North Miami Beach never finds rhythm, falls to Dunnellon in FIT championship

Although the atmosphere and the stakes were new, the goal for North Miami Beach remained the same.

Taking advantage of their opportunity to play in the first-ever Class 3A-1A Florida Invitational Tournament, the Chargers fell short of hoisting the tournament’s championship trophy. The Chargers never found an offensive rhythm and couldn’t produce a defensive stop late during a 13-7 loss to Dunnellon Thursday afternoon in the FIT championship game at The Range at H.G. Morse Stadium.

NMB, which defeated Cape Coral Oasis and Booker T. Washington to advance to the FIT 1A-3A title game, trailed 13-7 with 8:23 left in the fourth quarter but felt confident as it pinned Dunnellon on its own 10-yard line following a punt.

The Tigers kept the chains and the clock moving, relying on their running game to churn out yards — getting down inside the North Miami Beach 20-yard line.

NMB coach Jeff Bertani exhausted his three timeouts once the clock got under three minutes, but once Dunnellon’s Tony Tanner converted a 3rd-and-1 with a plunge through the Chargers’ defensive front, the Tigers were able to take knees to run out the remaining time.

“We just could never get in rhythm — on either side of the ball. Offensively, that was my fault for not calling some easy throws early. But, you know, give (Dunnellon) credit. They were really physical — they wore us down, especially on that last drive in the fourth quarter,” said Bertani, the longest-tenured head football coach in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

“We usually respond, but we couldn’t today.”

Dunnellon, a Class 3A program, rushed for 200 yards on 42 total carries before the final two kneel downs, and won the time of possession battle 29:40 to 18:20.

North Miami Beach’s best shot at getting back on top of the Tigers came in the third quarter. The Chargers (6-7) got across midfield but saw their drive stall and lined up to punt. A penalty on the Tigers during the punt gifted NMB a new set of downs, and North Miami Beach used it to get down to the Dunnellon 23-yard line. But NMB’s drive sputtered again, after a couple of incomplete passes into the end zone, as it turned the ball over on downs.

Junior John Gray led the Chargers with 47 rushing yards, 28 of which came during his second-quarter touchdown run that tied the game at 7 with just over seven minutes left in the first half.

NMB freshman quarterback Bo Bertani — the coach’s son — completed 12 of his 22 passes for 53 yards and threw a third-quarter interception. Ty Hayes III had a game-high three receptions for 27 yards, but the Chargers — who play in Class 2A — had just seven first downs Thursday.

“I think our quarterback’s father didn’t do a good job of putting him in position to make plays,” Bertani said with a tongue-in-cheek tone. “We tried to put too much on him and that’s probably my fault. He’s a freshman, so he’s going to live and learn, and we’ll go from there.”

Dunnellon, which won a pair of traditional FHSAA Class 2A state titles in 1978 & 1979, took its ultimate lead just before halftime as quarterback Dylan Curry connected with Tanner on a short screen pass that the junior running back took 54 yards for a score.

FHSAA Executive Director Craig Damon presented both teams with trophies following the game. The inaugural FIT Championship in 2024 only featured Rural classification teams. The governing body added postseason tournaments for Classes 1A-3A and 4A-7A.

While the tournaments don’t carry the same cache as the FHSAA state championships, they do offer teams like North Miami Beach — with a roster that only features six seniors — plenty of upside.

“It was huge. We got to practice another month, so this was like another spring practice, but with three games in the spring practice,” said Bertani, who led the Chargers to the Class 6A state semifinals in 2006 before losing to eventual champion Miami Northwestern in the former Miami Orange Bowl Stadium.

“We have a bunch of young kids, so it was a really great experience and helped us get better. Not only did we get a good month of practice with the three games, but now we’ve got some motivation going into the offseason as well.”