West Broward football stuns Southridge on late TD to advance to first state semi

West Broward’s football team might have been thinking “here we go again” on Friday night at Miami Southridge.

Nearly a year to the day after being routed, 51-21, by the host Spartans in the Region 4-6A final, the Bobcats were being completely dominated after one quarter.

But now a year older and perhaps a year wiser, West Broward tapped in on its experience and never flinched.

The No. 2 seeded Bobcats battled back, and after falling behind with a little over a minute left, scored the winning touchdown with 21 seconds left to stun top-seeded Southridge, 30-27, in this year’s Region 4-6A final.

“These kids are a special bunch, what an effort out there tonight,” West Broward coach Brian McCartney said. “They were not going to let what happened last year repeat itself. To get down early the way we did and be able to keep our poise and fight back shows you just how much they learned from last year and have grown as a team.”

McCartney and his players, who have won 11 straight games since losing their opening two games of the season to out-of-state teams, advanced to the state semifinal round for the first time.

But if the Bobcats thought Friday night’s upset was big, they might have an even bigger hurdle next week.

While nothing will be official until after Saturday’s Central-Northwestern Region 4-3A showdown at Traz Powell Stadium, it appears the Bobcats will be the No. 4 seed among the final four teams in Class 6A and have to travel to Gainesville next week to take on the state’s top 6A team, Buchholz in a state semifinal.

But West Broward players could’ve cared less about what was next when the game was over.

They just danced around and celebrated the program’s biggest win ever, and a win that came in most dramatic fashion.

Leading 23-14 with only 8:30 left in the game following a highlight reel 20-yard touchdown run by running back Daquon Adderly, things looked good. Until they didn’t.

Led by quarterback and USF commit James Perrone, Southridge rallied. First came a 29-yard Perrone-to-Jahkari Johnson touchdown with 5:27 left. Then, after Marquis Williams picked off a Brandon Mincy pass giving the Spartans the ball back at their own 30 with 3:15 to play, Perrone led his team downfield again.

On third-and-five from the West Broward 41, he tossed a swing pass in the left flat to Johnson who then broke free from two would-be Bobcat tacklers and sprinted down the sideline for a touchdown putting the Spartans ahead 27-23 with 1:21 left in the game following a failed two-point conversion attempt.

But, thanks to Amir Sears, West Broward had some magic left. Sears took the ensuing kickoff, found a big gap in the left side and took off on a 59-yard return to the Southridge 29.

“My coaches always tell me, whenever we see them run to one side, if we see something open up then just hit that hole,” Sears said. “I saw them all drift toward the right side of the field and everything opened up to the left so I just took off.”

Two Bobcat rushing plays netted 16 yards before Mincy found freshman Kedarius Rainey on a slant pass for 12 yards putting the ball inside the one-yard line as McCartney burned his last timeout with 25 seconds left.

Behind McCartney’s pride and joy, a big offensive line, Mincy surged into the end zone on a quarterback sneak for the game-winner.

But not without one final moment of angst for West Broward.

When the Bobcats were flagged for a little bit of over-celebrating following the score, they were forced to kick off from their own 20. Johnson took the short squib kick at his own 40 and returned it 18 yards to the WB 42 with 12 seconds left. Two plays netted seven yards to the 35 where Southridge coach Pierre Senatus, rather than try a Hail Mary throw to the end zone, sent his kicker Michael Quinones out to try a 52-yard field goal that came up well short.

“We just kept fighting, that’s all I can say,” said Mincy who completed 12-of-21 passes for 198 yards and one touchdown. “We were down early and everybody probably counted us out, but we went out there and balled tonight, that’s how things roll around here with this team. We stick together and have each other’s backs and that paid off tonight.”

Led by Perrone, who had a huge night completing 26-of-37 passes for 344 yards and three touchdowns, the Spartans (11-2) got off to a dream start, scoring on their opening possession on a 2-yard Travis Gamble touchdown and, facing 4th and 13, a 33-yard Perrone-to-Isiah Perisian scoring pass on their second possession to take a 14-0 lead after one quarter.

West Broward managed to stem the early momentum in the second quarter with a 32-yard Trace Poncev field goal 3:15 before halftime and then, after forcing a quick three-and-out followed by a short punt, drove 45 yards in just five plays (aided by a 15-yard face mask penalty) where Mincy found Izaiah Lopez for a three yard score with 48 seconds left to cut their deficit to 14-10 at the break.

The Bobcats took that momentum and parlayed it into a 63-yard, 8-play drive to open the second half, Lopez going over from two yards out to give West Broward a 16-14 following a botched extra point on a bad snap.

The Spartans had a chance to take the lead with 9:55 left on a 35-yard Quinones field goal attempt that never happened when a high snap was recovered by West Broward. The Bobcats then drove 70 yards in just six plays when Adderly, who finished his night with 73 yards on 11 carries, turned in his highlight reel 20-yard score, breaking at least a half dozen tackles before carrying a Southridge defensive back into the end zone with him. Poncev’s PAT made it a two possession game setting the stage for the wild finish.