Another close finish as Private All-Stars edge Public with late touchdown

Somehow, some way, it always seems to come down to the final few minutes.

With eight of the previous 10 having come down to the final possession, it only figured that the 11th Annual Tru Sports Foundation Private/Public High School Football All-Star game would produce more of the same on Saturday night.

And that’s exactly what happened again as a 25-yard touchdown run by Jam Prep’s Melvin Glenn with 2:03 left in the game gave the Private All-Stars a 25-20 victory over the Public team at Milander Stadium.

Miami Central quarterback Katravis Marsh, who had enjoyed a big night up to that point, (16-of-30, 209 yards, 3 touchdowns) tried to rally his team on the ensuing kickoff. But when Champagnat linebacker Jonathan Nesbitt nailed him for a 20-yard loss on third down back to his own 15, that clinched the game for the private team.

The Public’s lead in the series has now been trimmed to 6-5.

“The kids, my coaches, everybody worked really hard to get this done,” said Champagnat assistant coach David Simmons, who headed up the private team. “We started out with 18 kids and at one point we only had 12 kids show up for practice so there was a lot of last-minute crash learning for this tonight and conditioning as well. I’m proud of all of them.”

But if there was one player Simmons was more proud of than anybody, it was Marc Britt. The wide receiver from Miami Christian who verbally committed to the University of Florida back in November demonstrated to Gators fans why they may have a special talent on the way to Gainesville next season.

Britt finished the night with six catches for 180 yards and two touchdowns to lead his team to the win. One of the touchdowns was borderline ESPN material as Britt, with three defenders blanketed around him, went up in the end zone and somehow came down with a 37-yard third-quarter touchdown that snapped a 13-13 tie to put his team in front.

“I just came out here to play ball and try and help my team win tonight,” said Britt, who also caught a 35-yard scoring toss just 17 seconds before halftime that tied the game at 13 at the break. “When the ball is in the air, you have to be patient but you have to have an attitude that that ball is yours and nobody else’s. Tonight was my last high school game so it feels great to go out like this.”

“Having a guy like Marc Britt to throw to will probably make any quarterback look good,” said Champagnat’s James Herard who, after playing wide receiver all season long for the Lions helping lead them to the 2A state title, was thrust into the role of quarterback for the evening. “If there’s a better receiver in the state, show them to me. He’s a natural talent and going to excel at the next level for sure. He’s big-time.”

Herard finished his night completing 7-of-15 passes for 185 yards and the two scores to Britt while running for a first-quarter touchdown to give his team an early 7-0 lead.

“That kid? He’s just different,” said Simmons of Britt. “You can tell the minute you see him walk on the field that he’s on a different level than the other kids. We did a good job of just getting the ball in his direction and let him go get it. Forget Saturdays, he’ll eventually play on Sundays.”

After Britt’s second score gave his team a six-point lead, the public stars rallied when Marsh led his team on a drive that culminated with an 8-yard touchdown toss to Northwestern wide receiver Baron Grant with 8:41 left in the game. Gables placekicker Matthew Enriquez cooly drilled the extra point to give his team a one point lead and when Miami High linebacker Chad Jackson picked off a Herard pass at midfield with 4:13 left in the game it appeared the public team would pull it out.

But then came the disaster play of the night. Enriquez lined up to punt with 2:20 left and the snap sailed high over his head. He chased it down but to no avail. The 28-yard loss gave the private team possession at the public 25. Glenn scored on the next play.

Killian linebacker Kamren Valentin was named the Defensive MVP of the game as he led the way for the public team with 12 tackles, three for loss.