Teammates — and even opponents — pick up American Heritage freshman after late fumble
The moment was a poignant one. And the ultimate sign of sportsmanship.
Malachi Toney, the star freshman receiver for Plantation American Heritage was on the ground crying uncontrollably as coaches tried to pick him up. When they did, he was hugged and consoled by many of his teammates.
But Heritage players weren’t the only ones coming up to him trying to help pick him up. Even Miami Central players, and coaches for that matter, approached Toney to try and say whatever they could think of to help him through an extremely difficult moment.
It was just minutes earlier that his team was on the verge of completing an amazing comeback.
The Patriots appeared to be hopelessly behind having trailed Miami Central, 38-21, early in the fourth quarter of Friday night’s Class 2M state championship game at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale.
But the full court press was on. A field goal and touchdown had cut the deficit to seven, and after the defense got a three-and-out on the Rockets, the offense was pushing up the field with one final drive to try and tie the game.
The Patriots were 40 yards away with less than two minutes left when Toney took a short pass over the middle from quarterback Blake Murphy and was pushing his way up the field. Then disaster struck.
Toney lost control of the ball and Rueben Bain, Central’s All-American defensive end, fell on it. There was 1:17 remaining and with only one timeout left, there was nothing the Patriots could do but watch the Rockets run out the clock to secure a 38-31 victory for a fourth consecutive state title and ninth overall.
It didn’t matter that he had made key contributions during the game, catching four passes for 50 yards or just 24 hours earlier had been offered by Nick Saban and Alabama.
No, Toney wanted none of it. Sobbing and having to be held up by his assistant coaches, he marched off to the northwest corner of the stadium and disappeared off in the distance. Eventually, they went and got him and brought him back out to be with his teammates but he was still inconsolable.
“It’s a tough spot, but it’s just not on him — no way,” American Heritage coach Mike Smith said.. “I know that’s a tough spot there at the end, but it’s not on him. There were a lot of plays all night long that could’ve effected the outcome of this game. We had plenty of opportunities and to put it on a 15-year-old kid — I’m not going to do that right now. That’s not fair. I know what he’s going through, and his family will go in there and pick him up. It’s part of life, man. That’s part of life and he’ll be better for that down the road.”
Five-star wide receiver Brandon Inniss struggled after the game, too.
“We worked for so long and didn’t get the outcome we wanted, but I love all my teammates, especially Mali,” he said. “My heart just breaks for him right now.”
Asked what he said to Toney when he hugged him after the game, Inniss started with, “Bro, you’ve gotta keep going...” and then just walked away from reporters.
“He’s young man who has a lot of great things in front of him, a special guy,” Murphy said. “He doesn’t understand that when stuff like that happens, it’s not all on him, he played a great game and we’re just not going to put that on him.”
But the ultimate sign of feeling for a young man in one of his darkest moments was when the Central players found him and consoled him. One of those players was Rockets quarterback Keyone Jenkins, who actually knew Toney from their days of playing 7-on-7 football together.
“That’s my guy, he’s like my little brother and we’re real close,” Jenkins said. “I told him to keep his head up. It’s only his first year and he’s got a long way to go. He did a lot of damage. Watch what he does these next three years. He’s a special player. I can’t say I know how it feels because something like that has never happened to me but I know he really hurts right now and that says a lot about our team that a bunch of us reached out to him when it was over.”
This story was originally published December 17, 2022 at 12:01 AM.