CYPRESS BAY 29, N. MIAMI BEACH 20
Cypress Bay finally advances
The Lightning rode its ground attack to a big victory and reached the regional semifinals for the first time.
BY SOLANGE REYNER
Miami Herald Writer
In the past two postseasons, North Miami Beach has had Cypress Bay's number in the Class 6A regional quarterfinals.
But the Lightning (10-1) erased that burden on Friday, eliminating the Chargers 29-20 to move on to a regional semifinal for the first time in school history.
Jason Douglas rushed for 105 yards and a score, Craig Dee had two touchdowns, and North Miami Beach (6-4) made too many mistakes in the end to battle back from a 22-12 deficit.
''You can't fall back to a team like Cypress Bay,'' North Miami Beach coach Jeff Bertani said. ``They'll just take off on offense.''
Which is what they did. Cypress Bay capitalized on good field position, responded on offense when it needed to, then turned a late NMB turnover on downs into a score to extend its lead at the right time.
North Miami Beach quarterback Nico Flores, who finished with 276 yards passing, scored on a 1-yard run in NMB's first drive of the fourth quarter to make it 14-12.
But Cypress Bay quarterback Zach Green, who attempted only two passes on the night, completed a 29-yard pass play to Corey McCabe to set up a first-and-10 on the NMB 40-yard line.
The running backs did the rest of the work.
Jason Douglas had a 23-yard run, and Shane Gordon found the end zone one play later with a 17-yard rush up the middle to make it 22-12.
''I knew my receiver was going to be there, and I just read it correctly,'' Green said. ``Jason and Shane made the rest of the work easy.''
Cypress Bay did most of its work on the ground and found running room behind an aggressive offensive line. Douglas finished with 105 yards, Gordon had 72, and Dee finished with 57.
''It's good to finally advance,'' Cypress Bay coach Mark Guandolo said. ``It's been too long.''
Flores did most of the work for North Miami Beach -- he also had a 57-yard touchdown pass to Kemal Ishmael in the first.
Ishmael, who finished the game with 156 yards receiving, also led the team in rushing with 50 yards.
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