Chaminade blows 16-point lead, falls on last-minute TD to Trinity Christian in title game
Hollywood Chaminade-Madonna was one play away from history. Even after blowing a 16-point halftime lead, Chaminade-Madonna was back ahead in the final minute after staging one final drive of its own to take the lead on Jacksonville Trinity Christian Academy. All the Lions needed was one more stop on fourth down and they’d win a fourth straight state championship.
Jacory Jordan set his sights on the obvious target. Six minutes earlier, Marcus Burke got a go-ahead 51-yard touchdown to complete Trinity Christian Academy’s first comeback. With 48 seconds left, Jordan and Burke connected for a 26-yard touchdown to complete another and stun Chaminade-Madonna with a 25-22 win in the Class 3A championship.
“Defensively,” coach Dameon Jones said, “we just had a few breakdowns.”
The Lions (8-2) falls one win short matching the Florida High School Athletic Association record for consecutive state titles. The Conquerors (12-1) win their eighth to move into a tie for third all-time.
For Chaminade-Madonna, there was never enough offense Wednesday and the defense couldn’t sustain its dominant first-half play for a full 48 minutes.
Burke, who caught just three passes for 30 yards in the half, exploded in the second half to finish with seven catches for 144 yards and two touchdowns. Trinity Christian, after being shut out for the entire first half, opened the third quarter with a nine-play, 61-yard touchdown drive and the comeback was on in Tallahassee.
The Lions went three-and-out on each of their first three drives in the second half and totaled just 14 yards. The Conquerors scored 17 unanswered to take a 17-16 lead with 6:56 remaining at Doak Campbell Stadium.
“Our coach told us there was going to be ups and downs,” said Jordan, who’s orally committed to the Bowling Green Falcons. “We’re always going to face adversity.”
In the first half, Trinity Christian couldn’t stop Chaminade-Madonna’s defensive line. In those first two quarters, the Lions unloaded for three sacks and four tackles for loss. They scored their first points on a safety when the Conquerors botched a snap on a punt attempt, and then they scored one of their two first-half touchdowns when linebacker Dylan Reid stripped Jordan and raced 55 yards into the end zone to put Chaminade-Madonna ahead 16-0.
Thad Franklin, who signed a national letter of intent with the Miami Hurricanes earlier Wednesday, scored the only offensive points of the half, and finished with the Lions’ only two, plus nearly half of their total yards. The star running back logged 106 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries. The rest of his teammates combined for just 111 yards.
In the fourth quarter, he nearly willed them to victory.
Across the second and third quarters, Chaminade-Madonna totaled just 28 yards, so the Lions went back to basics the game on the line. With 78 yards to go and the championship on the line, Chaminade Madonna ran Franklin six times for 28 yards and fellow running back Davion Gause three times for 20 yards. The Lions only asked struggling quarterback Jaylon Tolbert, who signed with the FCS Howard Bison on Wednesday, to attempt two passes and he completed both to Michael Edwards for a total of 32 yards. With 3:03 left, Franklin took a direct snap at Trinity Christian’s 1-yard line and punched in the go-ahead touchdown.
It was too much time left. The Conquerors raced across midfield and inside Chaminade-Madonna’s 30 before they started to stall. On third down, star cornerback Brian Dilworth, who’s committed to the Auburn Tigers, nearly intercepted Jordan to end the game. On fourth-and-7, Jordan fired up one final pass to his No. 1 receiver and Burke, who signed with the Florida Gators on Wednesday, won his team a championship.
The Lions’ final drive ended with a sack as time expired. Chaminade-Madonna’s chance to make history was gone.
“That’s a good football team,” Jones said. “They made adjustments, we made adjustments, they made the last adjustment. We’ve got to give it to them.”
This story was originally published December 16, 2020 at 10:37 PM.
