While I am writing this, the Miramar Patriots have been flagged for a block in the back.

Oops, there's another flag.

There's another.

OK, you get the point. Miramar was hit with 168 yards in penalties against Deerfield Beach last week and still survived.

If the Patriots rack up 100 yards in penalties there's no way they knock off Northwestern. No way.

Can ''Miracle-mar'' win the game? Absolutely. Anyone who is picking against these guys and Eugene Smith has not seen Miramar.

I know, I know. Northwestern is the two-time defending state champ, the defending national champ and is loaded with talent.

The West is easily a 14-to-21 point favorite in this game. This is the fourth consecutive trip to the state semifinals for the Bulls who know the route better than the FHSAA. Miramar will need a map, a detective and a seeing-eye dog to get to the state semifinals.

Most of the fans in Miami figure they will just drop by Lockhart Stadium on Friday on the way to the state title game in Orlando, and they will be surprised not to see Deerfield Beach when they get there.

That's all anyone talked about last week -- the classic rematch between The West and Deerfield, the last team to beat Northwestern in the playoffs (2005 semis).

You can talk about all the history and tradition, all the state titles and all the experience. You can talk about how Miramar has never been here before, and how no one in Broward picked the Pats to still be around (well, almost no one).

But when the game is on the line in the fourth quarter and Eugene Cyril Smith III has the ball in his hands, none of that matters. He was sacked 10 times last week and played the second half in pain, and still there was Geno, driving down the field for the winning TD in the fourth quarter.

I don't need to tell Northwestern about Smith. Khalid Marshall and Tevin McCaskill, who lead the West's secondary, are probably bleary-eyed from looking at Smith's tapes. And those tapes of Stedman Bailey? Yeah, he's really that good, that clutch and that hard to stop.

It's not that Bailey has 26 receptions for 430 yards and five TDs in the three playoff games (albeit those are staggering numbers), it's that he makes so many clutch catches.

No one is more clutch than Smith, who threw a TD with 12 seconds left to beat Carol City, tossed a TD with three seconds left to beat Cypress Bay and threw a 33-yard TD pass to Ivan ''Sticks'' McCartney with 3:57 left to lift Miracle-mar over Deerfield, 34-30. Smith has completed 44 of 61 passes for 696 yards and eight TDs in the last two playoff games.

Now Smith and the Miracles go against the West, the Bill Gates of high school football, the Establishment and the Evil Empire. Pick a cliché, that's Northwestern. All the odds are against Miramar. Everything says this is the week the last-ditch drive falls short, and no one is going to pick these kids to win.

Except me.

Trust me, Miramar, you can beat the West. Keep the penalties down, give Geno a little time and don't worry about all that tradition. Last year's Northwestern team was probably as good as any high school team anywhere, anytime. But those kids are at UM. You can beat THIS Northwestern team.

Miracle-mar 34, Northwestern 33.

AQUINAS TOO GOOD

In the other state semifinal game, this week's victim is Largo, which had the misfortune to be paired with St. Thomas Aquinas, which is headed for a consensus national title.

The Raiders are No. 1 in the big three rankings: National Prep poll, ESPN and USA TODAY, and it has been a marvelous run. I doubt if there has ever been a team this talented, this grounded and this disciplined. Aquinas isn't just one of the best programs in the country, it is one of the classiest.

George Smith may not want to talk about a mythical national title, but that's because he doesn't have to -- at least not for another two weeks.

This will be the last lopsided win for the Raiders, because they're going to have to face (like they don't want to) Lakeland in the 5A state final next week. Lakeland is ranked in the top 10 in the nation, and that game promises to be a classic.

Largo won't be. Aquinas will put up 45-50 points. Largo won't score more than twice. Let's call it: Aquinas 48, Largo 10.

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