Chaminade Lions beat Doral Academy Firebirds 41-5 in unexpected rout

It was supposed to be a fierce battle of two of the top private-school programs in Broward and Miami-Dade County when Chaminade-Madonna traveled to Doral Academy on Thursday night.

But it turned out to be anything but as Chaminade dominated from the opening whistle to the final ticks on the clock, turning what some thought might be a highly competitive contest into a lopsided 41-5 rout of the Firebirds.

Chaminade (5-2) and Doral (6-2) are both playoff-bound, but the Lions — one week removed from a convincing 35-20 win over Booker T. — are now starting to click on all cylinders after getting off to a slow start.

They are currently tied with Palm Beach Oxbridge Academy for the No. 1 spot in Class 3A and are heavy favorites to make it back to Orlando, where they came up one win short of a state title a year ago, losing to Jacksonville Trinity Christian.

Even though he got most of the second half off after Chaminade blew out to a 29-3 lead at the break, Auburn commit Shaun Shivers still enjoyed a big night in just one half of action, rushing for 110 yards on 13 carries. His two touchdown runs of 10 and 17 yards staked the Lions to a 17-3 lead early in the second quarter, and they pulled away from there.

“Doral’s a pretty good team, but we came in here tonight knowing what we had to do and just went out there and took care of business,” said Shivers. “We feel like everything is starting to come together for us right now. We want to be peaking at this time as we get ready for the playoffs and hopefully put ourselves in a position to make another run at Orlando.”

Led by Justinn Richardson, who had two of his unit’s four interceptions, the Chaminade defense dominated the normally high-powered Doral offense all night, as well, even recording a pair of safeties. The Firebirds managed just 103 yards through the air and four first downs.

“The goal tonight was just to come in here and execute and stay healthy, and we managed to do both so it’s all good,” said Chaminade head coach Dameon Jones, whose team will play two final regular-season games against Flanagan and University School before prepping for their first-round playoff matchup. “We’re definitely peaking at the right time right now. I’m happy for my kids and looking forward to the playoffs. We’re not talking about Orlando. Just getting to the postseason and then taking it one game at a time from there.”

This story was originally published October 19, 2017 at 10:12 PM with the headline "Chaminade Lions beat Doral Academy Firebirds 41-5 in unexpected rout."