Blanche Ely serves notice it is among South Florida’s legit state title contenders
Pompano Beach Blanche Ely’s thrilling upset over nationally ranked Hollywood Chaminade-Madonna was a seismic event that rattled most everyone in high school football circles -- except the Tigers’ confident first-year head coach.
It was a moment Terence McFadden has been waiting on for the better part of a decade.
He has coached many of the stars of this year’s Ely team, including dynamic quarterback Omari McNeal, off and on since their youth football days. So when McFadden says he knows -- and trusts -- his personnel, you should believe him.
Which is why his vision for late in the season should not be dismissed.
McFadden believes this is the year that the Tigers finally get past St. Thomas Aquinas, which beat Ely in each of the last two postseasons by a combined 68 points.
Which is why he welcomed the Tigers and Raiders ending up in the same region (4-5A) when FHSAA again reclassified ahead of the 2024 season.
“We definitely have something to say when we reach their house,” McFadden said ahead of Ely’s Week 3 road game against Fort Lauderdale Stranahan. “God willing, everything goes as plan, that’s how we wanna go out. We don’t want to take no other road.
“We want to go down that same road that’s been stopping us for the last two years. We don’t want to duck them.”
McFadden then added:
“I can tell you one thing. If everything stays the course, and if we get there, we’re winning it. We’re beating them. We’re going to get them.”
Bold talk? Sure. But with the way Ely is putting up points this year under McFadden’s air attack, it’s not implausible.
The Tigers are 2-0 for the third straight season after thrashing Boyd Anderson 70-7 and surviving Chaminade 35-34 in an overtime classic. Ely escaped last week thanks to two blocked kicks in the game’s final moments -- a field goal try by the Lions with two seconds left that would have ended it and the extra point attempt that would have sent it to double overtime.
McNeal (Class of 2026) threw for a touchdown, ran for three more, and unofficially threw for 381 yards to beat the Lions. He’s one of many under-the-radar players on team that doesn’t have a Class of 2025 Florida top 247 recruit.
“We got some amazing talent that’s been overlooked,” McFadden said. “I don’t know why. I’m not big in the recruiting world, but some of these kids, I’ve been coaching them since they were like seven years old. [I know we’re] matching up talent for talent with anybody.
“These kids have won championships in little league with me. Now we’re on to high school and we’re trying to do the same thing.”
Among the Ely players McFadden thinks deserves a closer look from recruiters: McNeal, cornerbacks linebacker Cameron Davis, cornerbacks Christian Davis and Gab Almonord, and receivers Gary Hadley Jr., Richard Hollis, Michael Warren II, and Ladarious Smith.
“We’ve got some guys that can flat-out play on that next level,” he said. “Whether it’s Division I, I-AA. I don’t even see too many D-2 schools coming and we got some kids that can flat out play.”
Keep winning, and it’ll be impossible to ignore Ely, which has a real chance to go through the regular season undefeated for the second time in three years. After beating Chaminade, the Tigers are up to sixth in the Miami Herald Top 20, and should be favored in every game they have until the playoffs.
Possible hiccups ahead include Delray Beach Atlantic (3-0), Piper (2-0), No. 17 Plantation (2-0), Dillard (1-1), and No. 8 Monarch (1-0). None of those games are district affairs, so a third-straight playoff berth is quite likely.
That’s when the fun really begins -- a seemingly inevitable collision course with Aquinas.
“They gotta know we got something to say,” McFadden said. “If we get to that point, there’s nothing stopping us.”
This story was originally published September 4, 2024 at 10:14 AM.