Doral Academy bests Southridge 46-45 in double-overtime thriller, plus Friday’s scores
Both the Doral Academy Firebirds and the Southridge Spartans felt they had something to prove Friday night.
After losing to Doral 37-6 last year, Southridge had redemption on the brain. After perhaps being a slight underdog in the rematch, Doral traveled to Southridge Park ready to defy expectations.
What started out as a slow simmer on the scoring front bubbled over into a high-stakes shootout as the Firebirds outlasted the Spartans 46-45 in a double-overtime thriller.
“We came out here – touchdown, touchdown, they score, and we score – we just kept going back-to-back,” Doral senior running back Jason Demetrius said of the game. “We really put our hearts out there. [The win] let us know that our hard work was paid off. The result showed.”
The game ended in the kind of dramatic fashion only fit for a double-overtime game with a two-point conversion from Firebirds quarterback Jorge Rodriguez. Delgado said they’d drawn up a few options on the sideline, but Rodriguez ultimately made the right decision to run the ball into the end zone.
“He just took off,” Doral coach Eddie Delgado said. “He’s a good athlete, and we’ve been trying to encourage him to use his athleticism a lot more because he really is a good athlete. …You know, at that point, it’s back and forth like that. And it’s like, let’s just end it here, one way or the other.”
The scoreboard read “Spartans 31, Firebirds 31” at the end of regulation. Every touchdown Doral (3-2) scored came from the legs of senior running backs Mark Wilder and Demetrius.
Wilder had four touchdowns on the night – the first two in regulation and both in overtime – which brings his season total to 12 over five games. While most of his touchdown rushes came within five yards of the end zone, he exploded for 93 yards to score his second and give Doral its first lead of the night.
“Those guys really are our spark on offense,” Delgado said of his running back group, which also includes senior Ryan Gonzales. “We revolve around those guys. They’re a great one-two-three punch.”
Doral’s usually high-scoring squad (the team averaged 34 points per game headed into Friday), only managed a field goal in the first half. The Firebirds proceeded to trade touchdowns with Southridge (3-2) until the end of regulation. The lead exchanged hands 10 times over the course of the night.
The first half was marred by turnovers – five between the two teams – and penalties. Delgado said his group went into halftime frustrated but found a way to channel its emotions into changing the narrative.
“We were moving the ball, we just weren’t finishing,” Delgado said of the first 24 minutes. “And really, we tried to keep them calm [at the half]… and then in the second half, we really just executed on a really high level. We eliminated a lot of those mistakes and really just tried to outscore those guys. Those guys did a great job making plays all night.”
Doral next travels to face Goleman for a district matchup with the Gators Thursday at 7 p.m. Southridge will have two weeks off before hosting St. Petersburg Lakewood on Oct. 7.
MORE SCORES
No. 3 St. Thomas Aquinas 21, Treasure Coast 7; No. 5 Cardinal Gibbons 63, Key West 7; No. 10 Booker T. Washington 26, Carol City 6; No. 11 Norland 49, American 0; No. 12 Western 51, Taravella 0; No. 13 Miramar 47, Coral Glades 0; No. 17 Blanche Ely 28, No. 15 Coconut Creek 21; Vero Beach 21, No. 18 Palmetto 17; Tallahassee Rickards 38, No. 19 Edison 25; Archbishop Carroll 55, Palm Glades Prep 6; Avant Garde 41, St. John Paul II 0; Belen 41, Somerset Silver Palms 6; Calvary Christian 17, North Miami 7; Coral Gables 21, Braddock 7; Coral Reef 38, Southwest 0; Coral Springs 31, Northeast 13; Cypress Bay 34, Nova 22; Delray American Heritage 21, Archbishop McCarthy 13; Everglades Prep 37, Somerset South Homestead 0; Fort Lauderdale 27, Boyd Anderson 0; Hollywood Hills 11, Flanagan 8; Jackson 27, South Dade 21; Kings Academy 28, North Broward Prep 6; La Salle 43, South Fort Myers 33; Mourning 27, Miami Country Day 14; Naples 56, Killian 6; Pine Crest 21, Windermere Prep 20; Ransom Everglades 48, Marathon 8; St. Brendan 27, Mater Academy 24; South Broward 34, Krop 19; South Plantation 35, Cooper City 14; Sunset 25, Reagan 21; True North 63, Dade Christian 0; Westminster Academy 48, St. Edward’s 6; Westminster Christian 51, BridgePrep Academy 6.
This story was originally published September 24, 2022 at 1:37 AM.