Titletown South Florida: Highlights and more from a thrilling week

What's up, everybody? Welcome back to Titletown, South Florida. I'm your host, Andre Fernandez, Deputy Sports Editor at the Miami Herald. I'm in front of that field at St. Thomas Aquinas. Nice overview here of what's basically become the hotbed of South Florida high school football for the first couple of weeks and some big happenings that have had an impact nationwide. We're going to start the show talking about the big upset in the Broward National Football Showcase this past week. Columbus taking down, defying all expectations, myself included. Everybody thought that Bishop Gorman from Las Vegas was going to be too much to handle. Bishop Gorman, with their tradition of winning national titles, Columbus said, uh-uh. They brought Amir Sears, Cecil Smith, Kai Moore, and a bunch of other guys that showed no fear and took down the number one team in the country. We're going to dive into that upset and talk about the fact that now they've got to do it again on that same field this week against St. Thomas Aquinas. Why? Because now St. Thomas Aquinas, in a lot of polls, is going to be the number one team in the country and well-deserved after that throttling they gave DeSoto, Texas, the visiting team last week in the showcase. Aquinas handled them the way they have the first three opponents. We'll get into how good they are, even by their standards. This is one of the best teams they've ever had. And then we'll look at the new top 20, the new South Florida top, Miami Herald top 20, where everybody kind of landed after the second week of the season and then go into the biggest games of the week for week three. Not just Columbus Aquinas. There's some good ones. Heritage Chaminade being among them. We'll dive into that. But let's start with the aforementioned Explorers, who we talked about a lot last week after they blew out Southridge, and them being back among the better teams in South Florida. Well, guess what? They're one of the better teams in the country. And the reason for that, one of the big reasons for that, is University of Miami commitment Amir Sears. We had some photos to show you. There's Amir reaching for a ball, getting a catch early in the first half. Three interceptions. The special thing about Amir Sears is how he can do this on both sides of the field. Getting comparisons to Travis Hunter, as we know, Jacksonville Jaguars, two-way star. Could he be the next one? Had three picks on defense and also caught two touchdown passes from quarterback Kai Moore, a Northern Illinois commit. Kai Moore himself, four TD passes overall in this game. The biggest thing was Columbus, just like I said before, going out there. A lot of people thought they couldn't handle the size of Bishop Gorman up front. Guess what? Their offensive line showed no fear, pushed them back, gained 180 yards on the ground. There's Cecil Smith breaking for a touchdown early on the screen pass from Kai Moore. He did his damage on the ground too. Brian Wilson, another running back for Columbus, wrapped things up late once the Gorman defense was tired. They just came out fearless and took down a team that a lot of people thought couldn't be touched this season, especially coming off an opening victory over St. John Bosco. There are the Explorers celebrating. I'm sure everybody took a picture of that score, 33-28. Honestly, the five-point win, it could have been by a lot more. Because late in the game, Columbus had an 18-point lead and really dominated this contest. Also, credit to them and their resilience through the beginning of it. An hour-long delay, then the game started, then stopped. They had to go out, practice, come back. Both teams affected by that, but Columbus persevered. Now they're going to be, we're waiting on the polls to come out this week, but they should end up somewhere in the top maybe 10-20 themselves going in this game. I think this team needs to be put among the better teams in the country. I understand they're not going to jump suddenly from 100. Get this, folks, 100 is where they were ranked in max preps and they beat the number one team in max preps. We know they're not going to jump 100 spots, but they probably should jump at least 80 because that was a performance to remember for them. Now the team they're going to face, as we said before, the home team, St. Thomas Aquinas, came in motivated to beat DeSoto and make a national television statement. They got a little more motivation thanks to a not-so-genius move by DeSoto. Take a look. You've probably seen that video if you follow high school football that went viral after the game. DeSoto did not want to shake hands. I mean, look, I get maybe some of the mind games and coming in with that bravado and all that, but sportsmanship is one thing. It probably shouldn't have been something that should have been done. There's no really place for something like that early on. Should have just conducted themselves. And in the end, they pissed off Aquinas. Wyatt Smith came out first play, almost takes the quarterback's head off. Wyatt Smith, as we know, the big Ohio State Tyler Reed comes in and darts to the end zone, gets a touchdown early. Here's Colin Francis, a talented junior, on his run later in the ballgame. 