Second-half effort powers Champagnat Lions to victory; American Heritage, Chaminade win
Led by running back Donovan Jones and a swarming defense that recorded seven sacks, the defending 2A state champion Champagnat Lions — despite a sloppy performance — had more than enough firepower to handle their business Friday night.
Leading just 7-0 at the half, Champagnat pulled away in the second half and ultimately cruised to a 34-14 victory against host Dade Christian.
“I’ll be honest, they [Dade Christian] came out tough and played really physical and we weren’t expecting that,” said Lions coach Hector Clavijo. “We were definitely sloppy, gave up two touchdowns we had no business giving up, but eventually we got our act together, figured some things out and took off.”
After a season-opening loss to Chaminade, the Lions have now won their past two with a trip to Monsignor Pace next week and designs on a second consecutive state title in Tallahassee in December.
Led by first-year coach George Stubbs, Dade Christian is trying to bring back to prominence a program that is only eight years removed from playing in a state championship game.
“That first half, that just wasn’t us,” said Jones, who wound up carrying the offensive load for his team finishing with 116 yards on 21 carries and two touchdowns. “We just weren’t playing our game, making mental mistakes, simple mistakes that we don’t normally make. Once halftime came, we knew we had to pick it up and play Lion football. I’m one the captains on this team so if things go down, it’s on me to pick things up so that’s what I did.”
About the only first half offensive highlight for Champagnat was a 66-yard touchdown pass from Tyous Taylor to Benson Prosper 6:02 before halftime. The seven-point lead could’ve been more but two other drives ended with a missed 45-yard field goal by Andres Borregales and a blown field goal attempt on a bad snap.
Thanks to a short DC punt, Champagnat opened the second half with a short field and quickly drove 44 yards in six plays with Jones going over from a yard out to make it 14-0.
But with less than two minutes left in the third quarter, Taylor threw an ill-advised pass in the left flat to Jones that Dade Christian’s Theandre Balloon Jr. read perfectly. Balloon picked it off and trotted 20 yards into the end zone for a pick six and suddenly it was a one score game again.
But the fired-up and upset-minded Crusaders quickly got their flames doused when the Lions took the ensuing kickoff and went 59 yards in just six plays, Jones going in from two yards out to make it 21-6 at the start of the fourth quarter.
After a Crusader three-and-out and good field position at the 50, it took just one play to basically put things away when Taylor found Keshawn Brown on a quick slant. Brown split the seem between defenders and bolted to the end zone to make it 28-6. One series after that, Antwan Gisme picked off a Crusader pass at the 15 yard line and trotted into the end zone to complete the Lion scoring.
“It took us a little while to figure things out and how they were processing their offense, but by the second half we figured it out and shut them down,” said defensive end Darnell Georges, who led the sack parade for the Lions with three, and Deondrick Speight had two. “We’re not playing at the level we need to be right now but we’ll be all right.”
Even though the game was no longer in doubt with three minutes left, Clavijo had to watch with annoyance as his punting team gave up a score when Dade Christian’s Darian Anderson blocked a punt and ran it in from 15 yards out.
“Right now we’re riding blind because we don’t really have anything to look at in terms of film on teams and preparation,” said Clavijo. “You just come in and assume what they’re going to do and that’s what we’ll have to do with Pace next week since it’s their opening game. It is what it is but it’s still early and we’ll be fine down the road.”
HERITAGE, CHAMINADE WINS
Plantation American Heritage and Chaminade-Madonna took their traveling road shows to the west coast of Florida on Friday night and each returned home with wins.
Heritage traveled to Clearwater High School and beat the Tornadoes 24-0. Chaminade was a little closer to home traveling to Fort Myers where the Lions knocked off Bishop Vero 21-6.
Cross Country
Belen won its fourth consecutive major meet at the 21st Annual Flrunners.com Invitational held at Lakeland’s Holloway Park on Saturday morning to remain unbeaten.
The win marks the ninth time Belen has won the Flrunners.com Invitational, which is considered one of the largest meets in the Southeastern United States.
The team scored 53 points in the Race of the Champions over second place Christopher Columbus in a field that included 17 top teams. Belen was led by Javier Vento, Sr., who finished first in the 5K race in a time of 15:46 and second overall was teammate Adam Magoulas, Jr., who finished second with a time of 15:51.
The Wolverines have now beaten 68 teams across the State of Florida this season. The team makes a trip to Tallahassee next Saturday to compete at the FSU Prestate Invitational.
SWIMMING
Gulliver Prep 176 vs. Carrollton 93; Gulliver Prep 154 vs. Belen 122
