Miami High escapes Tropical Park with win over Coral Gables to keep playoff push alive

Despite a home crowd, a slight breeze, a spotless sky and playable temperatures, Coral Gables’ night at Tropical Park ended up anything but beautiful thanks to Miami High.

The Stingarees took down their longtime rivals, 20-15.

Miami High pushed Gables back 21 yards on four plays on the Cavaliers’ final drive, symbolizing the kind of night it was for the Cavaliers.

“We were pretty prepared for this team. We know what they like to run, and it was just a matter of executing on our end. We felt great with the gameplan,” Miami High coach Dorrean James said.

Key turnovers killed much of Coral Gables’ hope in the first half, as it lost the battle 3-0. Senior quarterback Andreus Rios was intercepted twice, and a redzone fumble turned into a 76-yard touchdown run by wide receiver Zion Cherry on the next Miami High drive.

Miami High led 14-7 at the halftime break.

On the road and needing the win to push for the playoffs, Miami High overcame 165 yards in penalties, and used multiple explosive plays to do so. In the first half, Stingarees’ two-way player Ricky Williams intercepted Rios in the endzone. After halftime, Williams found paydirt with a 72-yard punt return for a touchdown.

“Before the game, Ricky told me he ‘had me.’ Then, after the game, he told me ‘coach, I told you I had you’ and he delivered,” James said.

On offense, Miami High (3-3) signal caller Rudolph Jones Jr. did not throw for a touchdown, but helped orchestrate back-to-back touchdown drives in the first half to climb over an early 7-0 deficit. Rudolph punched in a seven-yard run for six to cap off a 53-yard drive before the Stingarees next possession resulted in Cherry’s big run.

“Consistency, with the quarterback and the offensive line,” Jones said when highlighting areas for improvement. “Outside of that, I think we had a great game plan but at the end of the day we just got to get the kids to execute on both sides of the ball.”

For the Cavaliers (3-3), Rios delivered 7 of 24 passes for 131 yards, and finished with two touchdowns and two interceptions.

“I’m definitely excited any time we can get a win. Got to do a lot of cleaning up as far as the penalties are concerned. We will just take what we learned from today and just build on that towards next week,” James said.

Entering the fourth quarter with a 13-point lead, Miami High wouldn’t get away from the Cavaliers easily. Several penalties backed the Stingarees up before a blocked punt resulted in a safety. Shortly after, Cavs wide receiver Jordan Cooper capitalized on a Miami High turnover and caught his second touchdown pass of the day to make the margin just five with under four minutes to go in the fourth quarter.

Coral Gables would get one final possession but failed to gain a yard from the Miami High 34-yard line.

“My message has been after the Columbus game we are driving for five. That means to win the rest of the five games we got, go 5-0,” James said. “Tonight was just the first test of that, and I think we did a great job with that.”