38 points overall by Aquinas in that first half. I mean, when you look at what they were able to do on offense, defense, special teams, they returned the punt for a touchdown. Guys going to Ohio State and Notre Dame primarily, guys like Zayden Gamble, Jaden Carey, you see them celebrating there in this group picture here that we had from our photographer Pedro Portal this weekend, who covered the showcase event. This team did not allow a point, a point, until midway through the third quarter of this game. And by then they were up 38-0. They had pulled some of their starters. They took their foot off the gas a little bit, maybe conserving a little bit for later on. Even by Aquinas' standards, we know they're on their way to winning eight state titles, barring a catastrophe. They're aiming for a bigger prize this year, which they won before, but they're looking for another national championship trophy. And they look like they have it all. We've seen great teams that they've had in the past. This is one of the most talented that they've ever had. So it's going to be interesting seeing how much they continue to improve as the weeks go on. But again, big obstacle they don't want to overlook this week, the Columbus-St. Thomas rivalry. We'll get into a little bit more of that later when I get my picks for the week. But this rivalry game that was created a couple of years ago has been all in St. Thomas' favor. Might be a little more competitive this year. Columbus has joined the party. The big game in terms of competitiveness and thrilling finish this week, however, was True North against Coconut Creek, as far as the Broward National Football Showcase games are concerned. This one was a classic, went down to the wire. Six lead changes in this game overall. Here are some of the highlights. Coconut Creek debuting its brand new home turf field. And who better to do that than their defense, led by Malik Lane, a junior, one of the top edge rushers in South Florida, busts through here early on their True North's first drive and sacks Zach Katz, the Titans quarterback, enough why you commit. But this game would go back and forth all night. Here's Katz rallying the troops and getting True North down near the goal line, dives for the pylon, comes up a tad short. They mark him down at the one, but it didn't matter because True North has a little bit of everything this year. Jermaine Green powers his way into the end zone for the first of two touchdowns on the evening, gets the Titans ahead 7-0 early on. This game was one of the best matchups in the Broward National Football Showcase this past weekend that was held throughout Broward County. Here's another reason why. Josiah Sanchez, a quarterback for Coconut Creek, another junior, finds Everett Butler, the first of a couple of touchdown hookups they had in this game, ties the game for Creek at 7-7. Early in the second half, after trailing 10-7, Creek powers their way into the end zone to retake the lead. This game had six lead changes on the evening. This was one of them as Coconut Creek jumps back in front, 14-10 at this point in the ballgame. And here's Sanchez showing his big arm again, finds Butler over the middle, clears everybody, does a few hops, happy as he jumps his way into the end zone to give Creek a 20-10 lead. They missed the extra point, with 7-0-4 left in the third quarter at this point. True North, not to be denied, a long methodical drive. Katz rolls out, does his Jackson-Dart thing without, of course, the big hit, avoids the big hit, gets in the end zone here, does a little dance right after. Katz is happy. True North, back in this game, cuts the lead to three. They would take the lead on a George Harris pick six as True North's defense continued to show off. Here's another sack by Jean-Francois, who had three sacks on the game, another pointmaker on defense for them. But the Cougars weren't to be denied. Number 13 for True North knows it. Beautiful pass into the corner of the end zone by Sanchez again. This time it was to J'Vion Francois, another talented receiver. Creek loaded with good receivers this season. But again, True North in response. Marches down the field. Here's one of two fourth-down conversions in the game, on the drive, to keep True North in the game. Had they not been able to convert, this game would have been over. Katz hits Walton Mestre, Jr. there. And there's Jermaine Green once again. Again, powering his way into the end zone, this time from a little further out. Spikes the football. True North up by a couple there, 26-24. Thinking the game is in hand. Not if Sanchez has anything to do with it. 32-26 was the deficit, actually. He hits Butler on the jump pass here. 32-all. All-important extra point coming up here for Jonathan Hernandez. If he misses, they go to overtime. He does not. He splits the uprights, does the job, sets off a wild celebration for