Miami Hurricanes WR commit shines at quarterback to lead Heritage to rout of Norland
Dia Bell sat quietly on a bench behind the Patriots’ end zone on Friday night.
Headphones on, with a pair of crutches in his grasp, and his right leg outstretched and covered in a hard cast, Bell stared at the field where his teammates warmed up for their highly-anticipated rematch with Miami Norland.
As the players finished and headed to the locker room, they each walked up to Bell and made a point to shake his hand, give him a quick hug and offer words of encouragement.
Heritage wanted its injured starting quarterback to know they would be alright.
The Patriots, who have no shortage of inspiration or motivation these days, were more than that.
They were fantastic.
A major reason?
Bell’s substitute at the position - senior wide receiver and University of Miami commit Malachi Toney, who spent most of his youth football days as a quarterback.
Toney showed everyone how seamless transitioning back to that position was for him and the Patriots offense as he accounted for four touchdowns (three passing and one rushing) in Heritage’s 35-14 rout over Norland in the Region 4-4A final.
“I just kept my poise back there and not get too high or too low,” said Toney, who finished with over 100 yards rushing and over 150 passing. “(Bell) is QB1 and we had to show him some love. He’s going through a tough time. Some people probably had doubts about us because he wasn’t playing, but we had to stick together.”
American Heritage (10-2) advanced to its third consecutive state semifinal and will host St. Augustine next Friday. A win would vault them into their second state championship game in three seasons. Two more wins would deliver their first state title since 2020 and sixth overall.
Bell, a four-star Texas commit, isn’t expected to be able to play again for what’s left of this season after injuring his right leg in last week’s regional semifinal win over Fort Lauderdale Dillard.
But performances like Friday’s showed that a resilient Heritage squad, which just navigated the toughest schedule of any team in the state, has all the pieces it needs to accomplish its goal.
“These guys just keep playing and I love this team,” American Heritage coach Mike Smith said. “When you lose games, you can lose the locker room really quick. But this team has been through a lot and they never quit. (Toney) had that fumble as a sophomore in the state title game against Central and that’s stuck with him. You have to go through a lot of adversity to get to this point where they’re just mentally tough.”
Tied at halftime at 14, Heritage opened the second half with a methodical seven-minute, 30-second, 75-yard drive which ended with Toney running to his left before reversing field and racing to the corner of the end zone for a 5-yard go-ahead score.
The Patriots’ defense took over from that point on, shutting out the Vikings’ potent offense. A loss on downs on Norland’s ensuing drive allowed Heritage to add to its lead when Toney hit Brandon Bennett deep over the middle for a 36-yard touchdown with 11:02 left in the fourth quarter.
Senior Jordan Louis then recovered a fumble by Norland receiver Dawson Quarterman, which led to Florida commit Byron Louis scoring from 1 yard out to put the game out of reach.
Norland (9-3) came up painfully short in its bid to win its first state title since 2011 after losing in the state final last season. The loss meant the end of a brilliant career for Vikings’ starting quarterback Ennio Yapoor, who set the Miami-Dade County passing yardage mark.
Yapoor did more damage on the ground than through the air, rushing for 120 yards and a touchdown. But 91 of those yards came in the first half as Heritage’s defense sacked Yapoor three times and stifled any rhythm Norland had on offense.
Xavier Thomas also recovered a fumble and had several key tackles in the game. Dylan Bennett registered the final sack of Yapoor with 3:07 left ending any last-ditch hopes of a comeback.
“We’ve dealt with everything this year from the losses (early) to Malachi losing his aunt earlier this season to (Heritage alum) Mark Fletcher losing his father so we’ve gone through all this and now we lose Dia,” Smith said. “These guys just keep going.”
This story was originally published November 30, 2024 at 1:05 AM.
