Chaminade-Madonna blows out Florida High, cruises into sixth straight state title game
All season long, they’ve basically dominated their opponents from start to finish. So why would anything have been any different Friday for the Chaminade-Madonna Lions?
Hosting Tallahassee Florida State University in a Class 3A semifinal at Chaminade-Madonna College Preparatory School, the Lions ran the show from the start of the second quarter on and cruised to a dominating 38-3 victory.
The win sends the Lions (10-1) to their sixth consecutive state championship game. They’ll face Tampa Berkeley Prep next Friday at Gene Cox Stadium in Tallahassee.
Chaminade is only the third team in state history to make it to six consecutive state title games, joining Glades Day (1982-88) and Pahokee (2003-08).
The Lions will also look for redemption from a year ago when they were less than a minute away from becoming the first Broward County team to win four consecutive state titles before Jacksonville Trinity Christian Academy scored with 30 seconds left to crush their dream.
“Six in a row now and it never gets old,” coach Dameon Jones said. “I really feel blessed. I’ve got great coaches, great kids, great administration and to do something like this six times in a row is really something, but we all know we have to finish the deal this time. I’ve been reminding all of the kids since the playoffs started to not forget how we felt last year when we saw it all slip away in that last minute and all of that crying that went on in the locker room after the game.”
On Friday, Florida High battled Chaminade-Madonna to a scoreless first quarter, but it was just a matter of time for the Lions’ offense, led by quarterback Cedric Bailey, to get going. Facing a second-and-23 at the Seminoles’ 40, Bailey dropped back on the first play of the second quarter and found Edwin Joseph for 38 yards down to the 2. Running back Davion Gause scored on the next play to put Chaminade-Madonna ahead 7-0.
After the Lions defense got a three-and-out, it took Bailey just one play to find the end zone when he dropped back and found a star wide receiver Jeremiah Smith for a 57-yard score to make it 14-0. Bailey wasn’t done: After one more three-and-out, he hit Smith again for a 12-yard touchdown to give the Lions a 21-0 lead with 7:41 left in the half.
“It was a great night, we had fun out there,” said Bailey, who finished 11 of 18 for 229 yards and two touchdowns. “We practiced hard during the week and came tonight with a great game plan, and just went out there and executed.”
Florida High (12-2) put up its only points of the night when Brooks Hickman kicked a 36-yard field goal as time expired in the first half, but the Lions quickly squashed any momentum the Seminoles hoped to build.
The Lions took their second possession of the second half and rolled 55 yards in eight plays with Gause doing most of the damage, carrying the ball six times before he finished things off with a 1-yard plunge into the end zone.
“We got off to a little bit of a slow start because it’s the game to go to state, so you have to figure that your opponent is going to come out with a lot of energy but eventually we managed to just wear them down,” said Gause, who finished his night with 102 yards on 19 carries and two scores. “Last year is still etched in our minds and now we want to go up there and get things right and hopefully lead this team to a state championship.”
Chaminade-Madonna scored once more on its next drive when Bailey completed a 43-yard pass to Smith then ran for a 5-yard touchdown to make it 35-3 at the start of the fourth quarter. The Lions got a running clock started with 5:40 left on a chip-shot field goal.
“Shutting down teams cold is always our objective, but I went up against them as a sophomore two years ago in the championship game and knew they might try and come out strong,” said star defensive lineman Jamaal Johnson, who had a sack and six tackles. “We learned from our mistakes last year and have a good mind set going up there this time. One game at a time in the playoffs, one more left.”
This story was originally published December 3, 2021 at 11:46 PM.
