Southridge routs West Broward, advances to state semis behind Perrone’s 5 TD passes

One week after winning a down-to-the-wire dogfight against Coconut Creek Monarch, there would be very little drama on Friday night for the Miami Southridge football team.

Hosting a Pembroke Pines West Broward team enjoying a breakout season, the Bobcats proved no match for Southridge as the Spartans, led by a sensational performance by quarterback James Perrone, put a decisive 51-21 beatdown on them in the Region 4-6A final at Southridge Park.

The win advances Southridge, the top seed in its region, to its first state semifinal appearance since 2016 (when the Spartans won their third state title). Southridge will travel to face West Boca Raton in a Class 6A state semi next Friday at 7 p.m.

“We came in fairly healthy and really locked in tonight,” said Southridge coach Pierre Senatus who took over a struggling program three years ago and has returned “the Ridge” to prominence once again.

“We had great execution all week in practice and it carried over to tonight. No distractions, great focus, I think there is a maturity and growth happening throughout the course of the program, you saw that with the execution out there tonight.”

There were plenty of big performances by the Spartans (11-2) on this night but none bigger than Perrone. The sophomore quarterback lit up the night air with footballs as he completed 17-of-24 passes for a whopping 354 yards and five touchdowns.

“Just a great night for everybody and I was glad to do my part,” Perrone said. “It’s great to have great team like this – we work hard together and now we’re seeing all of that hard work pay off.”

Perrone tossed a pair of first half touchdown passes, one to Samuel Coleman from 24 yards out and then James Gatewood from 23 yards just before halftime to stake Southridge to a 30-7 lead at the break.

But that was only a warmup. Perrone completed only six passes in the second half (after going 11-of-17 for 182 in the first half) but three of those were long distance scores to Jakari Johnson, Gatewood and Jaccari Lanigan for 69, 54 and 34 yards respectively. The toss to Lanigan came early in the fourth quarter to push the Spartan lead to 51-14 and get the running clock going.

“He had so much physical ability to begin with, now he has developed the ability to process, read defenses, understand coverages and know his protection,” said Senatus of his star quarterback. “He makes all the right decisions and the right throws – the game has really slowed down so much for him now.”

Southridge got Perrone a 9-0 lead before he ever even stepped on to the field.

After West Broward went nowhere on the opening possession, Joshua McDowell broke through and blocked the punt. He tried desperately to chase down the ball before it rolled out the back of the end zone but didn’t get there in time so it was a safety and 2-0 lead.

Darius Clements then took the ensuing kick and raced 73 yards down the far sideline for a score and it was 9-0 less than four minutes into the game.

After a Bobcat three-and-out, Perrone took the field for the first time and moved his team 65 yards in just six plays, tossing the 24 yarder to Coleman to make it 16-0 with 3:53 left in the first.

West Broward, which was making a first-ever regional final appearance, hung tough for awhile as quarterback Tyler Shattuck led his team on a 57-yard, eight play scoring drive, tossing a 12-yard touchdown in the corner to a leaping Josh Moore to make it 16-7.

The Bobcat defense even forced a Southridge punt (the only one of the night) following the score but could do nothing with their next possession. Perrone then took over at his own 16 and drove his team 84 yards in 12 plays with McDowell scoring from a yard out to make it 23-7 with 4:02 left in the half.

Coleman, who also plays defensive back, then picked off Shattuck on the next series giving the Spartans a short field and setting the stage for Perrone’s 23-yard scoring toss to Gatewood 45 seconds before halftime pretty much ending the issue.

“Everybody was just focused and locked in tonight,” Perrone said. “We just went out there and executed. This is really cool, we’re ready to win it all.”

Said Senatus: “Hats off to West Broward, they had a great great year, they just caught us on a good night tonight. All the cards fell our way.”

This story was originally published November 30, 2024 at 2:39 AM.