American Heritage rallies past Dillard on night star quarterback Dia Bell is injured

On a night the unimaginable happened to American Heritage, so did the improbable.

Without their star quarterback Dia Bell, the Patriots on Friday received two rushing touchdowns from Byron Louis to erase a halftime deficit and defeat Dillard, 24-14, in their Region 4-4A semifinal.

The Patriots’ chances of moving on in the postseason appeared bleak early in the third quarter after Bell suffered a serious injury. The medical staff inflated an air cast on the five-star Texas recruit’s lower right leg prior to carting him off the field.

Having to reshuffle the offense, Heritage (9-2) placed the quarterback position in the hands of their top receiver Malachi Toney, its University of Miami recruit.

“The goal doesn’t change,” Heritage coach Mike Smith told his team postgame. “The path is going to be a little bit different.”

The Patriots have one week to figure out a playbook for Toney because they will be severely tested next Friday when they face Norland at home in the regional final.

“I’ve been through a lot of stuff here,” Smith said. “There’s just something special about this place, and these kids buy into it. They buy into the culture. And it’s tough, too. It’s almost like we live in a time where culture is not a thing, because so many kids are coming and going. Even when we were [under .500] this year, they just kept believing. They believed in themselves and they believed in what we are preaching here. And they just kept playing.”

Heritage has dealt with adversity all season, but nothing as daunting as being without Bell, one of the top quarterbacks in the country.

The injury occurred at 10:22 of the third quarter.

Heritage, which trailed 14-0 at halftime, received the second half kickoff. On first down, Bell connected with Brandon Bennett on a 60-yard pass play to the Dillard 22.

Three plays later, Bell ran up the middle and was dragged down at the five. Immediately, the star quarterback screamed in pain. After getting up, and trying to take a step, the quarterback fell to the ground.

As the medical staff tended to Bell, players on both teams took a knee, and the crowd was silent. Before Bell was transported off the field, the Heritage players huddled around their team leader offering their support.

“He was exceeding expectations,” Smith said. “That’s hard to say for a kid that’s a Texas commit. He’s been our leader all year. I know that his drive was to finish this thing off. But that’s life, man. The story isn’t always the way we wanted it to be written. I just feel bad for the kid because he has put so much into this. Everything came together for him this year. But he’s a kid who will respond. He’s a battler. He’s a fighter, and he’s shown a lot of toughness this year. It’s a setback, but Dia will be able to deal with this.”

The Patriots dealt with the injury by going with Toney at quarterback. The thing is, Toney didn’t play in the first half because he is hampered by a sore ankle. But in the second half, he stepped in, and put Heritage on the board with a 4-yard touchdown pass to Coi Jean-Noel on fourth down.

In the first half, Dillard (9-3) opened the scoring on its first drive with Javarius Robinson hooking up with Christopher Tillman on a 47-yard pass play. And in the second quarter, Robinson connected with Tyophi Clay on a 27-yard pass play on fourth down. The pass actually went through the hands of a Heritage defender, with Clay collecting it for the score.

Heritage’s defense came up big in the second half, and so did the running of Louis, the Florida State recruit.

A Patriots interception set up Gavin Harvey’s 30-yard field goal, which made it 14-10.

In the fourth quarter, Louis scampered 24 yards for a touchdown, giving the Patriots a 17-14 lead with 8:10 remaining. And Louis’ 3-yard scoring run with 4:13 iced the win.

“Honestly, we’ve been battling adversity all year,” Louis said. “Going down 14, it wasn’t a shock to me. I wasn’t fazed. I wasn’t moved.”

Louis noted that his freshman season, former Heritage quarterback Blake Murphy went down with an injury. In that game, running back Mark Fletcher (now with the Miami Hurricanes) stepped up to carry the offense.

“I watched Mark have to battle adversity and carry the load,” Louis said. “It was almost like déjà vu. Dia going down in that exact same spot. I knew I had to put my big boy pants on and play my game.”