Goleman buries Reagan, advances to GMAC Independent Conference title game

Goleman put its perfect undefeated regular season on the line on Thursday afternoon, and for a while it looked like it might be in jeopardy.

But the Gators, thanks to three huge offensive performances, had more than enough firepower to pull away in the second half and defeat Reagan 48-20 in the first GMAC Independent Conference semifinal playoff game at Traz Powell Stadium.

Goleman (10-0) advances to next week’s championship game where the Gators will take on Krop, which defeated Sunset in the other semifinal. Both teams dominated the north division of the conference all season and the game, set for next Wednesday at 7 p.m. at a site to be determined, will be a rematch from three weeks ago when the Gators won easily 46-21.

“I’m really proud of our kids,” Goleman coach Ariel Cribeiro said. “We had an outbreak of the flu at the start of the week, so it really hurt our practice time. But they came in today, put their undefeated record on the line and went out there and got the job done.”

Who really got things done for the Gators were quarterback Anthony Hernandez, running back Jamaal Joseph and wide receiver Avari Marshall.

With Cribeiro and the Gators having now jettisoned their longtime patented wing running attack, Hernandez completed 11-of-15 passes for 309 yards and four touchdowns. By comparison, those used to be “season” passing totals for the Gators. Hernandez now has 26 touchdown passes against just two interceptions. Marshall was his favorite target, catching four of those passes for 176 yards and three touchdowns. Not that they still can’t run it either as Joseph carried the ball 15 times for 174 yards and two scores.

“As always, just have to give it up to my O-line for opening the holes for me today,” Joseph said. “We’ve worked hard all season to get where we’re at and win them all, and now we have to win one more to close it out.”

Goleman only led 14-7 at halftime and it was still a 21-14 game when a high snap over Fernandez’s head in the shotgun rolled around in the end zone and Reagan’s Nick Diaz fell on the loose ball for a touchdown midway through the third.

After the Gators answered quickly with a two-play drive from midfield on two runs by Joseph of 48 yards and 4 more for a touchdown to make it 28-14, the Bison (5-5) was back knocking on the door in the red zone again.

But Goleman’s Justin Delgado picked off a pass in the end zone and returned it to midfield. Five plays later, Fernandez found Zach Valcarcel for a 29-yard score on the first play of the fourth quarter, and Goleman pulled away from there.

“We’ve been working hard building chemistry all year long, and that’s why we’ve been racking up these W’s,” said Marshall, who had touchdown catches of 36, 80 and 27 yards. “Playing in this conference this season has been great and now we have a chance to bring a championship to Goleman High School next week, and that’s really exciting.”