Defense, gutsy play by QB Belfort, propels Western over Palmetto and to regional final

As if he doesn’t do enough as his team’s quarterback, Western’s Davi Belfort can play some serious defense as well.

Having just made his only poor pass of the night, Belfort watched Palmetto’s Lawrence Johnson take off on what would’ve been a 100-yard pick six which would’ve given the Panthers a lead late in the third quarter. But the Virginia Tech commit wasn’t about to let that happen as he managed to chase Johnson down 15 yards short of the goal line.

Five plays later Palmetto fumbled into the end zone and Western recovered.

The key swing moment turned out to be huge for Western to hang on for a 19-9 victory over the Panthers in a Region 4-4M semifinal on Friday night at Tropical Park.

The Wildcats (8-3) will return to Tropical next Friday to take on No. 1 seed Columbus in a Region 4-4M final at a time to be determined.

It will mark their third-ever appearance in a region final for Western and its first since 2019.

“The only thing that was going through my mind was stop him and don’t let him get to the end zone and I did just that,” Belfort said. “Shout out to our defense holding them after that.”

Following the fumble recovery, Belfort then led the Wildcats on their longest drive of the night, a 14-play, 80 yard march capped off by Koby Howard’s 2-yard touchdown run from the Wildcat formation to put Western up 13-3 with 9:59 left in the game. But it came with a cost. One play before Belfort took off on an 18 yard quarterback keeper around the right side but injured himself on the play. He was helped off the field and Howard finished the game simply running the ball from the Wildcat or handing it off.

Belfort confirmed that he had suffered a high ankle sprain but that it wasn’t going to slow him down.

“Columbus next week? I don’t care what it takes,” Belfort said. “I’m going to be on that field.”

The Western defense, as it had done all night, never allowed the Panthers offense to go anywhere. Soon after Zyon Pressley picked off a Lucas Goenaga pass and returned it to the Palmetto 23. Not long after that, Howard was in the end zone again, this time from seven yards out and it was 19-3 as Western players started an early celebration.

Only a fluke 85-yard Goenaga to Lamarcuse Taylor Hail Mary-style touchdown pass with 49 seconds left made the score look a little closer.

Ironically, the Panthers (8-3) totaled more yards on that play than the 72 they had accumulated the entire game up to that point. Perhaps it was only fitting that the Tropical Park scoreboard read “Palmett” with the “o” missing because there was very little offense from the Panthers on this night.

“That’s a darn good football team and our guys found a way to win,” Western coach Adam Ratkevich said. “Our defense played great.”