Bell could only watch as the Plantation defense, led by linebacker Ray Ciervo who had close to a dozen tackles, dominated most of the night, holding the Patriots to 89 net rushing yards and 44 yards passing, 37 of those coming on the last play of the game.

The biggest play of the night came just before halftime. With the Patriots trailing just 8-0, Plantation was facing a fourth-and-12 at the Patriots 29 with just 27 seconds left in the half. That’s when quarterback Chris Lammons found Jewison Dawkins on a bubble screen over the middle that Dawkins took and turned into a touchdown pass to make it 16-0 at the half.

The only score for American came midway through the fourth quarter when, given a short field and aided by a pair of pass-interference penalties, the Patriots punched one in on quarterback Ed Crouch’s 1-yard quarterback sneak to make it 23-8 after the two-point conversion.

Bill Daley

•  Reagan 46, Mourning 6: Ronald Reagan running back Keenan Springer finished up his high school career in style at Reagan High School as the host Bison routed Mourning in the regular-season finale for both independent teams. The game was a makeup contest, originally scheduled during Hurricane Sandy week.

Already leading the county in rushing, Springer put his exclamation on the regular-season rushing title with 172 yards and five touchdowns to finish with exactly 1,500 yards as Reagan closed out its tremendous season at 9-1 while Mourning finished 5-5, also its best season ever.

“It feels great to have such a great season, not only my yards but to have us go 9-1 as well,” said Springer who will move to Hawaii next week as his mother, in the military, was recently transferred.

“There has been a lot of hard work that has gone on around here in the last few years to move this program where it is, and I’m proud to have been a part of that.”

“The amazing thing about Keenan is that it’s about so much more than the yards,” said Reagan coach John Lopez. “It’s been about the way he conducts himself off the field as well and the way he leads. He’s a special kid who has helped blaze the trail for the success of this program and he’ll be missed.”

Bill Daley