Miami High wants to create championship legacy

Rafael and Gabriel Cabanzon occasionally bicker like brothers tend to do.

But when they’re on the volleyball court together, they’re all business.

The Cabanzon brothers aren’t teammates on Miami High’s boys’ volleyball team though.

Rafael is calling the shots from the bench as the Stingarees’ coach, and Gabriel, a 17-year-old junior, is the team’s starting setter.

Usually parents coaching their kids is more prevalent in high school sports than one sibling coaching another.

But Rafael, 24, and Gabriel, 17, have made it work while turning Miami High into one of the state’s top teams.

“We understand each other pretty well when it comes to our relationship as coach and player,” said Rafael Cabanzon, who is in his second season coaching Miami High.

“We battle more probably in the house than on the court. Since I joined the basketball team my freshman year, he’s always been around so he knows how it works. When we’re there in a game or in practice, we both take it very seriously.”

The Cabanzon brothers hope they will lift a championship trophy together this weekend when they lead the Stingarees (26-2) into their first appearance at state since 2004.

Miami High is one of four South Florida teams in this year’s eight-team tournament that will take place Friday and Saturday at Archbishop McCarthy School in Southwest Ranches.

The Stingarees will take on South Broward (14-7) in a quarterfinal at 5:30 p.m. on Friday.

Former state champions Southwest and Cardinal Gibbons are also at state. Southwest (24-4), a runner-up in 2019 when the tournament was last held, faces Ocala Forest (16-0) at 7:30. Cardinal Gibbons (19-6) opens the quarterfinals with a matchup against reigning state champion Orlando Freedom (27-2) at 1:30 p.m.

Cabanzon became the school’s coach in 2020 and led them to an 11-2 record before COVID-19 prompted the cancellation of the season. Miami High won only two matches the prior season.

Cabanzon credits the difference to the entirety of Miami High’s roster playing club volleyball and beach volleyball in the offseason, which is something not many players at the school had done in the past.

Cabanzon took over for former Miami High coach Jose Garcia, who now coaches Florida National University and on the Miami United club team where the majority of the Stingarees played in the offseason.

It’s made a major difference for players such as 6-4 junior middle hitter Denzel Madrigal, who had not played any organized sports until joining the team three years ago. Madrigal, who has 232 kills and 189 digs this season, has become one of the top players in MiamiDade County.

Gabriel Cabanzon, 5-7, doubles as the team’s setter (737 assists) and libero (161 digs) and outside hitters Luis Sanchez and Andy Garcia are the team’s seniors.

Miami High defeated South Broward in four sets on April 30. Still, Cabanzon expects a difficult challenge from the Bulldogs, who have never made it past the quarterfinal round in five previous trips to state.

South Broward is led by a pair of talented outside hitters, Colton Bueter

(6-2) and Cameron

Thorne (6-4), and 6-4 senior middle hitter Jonathan Hurst.

This will be only the second appearance at state for Miami High in its program’s history.

Cabanzon is hoping to build a sustainable winner at his alma mater where he played the sport for four years.

“There’s a lot of shock because a lot of people didn’t expect this to happen since it’s been forever since they’ve made noise like this,” Cabanzon said. “We’ve always been a program that’s good like this for a year or two and then disappear for like five or six years. We’re trying to make it different this time. It’s not just about winning a championship. It’s about creating a legacy.”

Southwest hopes to

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add to its own legacy this weekend as the Eagles chase their third state championship all-time. The Eagles, who lost to Orlando Freedom in the final in 2019, would face the winner of Miami HighSouth Broward if they advance to Saturday’s semifinals. Senior outside Jack Hershman is one of three seniors who played on that runner-up squad two years ago.

Gibbons won it all in

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2018 and is seeking its third championship overall as well. The Chiefs are led by sophomores Thiago Zamprogno, a 6-6 middle hitter, and Logan Keovathy, a 5-11 outside hitter as well as a pair of 6-5 hitters in junior Caden

Day and senior JC Minor.