South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Patriots follow this Rhodes to early success
PLANTATION — Although Friday’s matchup was only a preseason game, any game between American Heritage and Chaminade-Madonna warrants a close watch.
The two teams, which have combined for six championships this decade, faced off in Plantation, with the Patriots coming out ahead 20-13.
“These guys were anxious to go up against different jerseys,” American Heritage coach Pat Surtain said. “We came out and got the win. We executed OK.
“Some things we need to clean up — too many turnovers, too many big plays by their offense on our defense, a turnover on special teams. So we’ve got to get things cleaned up going into the game against (Miami Monsignor) Pace next week.”
American Heritage got a pair of first-half touchdowns from quarterback Edwin Rhodes. The senior Tennessee State commit had a touchdown pass to sophomore Jacolby Spells called back on a penalty, then threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Spells on the next play.
Rhodes put the Patriots up 14-3 late in the first half with a 14-yard touchdown run. He later threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to senior Douglas Emilien.
“I told him before the year, ‘We’re going to give you the keys to the Mercedes,’ ” Surtain said of Rhodes. “And he took it and ran with it.
“He made decisive throws, he was on point, he was accurate and he showed his mobility tonight. I’ve been telling people for a long time he’s one of the best quarterbacks in Florida, though he doesn’t get his just due. Hopefully, after this season he will.”
Chaminade-Madonna, which was without Miami commit Willie Moise on defense and Auburn commit Elijah Canion on offense because of injury, had a hard time mounting drives against the Patriots defense. The Lions’ lone first-half score came on a 27-yard field goal by Miami commit Andres Borragales.
Junior running back and Miami commit Thad Franklin got the Lions’ lone touchdown of the night. Franklin ran to the sideline, got tripped up by a defender but stayed on his feet and completed a 17-yard scoring run. The junior ran for about 150 yards in Friday’s loss.
After Borragales hit a second field goal, Chaminade threatened to tie the game late in the fourth quarter. Both teams had agreed to a running fourth-quarter clock, so the Lions’ time was limited. After Chaminade drove into Heritage territory, the Patriots forced a fumble, which was recovered by five-star sophomore defensive end Richard Thomas and ended the game.
“We’ve got a lot of guys on that side of the ball who can make plays, and it was a total team effort today,” Surtain said.