Homestead crushes Doral Academy to wrap up district title and continue recent rise
As Philip Simpson gave his final instructions to his defense in a blowout win on Thursday night — and a reminder to his offense to go into victory formation if they ended up having to take one more snap — his Homestead Broncos players on the bench crept up behind him. An assistant coach kept Simpson busy as the running clock ticked down to its final seconds and the players got into position.
A water bath greeted the coach. A district title greeted his team seconds later.
Homestead dominated from start to finish in its 47-6 win over host Doral Academy, a victory that secured the District 16-7A title for the Broncos.
“Just taking care of business,” Simpson said.
It’s the latest step of a three-year journey for the Homestead football program under Simpson. They went 2-8 in 2019 with five shutout losses and two other blowouts.
The Broncos took a big step forward in the pandemic-altered 2020 season, winning a pair of playoff games for the first time since 2002 albeit in a year when every team that opted into the playoffs got in. Even with those two playoff wins, 25-13 over Gulf Coast and 12-9 over Doral Academy, Homestead still only went 3-3.
This year, they are in the playoffs because they earned a spot in the playoffs.
Homestead is now 6-1 on the year, its lone loss coming against Palmetto to begin the season, and has outscored opponents 272-63 over seven games.
“It’s a good feeling,” Simpson said, “because you’re talking about the labor of it. The sweat equity of putting the time in. It was really special to see us come out and perform.”
And they proved to be the more dominant team from the opening whistle.
Homestead needed two plays from scrimmage to break off its first big play, a 46-yard rushing touchdown from Tyrone Maxwell to put Homestead up 7-0 barely three minutes into the contest. The senior scored twice on Thursday, his second coming on a 1-yard scamper to put the Broncos up 14-6 with 7:43 left in the first half. Maxwell finished with 94 yards on 10 carries, eight of which came in the first half.
Quarterback Joshua Townsend completed 8 of 14 passes for 194 yards, two touchdowns — a 63-yard catch-and-run to Isaac Brown down the right sideline in the third quarter and a four-yard pass to Richard Dandridge in the fourth quarter — and one interception. Townsend also scored a 37-yard rushing touchdown on a draw play on the opening drive of the second half.
Brown also had a 1-yard rushing touchdown.
The defense, meanwhile, forced Doral (6-1) into four three and outs and recorded three turnovers, with Jamari Mackey’s interception returned for a touchdown with about 10 minutes left triggering a running clock.
Doral Academy scored its only points on its second possession, with Ryan Gonzalez hauling in an 11-yard touchdown pass from Jorge Rodriguez to get the Firebird to within 7-6 early.
They would never get any closer, as Homestead marched its way into a playoff berth — and an opportunity to drench their coach in celebration.
“I’m not a fan of it,” Simpson said with a smile of the water bath. “I think they’ve practiced it because I don’t have one dry spot on my body. They’re pretty good.”
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