South Dade rallies twice to beat rival Southridge in thrilling regular season finale
First-year South Dade football coach Chris Reid has stressed it to his team since the start of the season.
How they respond to adversity in games matters.
Although the Bucs had made positive strides already this year with their first winning season in three years, the poise they showed in the closing minutes of Friday’s 33-30 road victory over neighborhood rival Miami Southridge was one of their most important steps forward.
Quarterback Jean Calixte’s 16-yard touchdown pass to Sedric Melvin put South Dade ahead for good with 22 seconds left. On Southridge’s ensuing drive, sophomore Tedrick Lee sealed the victory by intercepting Spartans quarterback James Perrone.
“We knew this would go down to the wire,” Reid said. “We had the mindset of everything that could go bad, we’re still good. We muff a punt. We’re good. We give up a touchdown, we’re good. Everything that went bad, our reaction was going to be good. We just kept that mindset. It’s all a credit to them. It’s all these kids.”
The Bucs are one of this season’s turnaround teams in South Florida, securing their first trip to the playoffs since 2019 after back-to-back losing seasons.
South Dade’s victory on Friday solidified its grip on the No. 4 seed in Region 4-4M, giving it the opportunity to host a first-round playoff game if it plays Cypress Bay. The Bucs entered the week projected to face fifth-seeded West Broward and would have to travel to Pembroke Pines since the Bobcats won their district and South Dade is an at-large qualifier.
Southridge (6-4), which will also be in the postseason in Region 4-3M, took a 30-26 lead with 1:40 remaining in the fourth when Darius Clements hauled in a 13-yard touchdown pass from Perrone.
But then 5-9, 245-pound senior Demetrius Williams, one of the most versatile players on South Dade’s team, fielded the ensuing kickoff and returned it to the Southridge 43-yard line to give the Bucs a realistic chance at coming back.
Williams, who plays both running back and defensive tackle and is nicknamed “Meatball” by his teammates, also ran for 49 yards and a touchdown.
“Nobody expected a 250-pound kid to be back on kickoff returns,” Reid said. “But when the game is on the line, we want to put it in his hands. I’m just surprised he didn’t score. He’s faster than he looks. He’s an amazing running back and d-tackle, amazing student and human being.”
Perrone completed 13 of 25 passes for 136 passes and threw three touchdown passes overall with his first - a 28-yard score to Jahkari Johnson giving Southridge a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter.
But South Dade responded immediately when Calixte connected with Edward Farley-Kendrick for a 52-yard touchdown on the first play of the Bucs’ ensuing drive.
Calixte completed 8 of 19 passes for 186 yards, but also threw three touchdown passes including a second to Farley-Kendrick that helped give South Dade a 20-7 lead at the half.
The Bucs’ defense and special teams, which blocked a field goal just before halftime, came up huge as well.
Backed up at its own 5-yard line, Southridge fumbled on an exchange between quarterback and running back and South Dade linebacker Sawyer Bartelt picked up and headed for the end zone. Bartelt then lost the ball near the goal line, but teammate Cory Waters fell on it for a Bucs touchdown to put them ahead 26-14.
Bartelt, a three-time unbeaten state championship wrestler who has not been taken down in a match during that time, finished with double-digit tackles and a sack.
The play proved vital after Southridge rallied with 16 unanswered points.
“This is great, my senior year to get South Dade back on top,” Bartelt said. “We’ve been practicing all year for those situations. We lost three games this year, but we had to learn from it. It’s like all those tough matches in wrestling that come down to the last quarter, this was the same. We just had to play hard and get that W.”
This story was originally published November 4, 2023 at 8:08 AM.
