Northwestern completes three-peat against Jones to give Dade a record five state titles
South Florida dominance in high school football, especially Miami-Dade County, continued on Saturday afternoon. This time it was Northwestern’s turn to show off.
Looking for an unprecedented third consecutive state title, the Bulls got it by pulling away to defeat Orlando Jones, 34-17, in the Class 5A championship after being tied 14-14 at halftime in front of an overflow crowd of more than 10,000 at Daytona Stadium.
Just 48 hours after being tied for state titles by both Booker T. Washington and Central with six championships, Northwestern retook the Miami-Dade County lead with its seventh overall state championship. The three inner-city schools now have a staggering total of 19 between them.
Coupled with state titles by Champagnat Catholic and Chaminade-Madonna last week in Tallahassee along with BTW, Central and Columbus this week, Northwestern’s win gave Miami-Dade and Broward County a record six state titles topping the mark of five set in 2013.
“Is there any doubt?” quipped Northwestern head coach Max Edwards. “I think this pretty much says everything you need to know, the football talent down here is unmatched by anyone.”
It was also a proud moment for Edwards himself. A year after being on the hot seat as his team struggled to a 5-5 regular season only to get hot in the postseason and win it all for a second time, Saturday’s win meant the Bulls became the third team in Miami-Dade to win three in a row. They joined Booker T. Washington and Central, which both won four straight from 2012-15.
“We knew Jones was a good team going in, would be a challenge and that our kids would have to play for the full 48 minutes and that’s exactly what they did,” said Edwards, whose team finished 13-2. “I told them at halftime to just hang in there and keep grinding away. Then they came out in the second half and played for not only themselves but for their school and their community.”
Northwestern broke loose from the halftime deadlock by taking the second half kickoff and driving 61 yards in 10 plays, running back Nathaniel Noel scoring from 8 yards out on a third-and-three to make it 21-14.
After Jones (13-2) put together a long drive, the Bulls defense, which did a magnificent job all day of containing Jones running back Avarius Sparrow, stiffened and forced a short 27-yard Tigers field goal.
Sparrow came into the game with more than 2,000 yards rushing on the season averaging close to 170 a game, but was held to just 111 yards on 23 carries which included an early 61-yard run on the team’s opening drive.
Leading 21-17, the Northwestern offense, which was led all day by quarterback Taron Dickens, went on another marathon 14-play, 80-yard drive with Noel going over from a yard out with 8:24 left to make it 27-17.
Just a freshman, Dickens was the ultimate game-manager for the Bulls offense all season, but was forced to step up on this day as the Jones defense limited NW’s ground attack making him throw more than he normally does. He finished 18 of 24 for 234 yards, two touchdowns and most importantly, made no mistakes.
“It was just a matter of staying calm and trusting the process,” Dickens said. “I just came out here and did what I had to do, played my game and everything fell into place.”
With the game still in doubt, Jones started driving again before the NW defense came up with it’s biggest play of the game. Facing a fourth-and-one at its own 42, Jones tried a jet sweep to Jaden Robinson that defensive end Earnest Johnson smoked out. Johnson chased Robinson down from behind for a 2-yard loss.
“I had a feeling they might try the jet (sweep) because they had gone to it a lot during the game and recognized it right away,” Johnson said. “Then it was a matter of chasing him down and I got there.”
The Bulls took over and put together another drive for the put-away touchdown.
Seven plays after taking over at the 40, Dickens dropped back and tossed a high pass to the corner of the end zone that Romello Brinson went up high for a made a brilliant catch for a 7-yard score with 3:59 left and the celebrating on the Bulls sideline along with the massive turnout from Bull Nation in the stands was under way.
“We knew they were a good team and would challenge us because they’re pretty physical up front, so it made it tough for us running the ball early on but we stuck with it and made some big runs in the second half,” said Noel, who finished with 69 yards and three touchdowns. “We wanted nothing to do with the kind of season we had last year. We came in last summer and talked as a group about staying focused every week and not take weeks off. To be part of the first three-peat in school history is an honor.”
The Bulls got the message early that they were in for a dogfight when Jones took the opening kickoff and went 79 yards in nine plays to take the lead on a Sparrow 1-yard run.
Thanks to a muffed punt giving them possession at the Jones 19, the Bulls answered the Jones score with a Noel 6-yard touchdown run.
Following a three-and-out by the NW defense, the Bulls then took the lead with a 66-yard, seven-play drive capped off when Dickens tossed a perfect throw to the corner of the end zone hitting Marcus Fleming for a 17-yard score on the second play of the second quarter. Jones came right back with an impressive 66-yard, nine-play drive finding the end zone when Sparrow went in from 6 yards out with 7:15 left in the second.
It appeared the Bulls were going to go in and take the lead right a minute before halftime when they made it to the Jones 23. Dickens then hit Fleming down inside the 10 but Fleming lost the ball and Jones’ Darrian Hawkins recovered.
This story was originally published December 14, 2019 at 4:39 PM.