Coconut Creek, who improves to 2-0 with a dramatic 33-32 victory. Yeah, as we said, a thriller for Creek and a team to be reckoned with this year in Class 5A. Creek last year lost in the second round against the aforementioned St. Thomas Aquinas. But this year, with the possibility of maybe, with the Open Division playoffs now, and the Top 8 teams getting plucked away to play in an overall state championship, maybe the Raiders won't be in Creek's path. That would open the door for a lot of teams in Class 5A. Let's hear what Coconut Creek coach Chris Yergin said about his team's resilience and also from Josiah Sanchez, the quarterback, the junior quarterback at Creek. Yeah, it's all about, it's all about these guys. These guys fight, they go hard every single day, and that's what it's about. This is our type of football. We are built for things like this. We're built for tough, grinding, disciplined football, and we showed up today. Hey man, he's just a junior. To me, he probably, he don't get talked about enough. You know, that kid is special. He's a true leader, and he's been with me since 8th grade. Hey man, all this year is about us getting over the hump. That's all it's been about. We can actually see what's cramping, and I feel as though we can get over this hump this year, we will. It's a mindset thing. If you think through it and you get through it, you're going to ball. It's great ball out here. All we want to do is dominate. That's all Creek do. What does this do going forward for this program? This just showed us what we can do. You might see us in the States in December. Stay tuned. You've been building this for a while. You've been part of this. Tell me about this, the way you've built this into what it is right now. Keep all my brothers accountable as a leader, and I say me being the quarterback of the team, that's what I got to do. If my brothers in the weight room are lacking off, I get on them. I don't play with them. I swear I don't. What do you tell each other when you're down by six late like that, making those plays down the stretch? I tell each other, I trust you. Just you got to trust me. As long as you trust me, I trust you. We all love each other. That's all it is, a brotherhood. Hey, I got to agree with Coach Yergin. I think Josiah Sankias has proven he's all of South Florida. Keep an eye on him this year. There's a lot of good quarterbacks so far. I mean, the first two weeks have been impressed with a lot of big arms in town, both Dade and Broward. Josiah Sankias deserves to be right among them. Had a great game, four TDs, and won't be the last. Won't be the last. This team has a big one this week against Dillard that we'll get to later. Let's look at the new top 20 that Coconut Creek is a part of. We'll start at the top, no shock here. Of course, St. Thomas Aquinas, now 2-0 coming off that thrashing of De Soto, sets up a big one against our new number two, Columbus. Had to put them up there after you beat the number one team in the nation. I mean, the only reason they're not number one is because now they have to beat the other team that's going to be the number one team in the nation, but it sets up a one versus two matchup this weekend on Friday at St. Thomas Aquinas. Central was off last week. They move up, though. They get up to number three after their hot start. Palmetto continues to roll. They're at number four, 2-0 now after they beat up a very good Matter Academy team, 42-7. They were up 35-0 at the half. Carroll City, one of the stronger teams this year, but let a lead slip away. They were up 20-8 in the second half against Lee County, one of the better teams in Georgia, and suffered a 23-20 loss, but only drops to number five. Remember, this is still one of the strongest teams around, and I think they're going to recover just fine as we see them go forward. They're still in the top five. Number six is Northwestern. Wins the Soul Bowl. Good to have the Soul Bowl at least played again. We know it hasn't really been competitive between them and Jackson in recent years, but last year, it didn't even happen, and that's one of the most traditional games in South Florida for a long time, so good to at least have the game back. Bulls take care of business, 42-0 as Jackson, as we know, is rebuilding, but we'll be back at some point under Kenyatta Lewis. We know that for sure. Heritage at number seven now. Big comeback this week for them in terms of not so much on the scoreboard against East St. Louis, but the victory itself. Heritage was dominated by West Boca in week one. They're still dealing with some injuries on that team, but a strong win to come back, 35-28. We know they have a brutal schedule to start the season especially, so they stood at number seven. Chaminade drops to number eight. We'll talk a little bit more about why. The Lions suffered a 24-7 loss to Sierra Canyon from California. Struggled a lot, especially on the offensive end. They need a bounce back, and this week, it's going to be hard to come by against Heritage, and there's the Coconut Creek Cougars cracking the top