With its most talented team ever, can Western win its first state title in history?

Under 11th year coach Adam Ratkevich, the Western Wildcats have reached unprecedented heights. Before the long-time Western coach took over, the Wildcats had not won a playoff game in their nearly 50 year history. But during the Ratkevich era, Western has become a perennial playoff team and even reached the regional finals during the 2019 and 2023 seasons, the only two times in school history that has been accomplished.

But there’s one team that has stood in the way of the Wildcats, preventing them from capturing that elusive state championship that’s still absent from their trophy case: the Columbus Explorers.

Last season’s matchup in the regional final was shaping up to be an entertaining match. Western had one of its most talented teams in school history, led by quarterback Davi Belfort, who is now starting his freshman year at Virginia Tech. Belfort, along with then-Western wide receiver Koby Howard, would be a formidable challenge for the Explorers, who were looking to repeat as state champions.

But against Palmetto in the regional semifinal the week before, Belfort injured his left leg on an 18-yard keeper, suffering a high-ankle sprain. With Belfort in a boot on the sidelines, the Wildcats did not lay down, as they led 13-3 after three quarters of action.

But four fourth quarter turnovers by the Wildcats led to a 28-0 run by Columbus, who went on to win the game and eventually their third state championship in school history.

“We’ve been a biscuit sniff away [from the championship] a couple times,” Ratkevich said. “Last year having your All-American quarterback go down against Palmetto the week before you’re facing Columbus, a team that’s been to the state championship 13 times, was a tough one.”

History repeated itself for Western, as two years ago, former quarterback Collin Hurst also went down to injuries during the Wildcats’ 2022 playoff run.

Now, with Belfort and starting running back Tovani Mizall, who was also lost to injury early last season, off to college and Howard, a Penn State commit, transferring to Chaminade-Madonna, can the Wildcats rebound and potentially win the state title this season?

Well, Ratkevich certainly thinks so.

“I think, in all honesty, we have a better football team this year,” Ratkevich said. “I’ve been [coaching] for about 30 years and this is definitely one of the most talented football teams I have had. It’s also the deepest, which is a big difference from years past. A lot of times our first rung talent was about as good as a lot of the elite teams, but we didn’t have the same depth.”

The good news for Ratkevich is that Western’s most highly regarded players are underclassmen, meaning Western will have multiple chances to compete for the state championship in the coming years.

But with last year’s regional final fresh on their mind, the Wildcats are eager to break the championship drought as soon as possible.

The team is once again set at quarterback with senior Sebastian Circo taking the reins.

Circo, who moved from Nebraska to South Florida for his senior season, is a three-star according to 247 Sports and possesses offers from Miami, Ole Miss and Penn State. While Circo will be following in the steps of talented Western quarterbacks like Collin Hurst and Belfort, he doesn’t feel pressure to live up to the standards set by those two.

“I think if I be myself, be comfortable and play my game, I’ll be perfectly fine,” Circo said.

Western’s running game will be led by a trio of skilled running backs: senior Sinorice Moss Jr., junior Robert Ortega Jr. and sophomore Jonathan Bueno Jr. All three are being pursued by Division 1 teams and should be able to replace Tovani Mizell by committee.

But while the Wildcats have a talented offense, it’s on defense where the team has an embarrassment of riches. Last season, despite a schedule where 11 of the 13 teams they faced were playoff teams, the Western defense allowed less than ten points per game, and it could potentially be better this year.

Senior cornerback Andre Jackson and senior linebacker Julian Mendez are talented veterans who hold offers from high-major schools. But it’s the younger talent in Davie that has recruiters gushing.

Sophomore safeties Jaylyn Jones and Bryce Williams have already received Power Four offers, with Jones securing scholarship offers from Auburn, Florida State and Georgia. Moreover, sophomore cornerback Tavares Ward secured an offer from Indiana this spring.

“I’ve had some big-time college football coaches from Oregon and Florida State come into our building and tell us that we might have the most talented young secondary in the country,” Ratkevich said.

With all the FBS-level prospects at their disposal, it certainly appears that Western has a chance to make it out of the regional final for the first time in school history.

Western will be challenged early, starting their year off at home against Alabama’s Hoover High in the Broward Football Showcase on Aug. 24 at 7 p.m. before facing three nationally ranked top 20 teams over the next four weeks.

Those teams are St. Thomas Aquinas, American Heritage and Chaminade-Madonna: private schools against which Western has struggled in the past.

Ratkevich says that his young team will be “baptized by fire” in the initial part of the season.

“With us it’s about getting over the hump with the elite private schools,” Ratkevich said. “We’ve proven we can beat state-ranked public schools. Trying to get over that private school hump is a battle that we’re working on. But we keep scheduling them for a reason.”

“We talk about the fact that pressure busts pipes, but it also makes diamonds. We’re gonna know who we are and who is capable of playing at the highest level half way through the season,” Ratkevich said. “We’re not going to face anything better after that [early] run in the back half of our season. At that point we’re gonna know who’s ready to rock-and-roll and who’s ready to make a run at the state title.”

Certainly the Wildcats know who they have to go through if they are to capture their first state championship. All the games up until the playoffs are preparing them to take on the obstacle that’s stood in their way for years.

“The state title goes through Columbus until it doesn’t,” Ratkevich said. “They earned that right, but we’re gonna keep working. We believe we have a heck of a football team and a heck of a chance.”