Gause’s three TDs help Chaminade beat Heritage in showdown of national contenders

No. 10 Hollywood Chaminade-Madonna’s bout with No. 13 Plantation American Heritage proved as riveting as the teams’ national rankings suggested.

It was a shootout between the two teams, consisting of four ties and three lead changes.

“I expected 12 rounds, blow for blow,” Chaminade coach Dameon Jones said after the game. “That’s what I expected. …I expected a dogfight.”

In the end his Lions bested the Patriots 42-34 Friday night at Vince Zappone Field.

“I bet on my team, ‘cause we have been in some dogfights this year, and they hadn’t,” Jones said.

The win came after Chaminade (4-0) vanquished then-No. 30 Miami Northwestern 42-14 last Saturday.

Running back Davion Gause ran for three of the Lions’ six touchdowns Friday, living up to his nickname, “Bullet,” bestowed upon him by one of his peewee football coaches. While the moniker originally alluded to how hard he used to hit as a defender, it translates quite well to his performance as a running back.

Gause first marched into the end zone from the 1-yard line after shedding a few Patriots defenders on a 58-yard run to land himself there. He slipped through even more Heritage players en route to his second touchdown – an 18-yard run. The third and final score came on 2nd and goal from the 1-yard line to put Chaminade up 35-28 and take the final lead of the game.

But for every touchdown he scored, Gause also fumbled the ball. The junior said his coaches’ confidence in him helped keep his mind right – a confidence coach Jones echoed after the game.

“‘He’s not one of them kids that’s gonna let that junk get him down,” Jones said of Gause. “And he didn’t. He came back like, ‘Coach, give me the ball.’ He wanted to reprove himself, man, and he did.”

Chaminade’s other three touchdowns came from the arm of quarterback Cedric Bailey to receivers Kyle Washington and Jeremiah Smith, as well as athlete Edwin Joseph.

Smith’s score essentially ended the game with 1:33 left to play. He caught an 85-yard pass on 3rd and 7 to extend the Lions’ lead to 42-28. A shovel pass from Heritage quarterback Blake Murphy to Mark Fletcher (an Ohio State commit) for a score cut into said lead, but the Patriots followed with a failed two-point conversion. Their valiant effort (starting on the 20 and marching down field for six points in less than a minute of game time) proved futile.

Joseph, whom coach Jones called the most underrated player in the country, was almost entirely responsible for Chaminade’s fourth touchdown of the night, having intercepted the ball to begin the drive and caught an 18-yard pass in the end zone to end it. He’s listed as a three-star recruit and the 54th highest high school athlete in the class of 2023 on 247Sports.

“It feels great to go out there and go do what we work for all week,” said Joseph about making big defensive and offensive plays for his team.

Joseph said his squad has until Sunday to be happy and celebrate the top-15 win. After that it’s on to preparing for Gulliver Prep, the team they’ll face Thursday at 3:30 p.m.

This story was originally published September 17, 2022 at 12:33 AM.