Marcelin’s four sacks key as Central shuts down Norland for GMAC championship
Miami Central’s football team expected to see Ezekiel Marcelin become their next great leader on defense.
Marcelin gave another example of this on Friday night at Traz Powell Stadium.
On a night where offenses wouldn’t be at their best under a constant rainfall, Marcelin made sure to disrupt the Rockets’ opponent as much as possible, recording four sacks and two tackles for loss as Central stifled Norland 22-14 to win the GMAC championship.
The Rockets (6-1), ranked 28th nationally by MaxPreps, have won six in a row since an opening week loss to Lakeland and captured their third GMAC title in four seasons since the event began in 2021.
“It just says a lot about what coach Jube (Joseph) says to us and that’s to fight through adversity,” Marcelin said. “We saw that (the weather would be bad) coming into this game and we had to fight through.”
Marcelin, a University of Miami commit, is following in the footsteps of other recent Central defensive greats now playing for the Hurricanes like Rueben Bain and Wesley Bissainthe.
On Friday night, he was a constant presence in Norland’s backfield, limiting prolific Vikings quarterback Ennio Yapoor to 194 yards passing.
For Central the win likely meant a little more as it beat Norland a year after the Vikings beat the Rockets twice in overtime including a regional final playoff loss that ended their season.
“There was a little extra motivation to win this game, but it was just a game to us,” Marcelin said. “It’s great to see the guys take steps up from last year and I’m happy to see that.”
Marcelin had the bulk of Central’s eight sacks on Yapoor overall as Otis Guyton had two and Randy Adirika had another. Adirika, a Penn State commit, also recovered a fumble with 9:29 left in the fourth quarter, which helped Central extend its lead late.
Rockets quarterback Anthony McQueen snuck the ball in from a yard out to give Central a 20-7 lead on their ensuing drive. McQueen completed 13 of 22 passes for 132 yards and threw two touchdown passes.
Central’s defense would add to its lead in the fourth quarter when multiple defenders took down Yapoor in the end zone for a safety.
“He had a phenomenal night as far as leadership in the locker room and you knew the plays were coming,” Central coach Jube Joseph said. “Guys like Otis Guyton, Dewey Davis, guys like that are learning from his example and making plays.”
Yapoor, who was picked off early in the game by senior defensive back Dewey Davis, threw the second of two touchdown passes to Jamari Smith with 24.9 seconds left in the game to cut the Vikings’ deficit to eight.
Norland (6-2), ranked No. 33 nationally by MaxPreps, then recovered an onside kick for a potential chance at tying the game. But four plays later, the Vikings drive ended when Yapoor completed a pass to Jaden Page, but he was tackled inbounds and the clock ran out.
The Vikings were chasing back-to-back GMAC championships, but will now turn their attention to a potential return to state after a state runner-up finish last season.
Central played the first of three games in a span of a week on Friday as it now will face Fort Lauderdale Stranahan on Monday at Traz and travel to Pembroke Pines Somerset Academy on Friday to wrap up its district schedule.
“We just played two of the top teams in the state over the past three weeks and didn’t flinch,” said Joseph, whose team beat rival Northwestern on Oct. 4. “(Norland) has some tremendous players on that offense and our defense has started gelling at the right time.”
