Deerfield Beach blows huge lead, still wins

Junior wide receiver Joseph Kennerley hauled in a 42-yard scoring toss from Marquise Pierre with 1 minute, 4 seconds remaining in the game to give Deerfield Beach a stunning 34-27 victory over host Western — which had trailed by 20 in the fourth quarter before taking a lead — in the Class 8A gold bracket tri-county semifinal playoff game in Davie.

Kennerley then sealed the game as he recovered a fumble on the kickoff after his TD with less than one minute remaining and Pierre kneeled twice as the Bucks ran out the clock.

“It is a play that is in our playbook,” Kennerley said. “It was a corner post. I tell my quarterback every day in practice just throw it out there and I am going to get it.

“Our coach tells us be all in, and we were all in. This is big. It is huge. This is our year. We won’t be denied.”

Western (3-1) had battled back from a 26-6 deficit in the fourth quarter to take a 27-26 lead on a 1-yard TD pass from sophomore quarterback Collin Hurst to senior

Julian Lewis with 2:49 left in the game. Hurst, who finished the game 14 for 33 for 270 yards, threw for two scores and ran for another in the final period to fuel the comeback.