Chaminade leaves no doubt who the best is on way to another state title threepeat
Dameon Jones remembers a time when people in football circles didn’t automatically recognize the name Hollywood Chaminade-Madonna.
Eight years later, the Lions have evolved into the No. 2-ranked team in the country and are vying for a mythical national championship.
They’re a team so talented, they can put games away in a matter of minutes.
By the second quarter on Thursday morning as Chaminade was only two scores into dismantling Clearwater Central Catholic in the Class 1M state final, some of their players were posing for photos on the sidelines.
The Lions left no doubt who the best in the state and arguably the nation was after rolling a fellow unbeaten Marauders squad 56-0 to clinch their third consecutive state title and second threepeat in the past seven seasons.
“My first year I was just trying to get games and people were like ‘Where is Chaminade?’ Even in Miami-Dade County, people were like ‘Who is Chaminade?’” Jones said. “Now you can’t go anywhere without anybody knowing where it is. That’s a testament to what we’ve done.”
Chaminade’s state-record eighth consecutive appearance in the state finals ended with its eighth state championship all time. The Lions are now third on the state’s all-time list of championships won by South Florida schools behind only Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas (14) and Miami Central (9).
The Lions have won 38 of their past 39 games and navigated a schedule that included wins over six nationally-ranked opponents.
Chaminade took its first lead after only three plays - all completions from senior quarterback Cedrick Bailey to five-star receiver Jeremiah Smith capped by the latter catching a quick slant and speeding to the end zone for a 50-yard score.
A year after defeating the Marauders at state 48-14, Chaminade recorded its third shutout all time in the state finals and second in the past three seasons.
It was also the Lions’ largest margin of victory in 12 appearances at state all time, and the most lopsided win by a South Florida team at state since Plantation American Heritage beat Grove Springs Clay 66-8 in 2013.
“That’s one of our goals every week to start off fast and hit them in the mouth first because we know they’ll lay down,” Bailey said. “This run has been amazing. A lot of hard work put in and effort put in by the guys. We handled every amount of adversity thrown at us.”
The final stats for the Lions in a game they led 42-0 at halftime, prompting a running clock to start the second half were typically impressive.
Bailey, an NC State commit, shined in front of Wolfpack coaches including head coach Dave Doeren. He completed 17 of 23 passes for 322 yards and threw four touchdowns. Smith, an Ohio State commit who is still being heavily recruited by several schools, including Miami and Florida State, caught 11 passes for 170 yards and a touchdown. And did that in front of Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline as well as coaches from UM and FSU.
“It was the game plan all week,” Jones said. “Start fast, make a couple of stops and take them out of what they like to do. It kind of volcanoed right from there.”
UM commit Jojo Trader caught two passes — both for touchdowns — for 61 yards. On the second, Trader made a great catch in double coverage after Bailey was forced to roll out and throw on the run.
“The game plan was to blow them out 100 percent,” Trader said. “The touchdown pass is something we practiced and it was great. Memorable moment. I got both feet down like the NFL. I was try to do that.”
The Lions’ defense, which shut out six of its final seven opponents this season, dominated as well. UM commit Zaquan Patterson and Gavin Shepard each had interceptions. Zack Crothers and Kaleb Stewart each had 1.5 sacks as the Lions finished with five overall and forced three turnovers, including a fumble by Donta Simpson.
The Lions started having fun on the sidelines early and then had some fun on the field just before halftime.
After careers spent throwing so many touchdown passes in Bailey’s case and catching touchdowns in Trader’s case, the two reversed roles.
Trader took a pitch from Bailey and swept right before stopping and throwing a touchdown pass to Bailey, who made a great leaping catch and pushed his way into the end zone.
“That’s crazy and real cool to have a catch in the state championship game,” Bailey said. “We had a lot of fun and it was a great day.”
This story was originally published December 7, 2023 at 2:50 PM.
