Chaminade-Madonna left lamenting missed opportunities as state title streak ends
The sight of Chaminade-Madonna’s football team playing for a state championship has become a regular occurrence for a decade.
The sight of Chaminade-Madonna football players with their heads down, faces angry or somber and quickly yanking their silver medals off from around their necks?
That’s rare.
“We’re not supposed to lose, especially in a state championship game. We’re Chaminade,” Chaminade senior wide receiver Jasen Lopez said as he walked slowly off the field at Pitbull Stadium on Thursday afternoon.
But lose, Chaminade did.
For the first time in five years in a state final, the Lions were not the team that came out on top following a frustrating 17-14 defeat against first-time state champion West Palm Beach Cardinal Newman in the Class 1A championship game.
Chaminade (11-3) had its streak of four consecutive state titles snapped, and lost for only the third time during its state-record 10-year streak of advancing to the state final.
The Lions were trying to join St. Thomas Aquinas as the only Florida schools to ever win five in a row.
Chaminade had won its past four state championship game appearances by a combined score of 167-21.
On Thursday, the Lions were left lamenting missed opportunities and mistakes, which cost them a chance at more history for their program.
“Just couldn’t get out of the blocks today,” Chaminade coach Dameon Jones said. “We had some wide open guys that we couldn’t hit and that hurt us for sure. So many missed opportunities and after a while all of that catches up to you.”
Multiple things were out of character for typical Chaminade teams.
Its explosive passing game only mustered 149 yards with 51 of those coming on a deep pass from freshman quarterback Malik Leonard to sophomore receiver Tromon Isaac on the Lions’ final drive, and already trailing 17-7.
Leonard struggled with Newman’s pass rush often during the game and was limited to 12 of 21 passing for 149 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions. He was also sacked three times and lost a pair of costly fumbles on two of those sacks.
On the second of those turnovers, Leonard was stripped of the ball by Kyrus Haston, allowing Zion Brown to recover for Newman with under a minute left in the third quarter and the Crusaders leading 14-7. It led to a 37-yard field goal by Nathaniel Parks, which made it a two-score game.
Chaminade’s last best attempt ended when Leonard was unable to connect with a receiver downfield on three consecutive plays, resulting in a loss on downs with 6:25 left in the game.
“We just didn’t complete passes,” Jones said. “We had guys running wide open and just couldn’t complete passes.”
Chaminade senior running back and Texas signee Derrek Cooper scored from 1-yard out with 49 seconds left. But it proved too little too late when Newman receiver Knox Fletcher recovered the ensuing onside kick.
Cooper scored both of Chaminade’s touchdowns, but was held to 63 yards on 16 carries. Cooper, who carried the ball only two times for two yards in the second half, picked up most of those yards on a 20-yard run that set up his first one-yard score to tie the game at 7 with 8:25 left in the second quarter.
Chaminade’s typically-reliable special teams also couldn’t come through.
Senior and FIU signee Noah Sidan missed a 32-yard field goal with 11:49 left in the second quarter and later had another attempt from 31 yards blocked with 6:38 left in the third.
Cardinal Newman quarterback Jyron Hughley, a West Virginia signee, who ran for 111 yards, including a 69-yard touchdown in the second quarter, found Ethan Holland open for a 35-yard score with 2:03 left in the third to put the Crusaders ahead for good.
“Our offense just couldn’t get going,” Lopez said. “We were looking for a spark, but when you go two quarters without scoring, it’s hard to win a football game. Props to our defense for holding up, but there’s only so much they could do.
“We’re just not used to this. We’re supposed to come out here and win this by 35 points. It is what it is.”
It could be harder for the Lions to restart their championship run next season as they are projected to move up from Class 1A to 2A - a classification which is expected to include Cardinal Newman, newly-minted 2A state champion Sarasota Cardinal Mooney, Jacksonville Bolles and Orlando First Academy.
“To play for the state championship for 10 straight years is something to be really proud of so all we can do now is get back to work in January and see if we can make it 11 next year,” Jones said. “Somebody had to win and somebody had to lose. We’ve won our fair share and I guess it was somebody else’s turn today.”
This story was originally published December 11, 2025 at 4:24 PM.
