Sunset wins, Hialeah-Miami Lakes scores as both end different droughts in season finale

They both entered their season finale 0-9 so when Miami Sunset and Hialeah-Miami Lakes squared off on Wednesday afternoon, somebody was going to be saddled with a winless season and the other was going to avoid it.

For HML, the game was also its last chance to avoid achieving some ugly history as it was one shutout loss away from becoming what was believed to be the first Miami-Dade team to go an entire 10-game season without scoring a point.

The Trojans finally scored, but the winner on this day turned out to be Sunset as the Knights blew out to a 19-0 halftime lead and cruised to a 37-6 victory at Hialeah-Miami Lakes High School.

Quarterback Alex Estevez got the Knights going when, on fourth-and-five from the HML six, he ran a quarterback sneak up the middle right into the end zone.

Early in the second quarter defensive back Weilen Hernandez picked off an HML pass and returned it 40 yards for a score and just before halftime, Estevez found Joshua Alexander for a 10-yard score to complete the first half scoring.

Sunset scored twice more in the third quarter, including a second pick-six by Hernandez, this one from 20 yards out to make it 31-0 heading into the final quarter.

At this point the only drama left was to see if the Trojans could finally dent the scoreboard. After being outscored 361-0 to that point, it finally happened with eight minutes left, when the Trojans made a quarterback change and it turned out to be a great one.

James Grant took off around the left side on a quarterback option, broke one tackle, juked another Sunset defender and it was off to the races down the sideline for a 63-yard touchdown prompting a wild celebration among HML players and coaches.

The Knights added one final touchdown with four minutes left to complete the scoring.

MORE SCORES

North Miami Beach 24, Hialeah American 18 (OT)

This story was originally published November 1, 2023 at 9:32 PM.