Miami Norland football edges Plantation to improve playoff seeding in Class 4A

Miami Norland held off Plantation for a 35-34 victory on Friday night at PAL Field in a game with potential implications toward each team’s playoff seeding.

The Vikings’ deciding touchdown came with some trickery with 3:54 left in the third quarter.

Junior quarterback Kai Moore tossed a backwards pass to sophomore wide receiver Armani Strong, who threw a deep pass to a wide-open Jaden Daniels for a 64-yard touchdown that gave Norland a 35-28 lead.

Norland (5-5, 1-2 in District 15-4A), which entered the game as the No. 6 seed in Region 4-4A, solidified its playoff spot and may have done enough to leapfrog No. 5 seed Plantation (5-4, 1-2) when the new FHSAA rankings come out this week.

“This was a big win for us,” said Norland coach Horane Allison, who took over head coaching duties last week after former coach Tyronn Johnson was dismissed from that position for undisclosed reasons. “This was a program-changing win. We made the change on Monday as far as the head coach goes. Because of that we had to reestablish ourselves as Norland High as we know ourselves to be.”

Moore finished his night with 267 yards passing, completing 22 of 27 attempts.

The Vikings had trailed 21-14 at the half before scoring 21 points in the third quarter.

They tied the score at 21-21 on the opening possession of the third quarter following a Kevin Peeples four-yard run. That was followed by an 80-yard punt return by Peeples.

With the fourth quarter winding down the Colonels closed a 14-point deficit following a 53-yard touchdown run by quarterback Zakari Johnson with 3:12 to go.

Plantation forced Norland to punt, getting the back with 2:10 to play. After a series of penalties assessed to Norland, the Colonels scored again on an eight-yard scoring pass by Johson to wide receiver Desmond Christian.

Plantation coach Darrell Strong decided to go for the victory with a two-point conversion attempt, but the pass was dropped.

“I liked out odds going for two points, feeling the ball was in our hands,” Strong said. “I made the decision. After losing tonight we don’t control our destiny. Now we’ll get ready for South Plantation and see how things fall.”

Norland took the lead at 7-0 with 5:34 left in the opening quarter following a 28-yard scoring pass from Moore to running back Maurice Clark for a 7-0 lead.

Plantation answered on its following possession as Johnson connected with Christian for an 11-yard scoring pass with 36.4 seconds left in the first quarter. The extra point was blocked.

Norland regained the lead on a 1-yard run through the center of the offensive line by Rashad Wallace for a 14-6 lead.

The Colonels rallied with a pair of touchdowns for before half.

Johnson scored a 22-yard run and Jemari Foreman returned an interception 80 yards with 31.4 second left in the half for a 21-14 lead at the break.