Central sends message to state’s elite with comeback win vs. American Heritage
Miami Central is making its case to be considered among the elite teams in the state.
The Rockets reinforced that on Friday night with an impressive 31-21 comeback win at American Heritage.
Anthony McQueen connected on two second-half touchdown passes to Joshua Joseph, and the quarterback rushed for a touchdown in the statement win.
Central (3-0) overcame a 21-9 deficit in the second half, and scored the final 21 points.
Entering the game, the Rockets were ranked sixth in the state in the MaxPreps rankings, while Heritage was rated fourth.
“We’re only going to get better,” Joseph said.
As Central celebrated a thrilling road win, Heritage (1-3) suffered its third straight loss. In all three, the Patriots led in the second half.
In terms of the bigger picture, the Patriots are moving forward without star quarterback Dia Bell, who announced on social media that he had a minor medical procedure and will not play the rest of the season.
The 5-star Texas commit is expected to enroll with the Longhorns in January.
It didn’t take long for the Patriots to find Bell’s replacement. Former Northwestern quarterback Leon Strawder transferred in to Heritage, and with only a couple of practices with his new team, he has taken over at quarterback.
“We’re fighting a ton of adversity right now,” Heritage coach Mike Smith said. “We’re going to find out who we are moving forward. The kids have battled in all the games. It’s just we can’t finish right now. We’ve got to figure that part out … how to finish.”
Both teams were sluggish in a penalty-filled first half.
Heritage started the scoring off with Strawder hooking up with Coi Jean-Noel on a 60-yard touchdown pass, making it 7-0 late in the first quarter.
It was more of the same in the second quarter, with penalties and punts providing much of the action. But late in the quarter, a Central punt by Cole Rodriguez backed the Patriots up at their 7-yard line.
On third down at the 3, defensive lineman Cameron Mccrea sacked Strawder in the end zone for a safety.
On the ensuing kickoff, speedy Jayden Ford made a dazzling return of 70 yards for a touchdown. Rodriguez’s extra point gave the Rockets a 9-7 lead with 1:46 remaining in the half.
Heritage responded and went into halftime leading, 14-9, on Strawder’s 22-yard scoring strike to Jamar Denson.
Early in the third quarter, Heritage regained momentum, with Isaac Tanis forcing a fumble, which the Patriots recovered deep in Rockets’ territory.
Strawder’s 7-yard touchdown run gave the Patriots a 21-9 lead halfway through the third quarter.
But the Rockets’ big-play capabilities sparked the comeback.
On a third-and-12 situation, McQueen threw a perfect strike to Joseph, who split the secondary and dashed 76-yards for a score that gave the Rockets’ plenty of momentum.
“They say big time players make big-time plays in the game,” Joseph said.
In the huddle, Joseph told McQueen to trust him because he liked the matchup he had.
“I want to thank my defense because them boys held up,” McQueen said. “They got stop after stop and gave me another opportunity to go and put points on the board.”
Heritage’s offense suffered a big blow in the second quarter when running back Jonathan Bueno went down with an injury. He didn’t return. The offense again was without receiver Brandon Bennett as well.
“We’ve got to get some continuity with the new quarterback,” Smith said. “We’ve got to get back to work.”
Even though the outcome didn’t go the Patriots’ way, Strawder showed tremendous promise, especially considering he only had a couple of days of practice with his new team.
“The kid is a winner,” Smith said. “It’s tough when you don’t have everything in, offensively. No excuses. We’ve got to coach them up.
“[Central] has a good team. We’ve dealt with Central for years. I knew, even when we were up, 21-9, that they were going to battle and fight. They’ve got kids that continue to battle. They made the plays at the end.”
Central gained the lead for good on McQueen’s 1-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. McQueen added a run for the 2-point conversion, and the Rockets led 24-21 wit 8:35 remaining.
And the Rockets iced the game on McQueen’s 28-yard scoring pass to Joseph.
“We stayed together,” Joseph said. “Nobody gave up on each other. We talked it out. We found out what the pros and cons were, and we came out with the victory.”
This story was originally published September 20, 2025 at 5:06 AM.