ten, basically switching places with True North. They're number nine now after the narrow victory. True North falls to 11. In between them, another great game this past week was Cardinal Gibbons surviving against MacArthur in a shootout, 47-41 in overtime. Takes down a talented MacArthur team. They're right there at number 10. MacArthur, sorry, not MacArthur yet. Monarch at number 12. They move up after another wild game, 48-41 victory over Miramar. So the Knights now at one and one, and their quarterback, Jeremiah Millicent, I promise I'm going to try my hardest to get some highlights of this kid on this show before the season is over. He is one of the better quarterbacks in town. Fun to watch, and he's poised to have a big season. And Monarch now sitting at number 12. MacArthur, as we mentioned before, they're 0-2, but it's come against two very good opponents. But the winds better start coming for the Mustangs pretty soon, or else they might slip even further. They're hanging on for now at number 13. Archbishop McCarthy battled against Jacksonville Bulls, the best teams in the state traditionally. Suffers a 21-14 loss, but similar to Heritage, has to get healthy. They started out with a lot of injuries. Once they do, they'll be a contender for sure. Dillard drops a little bit, stops at number 15. Loses 17-7, but a respectable loss on the road against St. Peter's Prep up in New Jersey. And Cypress Bay, who we keep mentioning, is one of the breakout teams. They move up to 16-2 and 0 after taking care of Flanagan 42-7. And there's those North Miami Beach Chargers that cracked the pole last week at number 20. Now move up to number 17, taking advantage of some of the teams slipping in front of them, and also beating their neighborhood rivals 27-7. They took care of North Miami at Traz Powell in a game that really, their coach Jeff Bertini even said, not the prettiest game by the Chargers. They know they can do even better than that. But that being said, 2-0, strong start for them. Southridge recovers after that Columbus loss, beats Homestead to go up to 18. Norland had a tough one on the road against Ocala Vanguard. They have a tough one coming up against the Carroll City team that wants to get back on track. We'll see what happens with the Vikings. And Matter Academy hangs on the very last spot at number 20 after that lopsided loss to Palmetto. They have an interesting one coming up this week too against Miramar that could keep them afloat. A few teams to talk about on the cusp are Killian, which we know had the opening week loss, bounced back. Miami Springs had a scare against Coral Gables, but they're 2-0. And you've got LaSalle at 2-0, Ely at 2-0, off to good starts. And Western had a nice bounce back in the showcase as well, took care of Pine Creek to go to 1-1. But let's talk about those Chargers. We mentioned last week Andre Hippolyte, a University of Miami commit, one of the more talented, also two-way athletes in the state this season. Here's a couple of highlights of what he was able to do against the Pioneers. There you go, Andre Hippolyte. Everybody talking about Amir Sears and rightfully so about the two-way thing. Andre Hippolyte can go both ways pretty well. And we know that's the staple of Jeff Bertani's programs at NMB. Everyone plays Ironman football. Hardly anyone comes off the field. They have a little more depth than in years past. But at the same time, you're expected to be able, if your numbers call, to play on offense and defense effectively. And Andre Hippolyte showed that first with that pass breakup and then the touchdown pass that helped beat the Pioneers. We'll have more on NMB in the weeks to come as we follow what could be one of the breakout teams in the state for sure. Let's look at now the Up Next segment as we go into the games of the week. We're not going to start with Aquinas yet. We're going to save that one for last. We're going to start with the other game that everyone is probably talking about, and that's American Heritage taking on Chaminade 630 on Friday night. What is wrong with the Lions? What happened last week? Well, that Sierra Canyon team looked pretty monstrous up front. Chaminade couldn't really handle it too much up front. They had a couple of moments here and there, some bright spots overall on defense. One of them was linebacker Keon Thomas. Here's a highlight of a tackle for loss he had early in the game. He ended up with several of those and a sack. And then Sierra Canyon established dominance. We show a couple of plays where we show the screen pass for a touchdown early on that ignited the route 24-7 for them. That last one I want to mention there is Amos Bradford who has already been running and scoring touchdowns in Broward County the past couple of seasons. This is third year doing that. He was at West Broward last year on the team that made it to the state finals, a bright spot for Chaminade's running game. And he's going to have to be this week because look, American Heritage, it's interesting that both of these teams by the same score lost this season to teams that