Young Cooper City flag football team on a roll; American Heritage boys’ volleyball & more
The Cooper City girls’ flag football team features a very young team, starting eight freshmen for the first time in years.
“We are not favored to move forward in the post season, but that’s what makes playing the underdog role so fun. Anything can happen,” said Cooper City assistant coach Alexandra Silvestri. “The girls have a great relationship and rapport with each other and the coaches which I believe makes a difference.”
The head coach and offensive coordinator is Al DiLiello. The defensive coach is Dennis Clemons, and the quarterback coach is Pete Bross. The assistant coaches are Mark O’Loughlin, Rocky Morgan, John Browning and Alexandra Silvestri.
In six seasons with this coaching staff, the Cowboys turned it around from a program that was 2-23 to a group that reached the state finals twice.
Cooper City is 8-3 this season, beating Coral Springs, Cypress Bay, Everglades, Flanagan, Miramar, Northeast, Nova, West Broward. The standouts include senior Madison Valachovic, quarterback Yanei Honan, freshman Isabella Riollano, junior Hailey Fuentes and top rusher Ella Sanchez.
Looks like Krop and Western will be the teams to beat in Cooper City’s post season.
“We believe anything can happen,” Silvestri said. “Overall, we have the most athletic team that we have ever had. We’ve had a mix of quarterbacks year to year, but this year having Yanei for a second year has been great.”
Cooper City 33, Coral Springs 6: Isabella Riollano, Leyla Geha and Victoria Fundazuri scored.
Cooper City 18, Cypress Bay 0: Maddie Valachovic touchdown, multiple sacks; Ella Sanchez two sacks; Malia Lahey and Bella Riollano scored on touchdown passes from Yanei Honan; Tamar Shani two interceptions; Leyla Geha one interception; Allison Gross and Myia Siegel closed the game not allowing any turnovers.
American Heritage volleyball
The American Heritage boys’ volleyball team avenged an earlier season loss by defeating Coral Springs 25-17, 25-20, 25-23.
Trailing 9-0 in the third set, the Patriots rallied to clinch the match.
Daylan Holness had 16 set assists, one solo block, one block assist, and two service aces. Player of the Match Ivan Zhang totaled 10 kills with one hitting error, one solo block, and one block assist.
JayaSai Somasundaram had five kills, no hitting errors and three service aces. VijayaSai Somasundaram recorded six kills and only two hitting errors, one set assist, three solo blocks, and two block assists.
Sebastian Carrizosa had one set assist, one kill, one solo block, and two block assists. Ty Brant added three kills and one solo block. Ilan Morr had two block assists.
Leo Marques had a solid match passing and digging and recorded an ace. Sebastian Escalona came off the bench to excel on defense.
Boys’ basketball
Mater Academy hired Jose Ramos as head boys’ basketball coach. Ramos has been an assistant coach at Mater since 2015.
Golf event
The Shenanigans Third Annual Golf Classic, benefitting South Broward High School athletics, is Saturday, May 1 with an 8 a.m. shotgun start at The Club at Emerald Hills in Hollywood.
Cost is $125 per golfer which includes golf, beverage/snacks on course and a luncheon/banquet immediately following the tournament. Sponsorships, red ($500), gold ($800) and Bulldog ($1,000) are also available.
For more information, contact South Broward Athletic Director Boomer Bray at 305-496-7171 or Emerald Hills at 954-962-7888.
Flag football
GMAC Tournament: Miami Beach 20, Carol City 19 (OT): Kamryn Burnstine 3 TDs (2 Rushing, 1 Interception Return).
More boys’ volleyball
Belen Jesuit d. iMater 25-15, 25-15, 25-12: BEL (6-4).
Cardinal Gibbons d. Archbishop McCarthy 25-13, 25-22, 25-20: Thiago Zamprogno 12 kills, 5 blocks, 6 service points, 2 digs.
Ransom Everglades d. Mater Lakes in 3 sets to improve to 9-3.
GMAC Tournament: Braddock d. Westland Hialeah 25-12, 25-16: John-Marcos Gonzalez 6 kills, ace; Nicholas Mirabal 19 assists; Sebastian Paz 3 kills.
Softball
Doral Academy 8, Westminster Christian 1: WP Alyssa Zabala 6 IP, 1 R, 6 K; KC Machado 3 HR, 6 RBI.
Lourdes 17, Miami Beach 2.
Palmer Trinity 6, LaSalle 0: WP Emmy Cerda 17 K, 3-4, 2 RBI; Megan Keller 2-3; Elizabeth Sulkes 1-3, RBI. PT (8-5).
St. Brendan 9, Palmer Trinity 1: WP Sophia Moran 7 IP, 0 ER, 8 K, 1 H; Isabella Fernandez 3-3, 3 RBI, 2 R; Sasha Blanco 1-2, 2 RBI, R; Gaby Perozo 2-3, 2 RBI, R.
Baseball
Doral Academy 10, Pembroke Pines Charter 0: WP Evan Demurias 4 IP, 2 H, 2 K; Adrian Santana 2-2, HR, 4 RBI; Renzo Gonzalez 1-2, HR, 2 RBI; Marco Franco HR, RBI, R. DOR (17-3-1).
Girls’ lacrosse
District Semifinal: American Heritage 11, Calvary Christian 10: Goalie Nichole Buchan 20 saves; Jordyn McCullough 3 goals, 1 assist, 4 draw controls; Lola Mancuso 2 goals, 1 assist, 3 draw contols; Laura Mikkelsen 2 goals, 1 assist, 2 draw contols; Kaitlyn Chmelir 4 goals, 1 assist.
Boys’ lacrosse
Ransom Everglades 13, Palmer Trinity 1: Jack Rivas-Vasquez 2 goals, 1 assist; Sebastian Hicks 2 goals; Griffin Costello 2 goals; Bryce Sadler 1 g; Ryan Beinstock 1 g; Bruce Leight 1 g; Parker Aldaheff 1 g; Robbie Barnett 1 g; Gori Spillis 1 g; Noa Abboud 1 g.
Miami Herald All-County
The Miami Herald All-County selections for Miami-Dade and Broward winter sports are on the High School pages of the Sports section of the Miami Herald website.
Submit results
For high schools in Broward and Miami Dade counties, if you have varsity game results for this column, email hssports@miamiherald.com. Varsity only.
---
Roundup compiled by Jim Varsallone
jvarsallone@miamiherald.com
