Archbishop McCarthy seeing results of its gradual build toward sustained success
It’s very common nowadays to see high school football teams built quickly for success by adding numerous transfers.
Over the past couple of seasons, Archbishop McCarthy has chosen to go against the trend and play the long game.
“We said we were going to build it with ninth-graders and we weren’t going to do what everyone else is doing down here building it with transfers and all that nonsense,” McCarthy coach Dino Mangiero said. “It’s been a slow, patient deal and our young guys are growing up a little bit.
“We still only have three seniors starting out there. We want to be the tortoise and take our time and build it the right way.”
Will slow and steady win the race for McCarthy?
While that remains to be seen, there’s no questioning the steady improvement already for a program that not long ago was struggling to just win a football game.
On Thursday night on its teal-colored turf field, the Mavericks won their 13th consecutive game and improved to 3-0 on the season following a 45-6 running clock victory over visiting Miami St. Brendan. The lopsided win followed a 42-6 win over Cypress Bay and a 23-6 win over Community School of Naples.
Junior quarterback Robert Kerns, who has a 4.0 GPA and has drawn interest from Ivy League schools, completed only 6 of 7 passes for 106 yards, but threw for two touchdown passes and ran for another. One of those scores went to junior Kendall Brown, who also returned a punt 60 yards for a touchdown and had another long touchdown catch nullified by a holding penalty.
McCarthy started a bit slow as the visiting Sabres (2-1) struck first on a 41-yard touchdown run by junior Geovanni Tobon. The Mavericks blocked the extra point, and proceeded to score 31 points in the second quarter to break the game open.
McCarthy’s defense recorded four sacks and forced four turnovers including a pair of interceptions. Junior Kevin Byard returned one of them 17 yards for a touchdown just before halftime. Senior Joel Lugo had multiple tackles and Mangiero credited him as being one of the key cogs on their defense.
“We have some really good teams on our schedule coming up and if we’re going to compete we’re going to have to continually get better and better,” Mangiero said.
Kerns was there two years ago when McCarthy, which was in the midst of a four-year run as an independent school, finished with a 2-7 record. The Mavericks won the final game of that season and went 9-0 playing an independent schedule last season.
This year, McCarthy jumped back into district play and expects to be able to compete against the state’s best. It will get that opportunity as it was placed in a tough District 15-4A which includes Plantation American Heritage, Miami Norland and Plantation.
“A lot of people said the teams we were playing weren’t that good but I knew the way we set things up we were going to be able to compete with anyone,” Kerns said.
MORE SCORES
Coral Gables 41, Miami Beach 6
Coral Shores 29, Palm Glades Prep 28
Edison 27, Killian 7
Everglades Prep 36, Avant Garde Academy 6
Florida Christian 38, ABF Academy 0
Miami High 40, Coral Reef 0
Moore Haven 22, Westminster Christian 14
Pembroke Pines Charter 55, North Broward Prep 34
Piper 35, South Plantation 0
Sunset 35, Hialeah-Miami Lakes 0
Vero Beach St. Edwards 30, Pine Crest 7
