South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Shutout ends 10-game skid in series
DEERFIELD BEACH — Blanche Ely football coach Michael Bailey shook his head and smiled after his Tigers blanked host Deerfield Beach
7-0 on Friday night. “Eleven years man,” said Bailey as Blanche Ely snapped a 10-game losing skid to the Bucks. “It was ugly, but we came out with the win. Deerfield is doing good things, but we are doing good things as well.
“I think we came out a little too flat and a little too emotional, me included,” he added. “We are going to take care of that in practice this week.”
Blanche Ely (6-0) scored the lone touchdown of the game with 33 seconds remaining in the first half on a 5-yard scoring toss from senior quarterback Nachoy Daniels to junior running back Edward McIntosh. The score capped a nine-play,
80-yard drive.
The score was the first for the Tigers against Deerfield Beach since they scored in the first quarter of a
55-8 loss in 2017.
It also marked the first time that Blanche Ely shut out Deerfield Beach since a 27-0 win in 2010.
During the 10-game win streak, Deerfield Beach outscored Blanche Ely 420-41. Deerfield Beach, which holds a 28-17 lead in the all-time series, blanked the Tigers 70-0 last year.
Blanche Ely, who finished 1-9 last season in Bailey’s first year at the school, has his squad off to its best six-game start since they opened the
2010 season 6-0 under former coach Willie Snead.
“It’s a great time to have all of these firsts,” Bailey said.
Tigers senior running back Ke’Shawn Jones carried 17 times for 139 yards.
Deerfield Beach (3-5) took the opening kickoff and marched to the Tigers’ 32 where the drive stalled
on an incomplete pass by Zeke Nguyen, and the Bucks were forced to punt. Blanche Ely took over on its 16 and drove to the Bucks’ 5 where Daniels came up short of the first down.
Blanche Ely, which held the ball for nearly all of the third quarter, was stopped on a fourth-and-goal play from the 3-yard line when Daniels was tackled on the Bucks’ 1. Blanche Ely also hurt themselves with penalties as they were whistled 16 times for 134 yards. Deerfield Beach also had costly penalties as they were called 12 times for 72 yards.
The Bucks made one more goalline stand in the fourth quarter when on a fourth-and-goal from the 3, Daniels rolled out and dropped the ball as he was hit, and the Bucks took over on their 8-yard line with 2:33 left in the game.
They converted two fourth-andlong
plays to keep the drive alive before Nguyen’s final pass of the day from midfield was batted down with no time left on the clock.
“We have to keep our focus and our emotions in check, me as a young coach included,” added Bailey, who was on the Bucks staff in 2020 during the Covid year. “We have to do the little things. My emotions got the best of me. I am from the city of Deerfield, and I coached here previously. I know the kids and I know the coaches. I just have to keep my composure.”
Deerfield Beach coach Tramain Hall said his offense wasn’t clicking against the Tigers.
“We couldn’t find the answers,” Hall said. “I am proud of them though. For a team that was supposed to come in and blow us out, our guys showed heart…you look at a team that has been putting
up points and that is a testament to our defense. We had the goal-line stands; we just couldn’t click on offense. We wanted to get going and we couldn’t get going.”
Friday’s other scores
St. Thomas Aquinas 49, Fort Lauderdale 13 American Heritage 24, Stranahan 0
Dillard 42, Plantation 6
Western 36, Cypress Bay 20
Somerset Academy 47, Cooper City 0
Dr. Krop 39, Hollywood Hills 12
Pahokee 21, First Baptist 12
Cardinal Newman 69, St. John Paul II Academy 0 King’s Academy 48, Suncoast 0 Canterbury 49, Boca Raton Christian 0
Gulf Coast 45, West Broward 13 Westminster Academy 31, University School 6 South Plantation 41, Pompano Beach 13
Pine Crest 49, Coral Springs Charter 13 Miramar 47, American 7
Stoneman Douglas 41, Boyd Anderson 6 Calvary Christian Academy 42, North Broward Prep 14 Piper 28, Nova 12
Pembroke Pines Charter 28, Everglades 7 McArthur 30, South Broward 7 Archbishop Carroll 47, Berean Christian 0 Palm Beach Christian Prep 42, Cornerstone Charter Academy 0
Glades Day 44, Dade Christian 19 Wellington 42, John I. Leonard 0