Miami Christian’s Davila, St. Brendan’s Favaro are Miami-Dade Coaches of the Year
Chanel Davila has played a key role in setting a high standard for the Miami Christian girls’ basketball program. Davide Favaro is doing the same with the St. Brendan boys’ soccer team.
Both guided their teams to state titles this year — Davila’s Miami Christian team winning its second consecutive title, Favaro making history with St. Brendan’s first-ever state soccer title.
For the work to build up their programs and the success that came from it this season, Davila and Favaro are the Miami Herald’s Miami-Dade Coaches of the Year for the 2021-2022 high school athletic season.
The Miami Christian girls’ basketball team went 21-8 this season en route to its second consecutive Class 2A title, challenging themselves in the regular season to mixed results early on. The Victors beat Fort Lauderdale Calvary Christian, split matchups against Tampa Plant and Somerset Academy Silver Palms and lost to Plantation American Heritage, IMG Academy, Westminster Academy (twice) and St. Thomas Aquinas. Miami Christian won 20 of its final 24 games after starting the season 1-4.
Those matchups helped Miami Christian cruise in the playoffs. It won its first six playoff games heading into Saturday — two district tournament games, three regional games and the state semifinal — by an average of 54 points with the 68-47 state semifinal win over Naples St. John Neumann the closest affair of the six before holding off Orlando Faith Christian 66-59 for the team’s second state title in three years with Davila at the helm.
“Once we got out of that slump,” Davila said after winning the state title, “they started to build more confidence in each other and with each other and in their chemistry. I always knew what I kind of team I had in the offseason. I knew what they were capable of. I knew who they were. They just needed to know what they could do together.”
At St. Brendan, Favaro and longtime assistant coach Ray Del Toro have been building roster and a culture that they hope can elevate them to be annual contenders like longtime Miami-Dade soccer powerhouses such as Gulliver Prep, Ransom Everglades, Columbus, Belen Jesuit and Doral, among others.
In Year 6 at the helm, Favaro finally saw the breakthrough. St. Brendan went 17-1-3 this year and marched through the playoffs to win the Class 4A title — the first boys’ soccer title in school history and the first state title in a boys sport since the Sabres baseball team won it all in 1983.
“I’m very happy for the boys and my satisfaction is for them to grow mentally and physically to have an opportunity to play college ball,” Favaro said during the season. “All of this is for them.”
Other Finalists
Boys sports
▪ Doral Academy’s Ralph Suarez and Miami Christian’s Chirs Cuadra each led their respective program to a state baseball championship, with Doral winning its first in school history and Miami Christian taking home its fourth.
▪ Behind a star-studded group of underclassmen, Andrew Moran’s Columbus boys basketball team won the school’s first state title in the sport.
▪ Jimmy Aguilera and his Belen Jesuit water polo team capped an undefeated season with its first state title since 2018 and won the championship in its own pool.
▪ Roland Smith’s Central Rockets were the only Miami-Dade team to win a state football title this season.
Girls sports
▪ Justin Puppo’s Doral Academy tennis team won its fourth consecutive state title.
▪ Elsa Lopez’s Mater Academy indoor volleyball team won its second consecutive state title.
▪ Chris George led Gulliver Prep to the only swimming team state title among area teams.
▪ Carmen Jackson’s track and field dynasty continued at Northwestern, with the Bulls winning their 13th consecutive team state title and 16th in the past 17 seasons in which the state meet was contested (there was no meet in 2020 due to COVID-19).
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