Belen Jesuit heads into playoffs on high note after routing Monsignor pace

It was supposed to be a very special night Friday for longtime and outgoing Monsignor Pace head coach Joe Zaccheo. It was supposed to be a special night for the Pace Spartan seniors at it was Senior Night.

Belen Jesuit could not have cared less.

The Wolverines traveled to Pace High School for what was supposed to be and has traditionally been a close battle between two archrivals in the annual battle for the Knights of Columbus Turkey Bowl Trophy.

But there was very little drama as Belen jumped out to a 17-0 halftime lead and never gave Pace so much as a small opening of getting back into as the Wolverines wiped out the Spartans 32-7.

And the seven by Pace came with less than two minutes left and only when Leroy Wilson returned a kickoff 75 yards for a score, ruining the defense’s bid for a shutout after holding Pace to 146 yards of total offense.

“I’ve been part of this rivalry for years and we always expect a tough, close battle, so anytime you can do what we did tonight to a great tradition program like Pace on their field and a coach like Joe Zaccheo, that’s a real credit to our kids,” said Belen head coach Eddie Delgado. “We still have a really young team, only three starting seniors, so I’m really proud of the effort out there tonight.”

The win was the sixth straight for the Wolverines (8-2), who wrapped their district up with a win over Southwest last week with the only thing on the line being whether they will be a No. 3 or No. 4 seed entering next week’s playoffs.

Whichever seed number, their opponent will be either South Dade or Palmetto and the game will be played Thursday night at Tropical Park at 7 or 7:30 p.m.

And even though Pace (5-5) had already qualified for the Region 4-4A playoffs, the loss was expensive as the Spartans came in as a No. 3 seed. A Pace win combined with a loss by Glades Central might have pushed them past Glades Central for the No. 2 slot, which would have given them a bye next week. Instead, the Spartans will be either a three or possibly slip to four if Booker T. passes them for the third spot.

“A really good statement tonight,” said Belen junior running back Don Chaney, who bolted 80 yards for a score on his team’s second possession of the game putting them up 7-0 to establish early momentum. “We know how tough this rivalry usually is so for us to come in here and do this to them tonight on their field says a lot about how well we’re playing right now. We feel good about going into next week.”

A Breton Rice field goal early in the second quarter made it 10-0, set up by a Luis Consuegra interception deep in Pace territory. Consuegra wasn’t done as Belen pulled off a perfectly executed onside kick that he recovered.

After quarterback Dorian Gonzalez found Francisco Aguero for 49 yards down to the Pace 3 on the first play after the onside, Chaney scored from 3 yards out to make it 17-0 at the break.

Pace found no offensive rhythm in the second half and worse made uncharacteristic mistakes, fumbling four times and losing two, including a high snap over the quarterback’s head that led to a recovered fumble in the end zone by Nicholas Gonzalez to make it 26-0.

Gonzalez wasn’t done as he picked off Pace quarterback Willie Ferreira and returned it 42 yards for a touchdown with six minutes left to complete the Belen scoring.

“We really were flying around out there tonight getting it done,” said Gonzalez. “We made a few mistakes but overall, just some great lockdown stuff.”

This story was originally published November 2, 2018 at 11:21 PM.