Gulliver locks up district championship, but starting quarterback suffers injury
Gulliver’s football team didn’t celebrate for too long after Thursday afternoon’s game at Tropical Park ended.
It wasn’t because the Raiders had bigger goals entering the season than just winning the District 16-2M championship, something they secured following a 31-0 victory over South Miami.
It was because as soon as that business was taken care of, the team’s attention shifted to the health of starting quarterback Davi Belfort, who exited the game with 1:34 left in the third quarter.
Belfort took a hard hit as he threw a pass and remained on the field for several minutes before being carted off and taken to a nearby hospital.
“We’re going to check on him right now so please keep him in your prayers,” Gulliver coach Earl Sims said after the game.
Sims said Belfort had movement in all his extremities after the hit, and as of Friday morning, Belfort was out of the hospital according to the school.
Belfort completed 11 of 20 passes for 130 yards, two touchdown passes, and ran for a touchdown to help key the win for Gulliver (5-3), which won its fifth consecutive game. Two of those touchdown passes went to senior Antwaan Mays from 13 and eight yards out to help the Raiders pull away after a close first half.
Gulliver’s defense forced four turnovers South Miami (4-4) committed as Antonio Smith, Samuel Smith and RJ Boynton each had one interception.
The Raiders’ special teams also made the pivotal play just before halftime when the Cobras mishandled a high snap on a punt and Gulliver tackled their punter at their 1-yard line, setting up a touchdown run on the ensuing play on a Belfort quarterback sneak.
Lamont Green Jr. and Brandon Rosenthal each had a sack bringing their season totals to 19 and 15 respectively.
“The guys stepped up and made some plays,” Sims said. “I like the way our offense and special teams responded. We felt like we left some points on the field in the second half, but I like the way we played. We just can’t wait and we have to start fast and go full throttle from the get.”
MORE SCORES
No. 2 Chaminade 63, Boca Raton St. John Paul II 0
No. 10 Blanche Ely 47, West Boca Raton 12
No. 13 Norland 55, North Miami Beach 42
No. 19 Southridge 63, Southwest 0
Avant Garde Academy 41, Somerset Prep 0
Braddock 41, Sunset 6
Coral Park 27, Mourning 7
Hialeah Gardens 14, Hialeah-Miami Lakes 0
Monarch 40, Coral Springs 0
Pembroke Pines Charter 23, American 20
Pompano Beach 34, Somerset Key 6
Somerset Charter Homestead 22, Everglades Prep 6
South Dade 41, Coral Gables 13
West Broward 21, Cooper City 7
This story was originally published October 27, 2022 at 11:10 PM.
