Despite forfeits, Western football team solidifies playoff berth by routing West Broward

Record? Irrelevant.

Seed? Anything eighth or better is fine with Western coach Adam Ratkevich, whose Western High team didn’t do anything the easy way this season.

So why should their path to a possible state championship be any different?

All that matters at this point is the Wildcats have a ticket, which they punched Friday night with a 35-10 statement win against a district-champion West Broward team on the Bobcats’ senior night.

Western’s season took a few detours -- including two wins turned into losses by the FHSAA due to the improper use of two transfers -- but the important thing is the ‘Cats are in the 7A field.

And they have their sights set firmly on Columbus, the two-time defending state champions that, because of the punishment handed down by the sport’s governing body, could be Western’s opening round opponent.

“First round, third round doesn’t matter,” Western defensive lineman Lakota Tanner said. “We’re gonna come out and play. It’s gonna be a game. If you play like this, you think you can beat anybody. We can go all the way to states.”

They’ll need to be road warriors to do so.

Heading into Friday’s showdown, Western was basically assured at least Class 7A’s eighth and final Region 4 spot. It was highly unlikely that, even with a loss, the Wildcats would have been caught in the state power rankings by Coral Gables.

But with its regular season-ending win against a seven-win 6A West Broward team, Western might have earned enough points to avoid the Explorers in the postseason’s first round.

The Wildcats were within shouting distance of Boca Raton Spanish River for the seventh seed in the rankings entering the weekend. It’s entirely possible that they caught the Sharks with Friday’s result.

Of course, none of this seemed remotely relevant after Western beat West Boca and Goleman earlier this month.

But that was before the FHSAA determined Western had two ineligible players — Damani Downs and Jack Sawyer — play in those games.

Downs and Sawyer transferred to Western after participating for another school earlier in the season, but were ineligible to play this school year since they had not met the county’s good cause policy, according to the FHSAA.

After Friday’s game, Ratkevich sounded off on the process -- and the rivals who he suggested tried to sabotage his team’s season.

“The simple answer is there was a clerical error with two guys that I was told was clear, from a paperwork, physical standpoint, but they were transfers and the final paper didn’t go to the state,” Ratkevich said. “And not to over-talk it, but to make it very clear, many high school coaches in our county have been sanctioned and fined. You get strikes. The football team nor myself got a strike or a sanction. The school got fined $3,000 for a clerical paperwork error.

“Two young men got their season screwed over because, quite frankly, some guys out there that are rats were trying to hurt kids in my program and nothing they accused us of was found. But there was a paperwork error that ended up unfortunately hurting some young men.”

Because of that punishment, Western (officially 4-6 with the forfeits) was stripped of its district title and automatic playoff berth. But anyone who watched the Wildcats play Friday knows they’re one of the best sub-.500 teams in the nation.

The defense has always been solid. And now the offense is finally hitting its stride. Sophomore running back Jonathan Bueno was a monster, totaling 128 yards from scrimmage and three touchdowns on just five offensive touches Friday.

Two of quarterback Sebastian Circo’s five passes went for touchdowns, as did one of his four carries. Their stats would have been even better had Ratkevich not pulled them from the blowout early in the third quarter.

“This is the best night we’ve had,” Bueno said. “Finally, this is what we’ve been waiting for it to look like.”

Added Circo: “When we got both the pass game and the run game going. It’s pretty hard to stop us.”