Wallace’s two INTs help Miami Central football hold off upset-minded Miami Edison

Miami Central safety Amari Wallace, like many of his teammates, are students of the game.

Facing Miami Edison’s balanced offense, Wallace anticipated where to be at the right place at the right time multiple times on Friday night at Traz Powell Stadium.

And twice, Wallace picked off passes, which helped the Rockets deflate any hopes the Red Raiders had of an upset during a 31-13 victory in a Region 4-2M quarterfinal.

“Day in and day out we just go over film and see what our opponents scheme and what they’re good at,” said Wallace, a four-star 2025 recruit who is being recruited by LSU, Alabama, USC, Tennessee, Penn State.

Wallace returned his second interception of Edison quarterback Emmanuel Poitier 34 yards for a touchdown with 3:39 remaining in the fourth quarter, which closed out the scoring and capped a 10-0 surge by Central after the Red Raiders pulled within a score earlier in the quarter.

Central (8-3), which is chasing a historic fifth consecutive state championship, will next face Miami Booker T. Washington in the regional semifinals likely next Friday at Traz Powell Stadium.

The Rockets, whose three losses were all against top 20 nationally-ranked opponents (Las Vegas Bishop Gorman, Hollywood Chaminade-Madonna and Miami Norland) feel they have momentum heading into potentially the toughest part of their path to another championship.

“This is like a new season,” Wallace said. “Playoff time is win or go home and we’re not going to go home.”

Central opened the game on fire led by its running game as Jayden Ford scored on touchdown runs of 34 and 45 yards and King Davis scored from 19 yards out to give the Rockets a 21-0 edge after the first quarter.

But Edison (6-5) was not about to let Central walk through to the second round, however.

Poitier lofted a deep pass that was caught by receiver Brandon Lowe for a 65-yard touchdown just before halftime.

After neither team established much rhythm on offense in the third quarter, Edison found the end zone again when Poitier lobbed a pass into the corner of the end zone and Quincy Balkman leaped and brought it down for a 6-yard touchdown. The Red Raiders missed the extra point, but gave themselves a realistic shot at the upset.

That was until Central marched down the field and extended their advantage with a 45-yard field goal by Kristian Hobbs with 4:49 left.

Ford finished with 127 yards on 11 carries and Davis ran for 86 yards on 11 carries.