Chaminade’s loaded secondary looks for redemption — and history — after 2020 heartbreak
Brian Dilworth made no bones about it when asked.
“I had nightmares for a while,” the star cornerback said, “and it’s tough to look back on even now.”
It was the Class 3A championship — specifically, Jacksonville Trinity Christian Academy’s drive — and Chaminade-Madonna was less than two minutes from becoming the first team in Broward County history, and the sixth in the state, to win four consecutive state titles. All the Lions needed was one final stop. Just one big play — anything to get a stop — and history was theirs.
With 48 seconds left, Trinity Christian Academy quarterback Ja’Cory Jordan found star wide receiver Marcus Burke for a 26-yard touchdown on fourth down. Dilworth had an up-close view of everything and one play, in particular, still haunts him. A few plays earlier, Dilworth got his hands on a pass by Jordan and couldn’t hang on.
“Man, that was really tough, and to think I had my hands on the ball and could’ve had a pick on that last drive — that’s something that’s been tough to deal with,” Dilworth said. “I don’t know how many times I’ve relived that play. If I catch that ball, we win the state title, and that’s something that’s been tough to process.”
The only thing Dilworth can take solace in is that it wasn’t his last game. He came into his senior season determined to make amends for how 2020 ended.
“We know what it takes to get back there, and this is my last year and I want to take it out by winning another state title,” said Dilworth, who has nearly 20 scholarship offers. “We know we’re good enough to do it, but it starts with the first game and you can’t look beyond that.”
Maybe the only person whom the final drive was tougher on was defensive back Ryan Turner: The star cornerback, who orally committed to the Ohio State Buckeyes in May, wasn’t even on the field. He had started to cramp up at the end of the third quarter and when he tried to come back in, it was hopeless. His legs wouldn’t cooperate.
“That was really, really tough — so frustrating,” Turner said. “I felt great at the start of second half and then, a couple plays in, I started cramping. I tried to push through it, but eventually I couldn’t even stand up. To have to sit there and watch that last drive knowing I couldn’t help my teammates was the most helpless and frustrating feeling I had ever had to deal with.”
Like Dilworth, now all Turner can think about is trying to get back to that title game and find a way to come out on top this time.
“It’s definitely on my mind every day because I feel like with us having won states the previous three years that we were the ones responsible for allowing that streak to end,” he said. “This being my senior year, I want to get back there and right a wrong. We’ve got almost our whole defense back, so we’re coming after it.”
Dilworth, Turner and their Chaminade teammates are heavy favorites once again to make it back to the 3A state championship game for a sixth consecutive time.
Should they do it, the Lions would become the third team in state history to make at least six consecutive appearances in the title game, joining Glades Day and Pahokee.
They come in to the 2021 season ranked No. 7 in the state by MaxPreps and No. 1 in 3A. They also no longer will have Trinity Christian in their way as Conquerors moved down to Class 2A.
“That loss — it’s bulletin board material now,” said coach Dameon Jones, who has guided Chaminade-Madonna to the title game in each of his first five seasons in Hollywood. “You have to try and use it for motivation. At the end of the day, you can’t win them all, and you use losses to try and get better, and we’ll use that Trinity Christian game to get better. We didn’t play well enough to win that night, so you learn to move on.”
As far as the opportunity to reach rarefied air and make it to a sixth straight championship game, Jones didn’t hesitate with his thoughts.
“Championship games — that’s a high bar we set around here now, for sure, and make no mistake about it: It’s hard to do,” he said. “I guess we’ve made it look pretty easy the last five years, but it’s a tough thing to do and while we’re proud of what we’ve accomplished, all of that’s in the past around here, and we have to work to just focus on the future and pushing forward. None of what we did the last five years helps us this season.”
This story was originally published August 26, 2021 at 3:16 PM.
