Wolverines beat Doral Academy in historic first night football game at Belen Jesuit
A funny thing happened at kickoff time when the Belen Jesuit football team hosted Doral Academy on Friday.
It was nighttime.
After nearly 40 years of playing day games and a decade of trying to get it done, lights went up at De La Cruz Stadium in the summer and the Wolverines held a first-ever contest after the sun had set, ultimately beating Doral, 24-0.
The pomp and circumstance was predictable as numerous dignitaries were on hand for a special halftime presentation including Dade County Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz, who arrived late but for good reason: He was returning from a day trip to the hurricane-ravaged northern Bahamas.
“Tonight is a proud night not only for our football program but for our entire school, administration and alumni,” long-time Belen athletic director Carlos Barquin said. “This has been a really fun evening and something we’ve been waiting a long time for.”
Said Belen president Father Willie Garcia-Tunon“This is probably one of the biggest moments this school has ever seen. For the longest time we thought the lights would not be a possibility for us. But fortunately we got the right support from the right people, a lot of parents, so many benefactors and sure enough we were able to get it done. What an exciting night.”
There also was some football played.
Needing a win to avoid only its second 0-3 start in the last 36 years and first since 2003, the Wolverines sent their sold-out, standing-room-only crowd home happy by turning in a dominating performance, shutting out Doral.
Led by Miami-bound running back Donald Chaney Jr., who finished with 118 yards on 14 carries, Belen cranked out 304 yards on the ground while also getting a great defensive performance. The normally potent Doral offensive attack was held to just 117 total yards while Nathaniel Payne and Sean Luc Beaubien each had interceptions for the Wolverines.
“What a crazy week and a crazy night,” said Chaney, who had a 43-yard touchdown run in the third quarter to wrap up the scoring after Belen built a 17-0 lead at halftime. “Everyone was really excited all week about playing our first night game. We even practiced last night to get ready for this. But whether it was day or night, this game was important because after starting 0-2 we knew we had to have this win.”
Said coach Eddie Delgado: “It was a little weird because we didn’t have school on Monday or Tuesday because of the storm but Wednesday the kids really got after it because you could just feel the excitement building in the school over this event tonight Everybody was excited about it, including me. We made a little history tonight. But at the same time, this was big win for us. We’ve played a lot of good teams early and taken a few lumps but I think that’s prepared us for the rest of the season going forward.”
The excitement over the night games for football doesn’t stop there. Belen baseball contests are slated to be played at night as well. Lights are scheduled to be in place on the baseball field by the time baseball starts next February.
“It’s been a long and tough journey because, to be honest, the surrounding neighborhood was never necessarily for this,” said Barquin. “But thank goodness for what has happened in the last few years as far as the advancement of LED lights. With these new lights, there is virtually no spillage of light in the surrounding neighborhoods and that’s what enabled us to be able to push this through. That along with the financing thanks to a lot of generous, hard-working alumni and friends of the school.”
Located west of the turnpike off Tamiami Trail, Belen is not the coolest place in the world and De La Cruz Stadium was notorious for its brutally hot temperatures during afternoon games in August, September and even October.
“Over the years these fields have gotten so hot and humid during the day so now it’s much safer for our student athletes to play at night when it’s much cooler,” said Barquin. “In addition, this will now also enable us to stagger more events. Too many times when we had afternoon football or baseball, we would have other school events and activities going on as well and it became just so busy and crowded.”
This story was originally published September 6, 2019 at 11:37 PM.