are defending state champions. Heritage had their bounce back this week. Neiman Lawrence looked great. The quarterback at Heritage threw for 371 and four touchdowns. It looks like Heritage got their act together. Now it's Chaminade's turn, especially being at home. But I don't know. The three interceptions by Brady Quinn, the turnovers, Chaminade is going to have to show something if they're going to get back to where they've been, where they've used to been used to be for the past decade. Are they still there? I think they can prove that with a victory this week. But I think Heritage might have found some answers last week and they might nip this one on the road at Chaminade and continue on their difficult journey through the early part of their schedule, which doesn't let up. Heritage has a trip to Trinity Christian to play Jacksonville up there next week and then Lakeland after that. So good luck on any kind of rest, any kind of weak opponent. You're not going to find that on Heritage's schedule. Let's look at some others here. Creek, we mentioned before, heads to Dillard. Dillard, a fine running game for them that has been a key. It was in their first victory over Piper. They struggled a little bit last week. Their offense got stifled on the road, only scored seven points there against St. Peter's Prep. But Creek impressed a lot. I think they're not perfect. They had their moments. They had a few, a couple turnovers and mistakes in that game that tends to happen in a wild one like they had with True North. But this team really does have something. If they can fine tune and avoid some of those mistakes, they might be able to go pretty far. I think they're good on the road this week and get another quality win at Dillard. We've got Monarch taking on Cardinal Gibbons, two teams we mentioned before that are also coming off wild 40 point plus games for both sides. Defenses might recover a little bit in this game, but Jeremiah Millicent for Monarch could be the difference. I don't know. I don't underestimate Gibbons in any game. Like I said, I always say they're well coached, and they are, and their defense tends to step up in big games. But I like this kid a lot, and he might be the difference maker for the Knights this week. Norland taking on Carroll City on Friday, as we mentioned before. Norland trying to bounce back, both teams trying to bounce back from road losses last week. But I think this is where Carroll City reminds everybody how much better they are this year and how talented they are. And they're going to want to take it out on their old neighborhood rival, the Norland Vikings, at Traz and build some momentum going into future games. Palmetto has been smashing everybody since the preseason. Here comes a team that used to crush them left and right in this rivalry, Southridge. It's at Southridge on Friday night. The Spartans used to own this rivalry. Palmetto was lucky if they could get a win every 10 years in this series once upon a time. But things have changed dramatically, and the Spartans are rebuilding, especially on the offensive side right now. I think Palmetto with Jamison Larson and that running attack and the improved defense will come out with another complete victory. And remember, once Columbus is done here, it's Palmetto-Columbus on Thursday, September 10th, a game that likely will decide the championship of that district and set up a rematch in the playoffs. So look for Palmetto to be undefeated for sure going into that one. And finally, the big one, the Explorers taking on the Raiders. Number two versus number one in the Herald poll, not in the country's poll, but it should be two nationally ranked teams with Aquinas deservedly so being number one. I think Columbus can make this more competitive than it's been in recent years where Aquinas has just thoroughly outplayed them. They have the depth, they have the weapons. Amir Sears, if he steps up the way he did against Gorman, this could be a really good game. But the depth of Aquinas is something else, especially in a season like this where they just have power for commit after power for commit, hitting you in waves, not just offense and defense, even on special teams. I think Aquinas ends up winning by a touchdown or two in this one and really drives home the point that they are the best team right now in the nation. And I think there's still a few polls out there that need some convincing. So I think St. Thomas is going to be eyeballing a chance to make a statement for sure. And that's about it for Titletown South Florida. We went over the top games. We'll be back next week to see how it went at St. Thomas Aquinas and elsewhere around South Florida. We'll be back with more highlights, more stories, and more highlighting of the best of the best players and teams across South Florida. Until then, I'm your host Andre Fernandez. Thanks for watching Titletown South Florida. Remember to catch us either at MiamiHerald.com or on YouTube on a weekly basis. Now we're back and bringing you the best of the best in high school football. We'll see you then.