Why did No. 5 overall Cardinal Newman lose to No. 351 Miami-Northwestern?

WEST PALM BEACH — Cardinal Newman's Sam Budnyk Field has drawn stacked crowds as the Crusaders forged another undefeated record in 2023.

With a 1-4 Miami-Northwestern team on deck in Week 6, the number of fans in Newman's (4-1) stands suggested anyone who supported the boys in blue knew the Crusaders would hit 5-0.

Those supporters left the Friday night lights in shock as Newman's 14-game regular-season winning streak came to an end.

The Bulls (2-4), ranked No. 351 in Florida, pulled off a 7-2 upset of Newman, which sat at No. 5 in the state and No. 2 in Class 1M behind No. 1 overall Chaminade-Madonna. Now, the Crusaders face a sizable drop in the FHSAA power rankings when they are released on Tuesday.

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Wondering why and how the Crusaders took a rare and unexpected L? Here are three reasons:

First scoreless performance on offense since 2021

First-year offensive coordinator Ryan Partridge, who previously served at the next level as OC at UMass, took complete accountability for the Crusaders' first scoreless performance on offense since 2021.

As Northwestern whooped and hollered in the opposite end zone following the game-winning tackle, ready for a boisterous bus ride back to Miami-Dade, Partridge apologized to a defeated pack of Crusaders.

"I take full responsibility for the offense," Partridge said. "We ran plays we've never run before. Just trying to dial something up."

With every word came a sniffle from senior Dallas Desouza, struggling to hold back tears after seeing his team just seconds — and better decisions — away from the celebration he was seeing downfield.

"That hurts to hear on our field," Newman coach Jack Daniels said. "It should hurt."

As the clock wound down, Northwestern up only by the night's lone touchdown catch from sophomore Calvin Russell, Newman found itself without any timeouts, battling "horrible" offensive holding penalties that called back a pair of Jackson Miller touchdowns that could've been game-winners.

Big players on the bench

Miller called it "tough" to see teammates like Desouza distraught after defeat. Newman's loss wasn't a result of any lack of effort by the junior receiver, who took his first starting snaps for the Crusaders on Friday.

Miller got the nod after an emotionally charged outing between Newman and Atlantic the week before saw five Crusaders suspended for Week 6.

"We had Nae'Shaun [Montgomery] and Ricky [Knight III] out. My mindset was to just step up and be that guy for the night because we needed it," Miller said.

No matter how poorly or perfectly a touchdown play is drawn up, Mongtomery's abilities as one of the country's cleanest route runners saw him finish 2022 as Newman's top-scoring receiver. That hasn't changed this fall, as the four-star has three touchdowns on 191 yards through the first three games of the year, and his absence was noteworthy in Week 6.

"It's been a long week with all the stuff that happened last Friday. Player suspensions and all that kind of stuff, it's no fun," Daniels said, clearly mincing words that were probably saved for a coaches' meeting at a later time.

Like Daniels, the frustration and disappointment on Miller's face was evident. The same could be said for quarterback Jyron Hughley, in a similar position of stepping up with senior starter Luke Warnock sidelined with an ailing shoulder.

A sophomore, Hughley went through some unfortunate but much-needed growing pains in the rain-soaked performance.

As time ran out in the third quarter, Newman was still up 2-0 with its lone score of the game via defensive MVP Brennan King. In the first four games of the season, a loaded Crusader front and secondary, also championed by three-star linebacker Max Redmon and Jermaine Council stepping up at safety in Week 6, held to allow opposing offenses just 24 points.

Hughley swept left in an attempt to convert and put Newman in the red zone to start the fourth quarter, only to be rocked to the ground by a Northwestern defender and sent to the sidelines for medical evaluation.

Deciding who would serve as backup for the backup, the sidelines were in a tizzy. Enter JV starter Jaxson Mariconi.

Warranted freshman jitters with a game on the line — combined with the three quarters of lackluster play-calling prior — saw back-to-back fumbled snaps and, ultimately, a turnover that gave Northwestern the drive, literally and figuratively, to win.

'We're talking about practice, man!'

"We start our winning streak next week," Daniels said.

Newman could get back to its winning ways next Friday, considering the Crusaders have plans to travel to Clewiston (1-3).

Whether suspended Newman players will be eligible for Week 7 remains unknown. Regardless, the Crusaders could see a big difference on offense should all go as planned for Warnock, who is expected to be cleared for Clewiston and the remainder of the season.

The Crusaders' lesson on Friday wasn't that one stud athlete can shift the outcome from week to week.

If anything, Northwestern gave Newman players a master class in what it means to put one's team over oneself.

Michaelee Harris, the Bulls' first-year head coach, knew that how the Bulls prepared would play into their ability to pull off an upset.

Being denied a season-opener win at Vero Beach, falling 19-13, a 63-46 loss to Venice, 17-7 loss to Edison, and a 24-7 defeat from Class 4M state champion Columbus were fuel to Northwestern's fire.

"I'm very transparent with them, letting them know as a head coach that I could've scheduled a lighter schedule this year, but I don't think that they're a lighter team," Harris said of the Bulls. "I don't think we have a team of competitors who are not capable of playing the schedule that we put together. It's more so about being composed, being disciplined, executing, and making the play when the number is called."

Throughout those failures, Northwestern found unity, something the Crusaders have yet to find in victory, or even practice.

"You don't win games on Friday or Saturday nights. They're won throughout the week," Harris said. "The goal was to go 1-0 this week and every day we got better in practice. We had a really good walkthrough Thursday so I expected nothing less than for us to come out here and compete the way we competed."

"It goes back to preparing every day and knowing based on how we practice what was going to happen today, so it lets them know that the process is something you can not skip over," Harris said.

"As long as we're practicing the way we're practicing, handling our schoolwork and our academics and preparation the way we're supposed to handle it, this is the result of that. The goal is to get them to understand a win is a win. That's the mentality those guys came and displayed and they were able to upset a really good team tonight."

Only Clewiston, St. John Paul II, and rival No. 33 overall Benjamin, ranked No. 4 in Class 1M, remain on deck for the Crusaders in October.

As the push to playoffs closes in, a bond is arguably the only thing Newman doesn't have.

"I think our mindset this week is just going to be taking practice more seriously," Miller said.

"We should've won that game."

Emilee Smarr is the high school sports reporter for The Palm Beach Post. She can be reached via email at esmarr@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: 'It should hurt': 1-4 Miami-Northwestern shocks No. 5 overall Newman