American Heritage gets big games from Toney, Louis but falls to Milton in Broward Showcase
The good news for Plantation American Heritage in its Broward County High School National Football Showcase matchup against Milton: The Patriots received key contributions from their running back Byron Louis and wide receiver Malachi Toney, two players they’ll need to have big seasons if they want to contend for a state title.
The bad news: They weren’t able to contain a high-octane Milton offense led by quarterback and Miami Hurricanes commit Luke Nickel.
The final result: A 37-28 loss on Friday night at St. Thomas Aquinas.
American Heritage (0-1) briefly led twice in the first half — 9-7 with 8:38 remaining in the second quarter and 16-13 with 1:20 left in the second quarter — but Milton (2-0) immediately responded with touchdown drives both times to retake the lead.
Milton then outscored American Heritage 21-12 in the second half to pull away for the win, sealing the game on a 72-yard catch-and-run touchdown pass from Nickel to wide receiver Ethan Barbour.
American Heritage settled for field goals on each of its first three possessions — the third of which started at the Milton 9-yard line after junior Isaac Tanis blocked a Milton punt but failed to scoop up the ball.
“When you get in the red zone, you can’t come away with three points,” American Heritage coach Mike Smith said. “You’ve got to come away with touchdowns out there, especially against a good football team like that. ... We just didn’t execute. We made some adjustments in the run game in the second half, but now we’re chasing points that we left on the board.”
Overall, Milton racked up 421 yards of offense against American Heritage — 260 passing, 161 rushing. Running back TJ Lester had two rushing touchdowns in the first half. Barbour had the game-sealing touchdown catch and a 1-yard touchdown run in the third quarter on a direct snap. Nickel completed 17 of 25 passes for 234 yards and caught a 26-yard pass on a trick play in the second quarter.
“We’ve got to tackle better,” Smith said. “There’s no doubt about it.”
It spoiled a pretty good showing from American Heritage’s top two playmakers.
Toney, a junior and a Hurricanes commit, caught a pair of touchdowns from quarterback Dia Bell. The first from 21 yards out late in the second quarter to briefly give the Patriots the lead. The second came from 7 yards with 3:24 left to play to put American Heritage within two points. The ensuing two-point conversion attempt, however, failed and Milton essentially ended the game one drive later.
Louis ran for 171 yards, including a 68-yard touchdown in the third quarter, on 19 carries.
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