The chance for a three-peat continues. Northwestern punches ticket to Class 5A title game
The journey proved to be a whole lot different this year.
But the final destination was ultimately the same for the Miami Northwestern Bulls: the state championship game.
Northwestern survived a slow start with a big second quarter and then made some big plays in the fourth which all added up to a 42-21 victory over Tampa Jesuit in a Class 5A state semifinal on Friday night at Traz Powell Stadium.
The defending two-time state champion Bulls will enjoy a week off and then look to make it three in a row when they take on Orlando Jones in the 5A state title game on Saturday, Dec. 14 at noon at Daytona Beach Municipal Stadium.
The Northwestern win also capped off a historic night for South Florida teams. Columbus (8A), St. Thomas Aquinas (7A), Central (6A), Northwestern, Booker T. Washington (4A), Chaminade-Madonna (3A) and Champagnat Catholic (2A) all won their respective state semifinals thus marking the first time South Florida will send seven teams to the state title games. It tops last year’s record of six.
“We knew Jesuit would be tough and challenge us because they’re a good program and I told our kids we were going to have to come out and fight for 48 minutes,” said Northwestern head coach Max Edwards. “That’s what happens when you get this deep in the playoffs. You’re going to run into good teams that are going to challenge you.”
It was a year ago that the Bulls struggled mightily during the season, going 5-5 with rumors that Edwards was out as the head coach persisting into the postseason. That was until the Bulls caught a hot set of dice and went all the way to a second consecutive state title.
This year, an 8-2 season and No. 2 seed in their region meant there would be no flying under the radar as teams were out to knock off the two-time state champs. None of it mattered as the Bulls avoided a letdown following last week’s huge showdown win over Plantation American Heritage on the road.
“I think the difference this year was we learned from last year,” said Edwards. “Our kids didn’t want to put themselves into that same predicament and have to fight our way out of it. We had to buckle down and play our best every week, which was a different challenge, and that’s why we’re going back to the championship game.”
Edwards watched his team get off to a sluggish start as the first quarter was a series of 3-and-out punts on both sides before the Bulls fell behind in the final seconds of the quarter when a bungled exchange from the shotgun at their own 10 resulted in a Jesuit touchdown when Todd Bowles Jr. (son of the former Miami Dolphins head coach) scooped it up and went 7 yards for the score.
That was the wake-up call the Bulls needed to roll off 28 unanswered points in the second quarter to go up 28-7 at the break.
Nathanial Noel, who led all rushers on Friday night with 134 yards on 19 carries, scored from 2 yards out which was followed by a 28 yard Siddiq Jackson scoring run to go up 14-7. On the ensuing kickoff, Antwan Massie made a big play when he not only stripped the ball for Jesuit kick returner Jordan Young but then scooped up the loose ball and ran to the end zone to make it 21-7. Quarterback Taron Dickens then found Kahlil Brantley for a 17 yard touchdown 2:28 before halftime to complete the second-quarter onslaught.
A miscue by Dickens when he tried to dish a short shovel pass to a receiver turned into a disaster when Ricky Parks picked it off and went 61 yards for a score to make it 28-14. Even after the Bulls answered with a 15-yard scoring toss from Dickens to Kemani Brown late in the third to make it 35-14, the Tigers (11-3) still wouldn’t go away.
Parks broke loose for a 60-yard score two minutes into the fourth quarter to cut the lead back to 14 again and then got the ball back when Brantley fumbled the ball away after a catch. Jesuit worked its way down to the Bulls’ 24 and was threatening to cut it to seven when Wati Huggins made the biggest defensive play of the night.
Huggins broke through and crushed Jesuit quarterback Kiael Kelly forcing a fumble that Terrence Lewis scooped up and rambled 35 yards with. Four plays later, Dickens found Romello Brinson in the left flat. Brinson, after juking two defenders, turned that into a 35-yard score with 4:41 left to finish things off.
“As always, I have to give it up to my o-line, I don’t do any of this without my boys up front who did the job tonight,” said Noel. “They led me to the promised land. What an opportunity we have in front of us now. We have a chance to do something no Northwestern team has ever done (win three titles in a row). Last year was much more of a struggle but I think we learned from that and things have gone much better this year.”
Said Huggins, who transferred from Booker T. Washington: “This is all new to me, I wasn’t a part of these teams the last two years. I can’t wait to get up there.”
This story was originally published November 29, 2019 at 11:22 PM.