback Alberto Mendoza and raced for a 50-yard score that put the Explorers ahead for good at 19-15.
Columbus finished the game with 25 unanswered points and would not trail again after that Irvin touchdown.
Irvin, a Stanford commitment, paced a balanced Columbus offense with three touchdowns overall.
Irvin caught two of Mendoza’s three touchdown passes and later ran for a 1-yard score that
Awas set up by a spectacular leaping catch by Fadrelle Andrus two plays earlier.
Cardinal Gibbons 31, Gulliver 14: Cardinal Gibbons (3-0) defeated Gulliver 29-7 in the regional championship in 2020 and 36-33 in 2021, the latter featuring a 19-point comeback by the Chiefs.
Each year Cardinal Gibbons went on to win the state title as part of its quest to three championships in four years (2018, 2020 and 2021). And each year Gulliver (0-2), ranked in the top 100 by MaxPreps, went home.
Friday’s game provided the only opportunity for the Raiders to get revenge until at least the state semifinals after both schools were reclassified into different regions of Florida’s Class 2M bracket.
After a quiet first quarter that saw Cardinal Gibbons score only seven points, the Chiefs jumped out to a 21-0 lead, with defensive back Tre’Mone Drisdom scoring their third touchdown after recovering a blocked field-goal attempt by Gulliver.
But just a few minutes later, the Cardinal Gibbons defense would gift the Raiders their first points of the night. Lined up for another Gulliver field-goal attempt, the Chiefs committed a false start, which the Raiders turned into a touchdown. Quarterback Davi Belfort ran into the end zone to trim the Chiefs’ lead to 21-7.
AWestern 10, Coconut Creek 3 (OT): On a night where Western senior quarterback Collin Hurst didn’t play his best, he came up big in crunchtime.
The four-year starter
Afor the Wildcats found sophomore running back Chance Washington wide open hugging the sidelines for a 15-yard touchdown pass in overtime to seal the win at Coconut Creek.
Despite throwing for a surprisingly low 132 yards, Hurst’s winning toss was his 70th career touchdown pass as the Wildcats’ quarterback.
The 10 points were the fewest for Western in 22 games in regulation play since a 14-9 loss to University School on Sept. 13, 2019.
Still, with a touchdown lead in the overtime, Coconut Creek had its chance to send the game into another extra period.
On fourth-and-6, Creek quarterback Asante Daniels looked for an open receiver, found none and sprinted to the corner of the goal line.
He fell a yard short when he was driven out of bounds by junior Omar Thornton.