South Florida high school football begins with uncertainty, matchup between state champs
The final whistle blew to wrap up Champagnat Catholic’s practice Wednesday in North Miami and more than 60 players streamed toward Hector Clavijo at the center of the field.
Normally, they would’ve gathered tightly around the Champagnat coach for some final words of wisdom. Instead, they stopped short and formed a loose, scattered semicircle around him, everyone standing six feet apart or close to it. They started a slow clap and then Clavijo blew his whistle and they jumped into a defensive stance. They started another slow clap, Clavijo blew the whistle again and they crouched down, then jumped into the air.
It looked sort of like a normal practice for the defending Class 2A champion, only with extra layers of caution because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
It’s not going to be perfect. You’re never going to avoid it completely,” Clavijo said Wednesday, “but if we can do 10 percent, 20 percent better than usual, it’s better than nothing, so we’ll do our part.”
There were times they weren’t sure a season would happen at all, but at least a few private schools across South Florida are slated to begin the 2020 campaign Friday, and Champagnat and Chaminade-Madonna usher in the season with a marquee matchup.
Champagnat, the reigning 2A champion, begins its title defense in Hollywood against Chaminade-Madonna, the reigning Class 3A champion.
Last year, schools from Miami-Dade and Broward counties combined to win 7 of 8 Florida High School Athletic Association state championships. While the vast majority are still waiting on the school districts to let them begin, at least Chaminade-Madonna and Champagnat will get to defend their state titles this year.
The circumstances are far from ideal. No one is complaining, though, given the worst-case scenarios they thought were possible, including a season not happening at all.
“I was thinking that. I mean, everybody was,” said Chaminade-Madonna running back Thad Franklin, who is orally committed to the Miami Hurricanes. “I’m happy to be out here, to have another run to another state championship with my brothers.”
Chaminade-Madonna, which has won three straight state titles, didn’t reconvene until August. The coronavirus outbreak basically shut down everything in March and players had to learn to work out on their own, often without any sort of access to a weight room.
When Chaminade-Madonna started organized conditioning last month, players returned in varying degrees of fitness and they still weren’t allowed to work out in the school’s weight room. Chaminade-Madonna coach Dameon Jones set up seven conditions stations across the football field to keep his players spaced out as they tried to get ready for the season despite the abbreviated offseason.
Even Jones admits he has no idea what to expect Friday, especially with a first-year offensive coordinator leading Chaminade-Madonna’s offense.
“It might be very sloppy,” Jones said. “I have no idea. All you can do is try to prepare and simulate that stuff because you can’t do too much of scrimmaging, so you’ve just got to hope that you did your job coaching them up and perform on Friday.”
Champagnat has been working out as a team since June, as soon as Phase II began in Miami-Dade County, although they also couldn’t actually begin practicing until the FHSAA allowed it last month.
Both teams’ actual practices don’t look super unusual. There’s less full 11-on-11 action to limit contact, and Champagnat has one coach hold a loudspeaker and periodically hit the siren button, which signals everyone to stop and make sure they’re properly socially distanced. Otherwise, players go through drills as normal just while wearing masks on the sideline and not using communal water stations.
There will not, however, be fans in the stands at Vince Zappone Field, although Chaminade-Madonna hopes to stream the game live on YouTube. It’s fitting for this COVID era: The Florida high school football community is salivating over a matchup between reigning state champions and almost no one will get to watch it in person.
“If we knew this was going to happen, I would’ve planned to get a venue,” Clavijo said. “This game would’ve sold out. The way people are talking about it on the internet, the amount of people, the ticket requests — all that good stuff — you would’ve had a couple thousand people at this game.”
BD’s Picks
Each week, Miami Herald contributor Bill Daley, a veteran high school sports writer in South Florida, picks his winners in the area’s marquee matchups. Here are his picks for the first weekend of action in the Miami metropolitan area:
Champagnat Catholic at Chaminade-Madonna: Not easy to pick this one because who knows how the long shutdown and lack of quality time in the weight room and practice field have affected the athletes, but Chaminade-Madonna has one big X-factor in the form of Franklin, who broke the all-time state championship game rushing yardage record to lead his team to a third consecutive state title last year. This, combined with the fact Chaminade-Madonna clearly has its eyes set on winning a fourth straight state title and becoming the first team in Broward County to ever do it, will be onus to make an early statement to whatever opponents they have in front of them. BD’S Pick: Chaminade-Madonna, 31-20.
Cardinal Newman at Calvary Christian Academy: Under coach Kirk Hoza, Calvary Christian enjoyed its best season in program history last year, going undefeated in the regular season and advancing to the regional finals, and looks for the trend to continue in 2020. BD’s Pick: Calvary Christian Academy, 37-13.
Dade Christian at Westminster Academy: After turning in nice work at Miami Christian, coach Nick Turnbull made the jump over to his alma mater in the offseason and will now try and lead a rejuvenated Dade Christian program, eight years removed from playing in the 2A title game, back to prominence, but it won’t start here. Tommy Lewis, after winning multiple state titles at Lakeland Victory Christian Academy, led Westminster to the playoffs a year ago and should continue to build on that momentum. BD’s Pick: Westminster Academy, 33-14.
Miami Christian at Somerset Academy Silver Palms: Coach Javier Valdes made the move down to the south end of Dade County a few years ago to try and build something special at Somerset Silver Palms and got his team to the second round of the playoffs last year. Look for the momentum from 2019 to continue. BD’s Pick: Somerset Academy Silver Palms, 24-20.
-Bill Daley, special to the Miami Herald
This story was originally published September 10, 2020 at 1:06 PM.
