Reserve QB helps Cardinal Gibbons edge Carol City in first-round playoff game
Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons has a regional semifinal date with Booker T. Washington because the Chiefs’ unlikeliest of heroes made the unlikeliest of plays.
Super sophomore Cody Conness went from backup to baller in a heartbeat, leading Gibbons on a storybook game-winning drive to beat Class 2A foe Miami Carol City 17-14 in a Region 4-2A quarterfinal Friday night.
Conness stepped in for injured starting quarterback Jayden Torres on Cardinal Gibbons’ final drive, making a series of clutch throws to set up Brent Fardette III’s 40-yard game-winning field goal with two seconds left.
The biggest throw of the game and Conness’ life? His backfoot heave on third-and-18 from the Gibbons 35 that somehow found Trent Dubuc for 25 yards.
Conness completed all five of his non-spike attempts for 49 yards on that final possession, but the one everyone will remember was his miracle seam shot to Dubuc in the face of heavy pressure.
“I dreamed about this moment,” Conness said. “I prayed for this moment. And before the game, I just said, you know, whenever I get a chance, I just got to step in and do my job. That’s what I tried to do tonight.”
The view from the heartbroken visiting sideline?
“It was a lucky throw,” Carol City coach George Stubbs said. “We got to the quarterback, he threw up a prayer. God answered, It is what it is, man. God chose who he wanted to win on that play right there. So, hey, whatever the big man upstairs want, you gotta get it.”
The Carol City Chiefs (who finished 7-4 in Stubbs’ first year as coach) had to like their chances when Torres left the game with what appeared to be a significant injury on the first play of that drive.
But Carol City couldn’t capitalize on its many gifts from Gibbons, which advanced Friday despite committing a staggering 19 penalties for 172 yards.
The District 13-2A champs -- who got two touchdowns out of senior Jonathan Chalmers in a winning effort -- only needed Conness’ heroics because they basically handed Carol City a game-tying score the possession before.
Gibbons coach Matt DuBuc (Trent’s dad) elected to go for it on fourth-and-1 from their own 40 up 14-7 with five and a half minutes left.
The host Chiefs (7-4) dialed up a run, but Donte Findeson was stuffed short of the sticks.
That gave the Carol City Chiefs (confusing, we know) a very short field, which they cashed in with a two-yard touchdown run by Demetrius Bronson Jr.
There’s a lot of what-ifs when a game comes down to the final play. But the biggest hypothetical Friday is what the outcome would have been had Carol City not waited so long to insert senior quarterback Randy Phillips, who was benched for freshman Alex Britton for the first quarter and a half.
Carol City’s two touchdowns came with Phillips in the game.
“[Britton] wasn’t ready right now,” Stubbs said. “You know what I mean? But I put my guy [Phillips] in, my guy did his thing like always.”
“We have our ups and downs where we have to do discipline sometimes,” Stubbs continued. “You know what I mean? ... When we had to put our veteran in, he led us like he has been doing all season.”
The future at Carol City is bright. As for Cardinal Gibbons’ present? Check back against Booker T. next week.