Carol City football team’s comeback stuns Monsignor Pace for key district win

Trailing 21-6 with less than eight minutes left, game analytics probably would have given Miami Carol City a less than 10 percent chance of coming all the way back to defeat Miami Monsignor Pace on Friday night.

But the Chiefs took those odds and rode them all the way home as they pulled off a dramatic 22-21 comeback victory over the Spartans before a big crowd at Pace High School.

With the two schools less than two miles apart, it was not only a battle for neighborhood bragging rights but a key district contest as well. Carol City improved to 3-2 overall and 1-0 in a four-team District 14-2A while Pace fell to 2-3, 0-1.

The Chiefs will now set their sights on an Oct. 10 matchup with North Miami Beach at Traz Powell Stadium in a contest that could decide the district title.

Trailing 21-14, the game-winner for Carol City came with just 34 seconds left when quarterback Russell Britton, after dropping back and not being able to find anybody open, took off around the right side and sprinted to the end zone for a 15-yard touchdown.

Carol City head coach George Stubbs then rolled the dice and went for the two-point conversion for the win and got it.

Running back Justin Compere, after being stuffed at the three-yard line, managed to bounce off Pace tacklers and then sprinted around the left side and outraced Spartan defenders to the flag. Jashon Chaneton then recorded a game-sealing interception on the first play after the kickoff as the Carol City sideline erupted in celebration.

Thanks to a 44-yard first quarter touchdown pass (on third-and 34) from Korde Hinch to Jamaal Gibson Jr. and a 12-yard from Hinch to Mykei Wade 20 seconds before halftime, Pace led Carol City 14-6 at the break.

Two plays after the Chiefs muffed a punt and Pace recovered at the Carol City 25, Hinch made them pay for the mistake by taking off on a 22-yard touchdown scramble to the end zone to make it 21-6 with 5:32 left in the third quarter.

Still trailing by 15 early in the fourth quarter, the determined Chiefs kept plugging away as Britton led them downfield on a long drive that culminated with a 2-yard Compere touchdown with 7:46 left. Compere then ran in the two point conversion to cut the deficit to seven.

Taking over at his own 29 with 3:32 left, Britton then put together the game-winning drive, one which included a 28-yard completion to Kevin Walker on a third-and-20 and another 15 yarder to Rolaun Spain. The drive was also aided by two key defensive penalties by the Spartans who killed themselves all night long with penalties getting flagged a total of 15 times.