Homestead overcomes early mistakes with late offensive attack to overcome Southridge

Each spectator at Harris Field Park could feel the bass of the blasting music rattle through their body when they walked through the gates at Orange Bowl Field on Friday night. In line with this high energy tone, the hometown Homestead Broncos eventually found their rhythm to take down their rival Southridge Spartans 35-33 in a Region 4-3M semifinal.

“We’ve been on a one game approach all season, not overlooking anybody,” Homestead coach Ronnie Thornton Jr. said. “The ultimate goal is to win a state championship.”

Homestead will host Miramar next Friday at Harris Field Park. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

Homestead did not start as it would finish and trailed 10-7 at the halftime break. Big mistakes continuously hurt the Broncos chances early on. Quarterback Joshua Townsend was intercepted on a fourth-and-14 throw up the near sideline, and the Spartans turned the pass into a touchdown for themselves courtesy of defensive back Jayquan Reid.

“Short term memory. Whether you make a good play or a bad play you got to let it go. That’s why we play four quarters of football,” Thornton said, sharing what he told Townsend after his interception. “He bought into that, put it behind him and continued to play the game.”

A force all night, Broncos (10-1) halfback Issac Brown still finished with 121 rushing yards and a touchdown despite having two kickoff return touchdowns taken off the board.

“He’s special,” Thornton said. “In these type of moments he’s a kid that demands the ball. He wants to put the ball, put the game on his shoulders. That’s just who he is.”

When push came to shove, Southridge (7-5) failed to fade away. The Spartans dropped 48 points on Hialeah last week but failed to score an offensive touchdown until the second half. Trailing by nine in a cloud of smoke from the concession stand barbecue, Southridge quarterback James Perrone threw touchdowns on back-to-back fourth quarter drives to keep his team in the game.

Perrone finished with three touchdowns and one interception.

“Defensively, we struggled a little bit,” Thornton said. “It was a team win more than anything.”

Homestead reached the state championship game last season but saw its hopes of the title dashed by St. Thomas Aquinas. The blue and orange colored squad now advances to the third round of the playoffs with its only loss coming to Palmetto (13-12) on August 25.

“This was a testament to the type of team and the type of players that we have,” Thornton said. “We knew that they would come in and fight and play well and they did that. But, we were able to prevail and stick together and come out with the W.”