Apopka rallies to reach state final
Ocoee, Olympia fall short
Apopka used a must-have touchdown drive to to score with 1:50 remaining and beat host Palm Beach Central 27-24 in a Class 4M (Metro) state semifinal football game on Friday night.
Zeldrick Roberts scored Apopka’s game-winning TD on a 1-yard run. Rashad Watson added a two-point conversion run.
The Blue Darters (11-3), state champs in 2002, ’12 and ’14, will return to South Florida (Fort Lauderdale) in two weeks to play top-ranked Miami Columbus (13-1) for the FHSAA championship. The Explorers pulled out a wild, 41-36 win against Ocoee on Friday.
Palm Beach Central (12-2) jumped out to a 21-6 lead in the third quarter before Apopka rallied on the road.
“Our kids are mentally and physically tough and they wanted it,” Blue Darters coach Jeff Rolson said. “We made it hard on ourselves at times. We faced a lot of adversity and we scrapped and clawed. When they scored on the first drive of the second half, we responded and were able to get some good things going. Our kids do not know how to quit. They closed it out on defense. It was special.”
Apopka closed the gap when quarterback Tyson Davison scored on a 40-yard keeper to make it 21-12 with 1:46 to go in the third quarter.
The Darters’ defense stepped up with a game-changing play. A strong pass rush forced a lost fumble by Palm Beach Central at its 24-yard line. Apopka scored again with 8:57 remaining to pull to 21-19 on Watson’s second touchdown run.
PBC sophomore Ethan Dagostino kicked a 31-yard field with 3:48 for a 24-19 lead.
Apopka then marched downfield using its strong running game to set up the winning score.
Apopka went ahead 6-0 with Watsonrunning35yardsforatouchdown with 9:43 to go in the second quarter.TheBroncosrespondedwith a 65-yard TD drive for a 7-6 lead.
Apopka, winner of nine of its past 10 games, was in the semifinal round for the fourth consecutive season and 10th time since 2001. The Darters were state runners-up in 2019 and ’21. PBC is 55-13 over six seasons, but the Broncos were in a football final four for the first time.
Alex Kushel, Sun-Sentinel
Ocoee can’t hold on: Ocoee, an unexpected final four team after its 6-4 regular season against rugged competition, gave 4M No. 1-ranked Miami Columbus all it could handle before falling 41-36.
Twice receiver Ahlston Ware won the battle against his defender in the corner of the end zone.
And his second touchdown catch on a fade pass from quarterback Darien Wharton with 3:28 left had the Knights’ goal of playing for a state championship for the first time within sight.
That was a huge fourth-down play, with the Knights having no timeouts left. But Ocoee (9-5) saw the dream fade as Columbus (13-1) marched down the field and scored with just more than a minute left to win at Tropical Park in Miami.
Ocoee had one final chance and moved the ball to near midfield before Wharton overthrew a pass intended for Ware that was picked off by Cameron Pineda to seal the outcome.
Ocoee committed 3 turnovers, including a costly fumble before halftime, which allowed Columbus
to cut its lead to 30-28.
The Knights scored the first, second and third playoff victories in school history to reach the final four and Sheppard watched his team go toe-to-toe with the Explorers and nearly upset a team that entered ranked No. 21 in the nation by High School Football America.
Ocoee had had the lead before losing to the other 4M state finalist, Apopka, 13-12 in the regular season.
Wharton threw for 276 yards and 2 touchdowns on 24-for-29 passing while Keyondray Jones ran for 105 yards and 2 touchdowns on 16 carries. Jones turned the corner and ran 47 yards for a touchdown that gave Ocoee a 10-7 lead. After the Knights blocked a punt, Jones broke a tackle and scored from 3 yards out for a 17-7 lead.
Asaad Waseem also returned a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown for a 30-21 lead late in the first half.
Ocoee’s Joshua Guerrier intercepted a Columbus pass with time running out in the first half, but the Explorers regained possession when the Knights fumbled away the ball. Columbus cut Ocoee’s lead to 30-28 when quarterback Alberto Mendoza connected with Andrus Fadrelle for a 9-yard TD pass with just 6 seconds on the clock.
Ocoee opened the scoring with a 36-yard field goal by Marlon Muñoz.
The Knights couldn’t slow down Columbus running back Sedrick Irvin Jr., who totaled 203 rushing yards, including the game-winning score from 7 yards out with 1:12 to go.
“There’s life after football for these kids and I know they’ll learn from this,” Sheppard said. “It’s just not the outcome we wanted.”
Columbus, which beat Apopka 21-20 for the 2019 Class 8A state title, spent most of the season atop the 4M rankings. The Explorers’ loss was 42-35 against 2M No. 1 Miami Central (12-0).
Andre Fernandez, Miami Herald
Lakeland edges Osceola: Seventime state champ Lakeland, playing at home, scored 2 second-half touchdowns and held on to erase Kissimmee Osceola’s state title visions with a 14-7 win in a Friday Class 4S (Suburban) semifinal.
It was a bitter defeat for the Kowboys (10-4) after they dominated the first half but managed just one score. Osceola took a 7-0 lead on a 14-yard pass from David Buggs to Bo Mascoe early in the second quarter. That play capped a 10-play, 68-yard drive that was kept alive when Buggs threw to Ja’Keem Jackson for 14 yards on 4th-and-3 in Lakeland territory.
The Dreadnaughts (13-0) intercepted an Osceola pass and drove 88 yards on 16 plays to tie the score on an 11-yard touchdown throw from Zach Pleuss to Jhoelle Velazquez
with 38 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
Lakeland scored the winner on its next possession, after an Osceola punt, when Tyler Williams took a direct snap 61 yards untouched for the score.
Taking over on the 39-yard line, the Kowboys drove to Lakeland’s 8 but lost the ball on a reverse on 4th-and-4. The Kowboys held on downs and got one final possession from midfield with two minutes to go. But on 3rd-and-3 at the Dreadnaughts’ 45, Osceola was intercepted for a third time.
“Our kids played their guts out all night long,” Osceola coach Eric Pinellas said. “Lakeland came into this game averaging 40 points a game and we held them to 14. If you had told me that before the game, I would have taken that effort. What’s most disappointing is our team was built to win games like this. We played an incredibly tough schedule and we weren’t intimidated by this atmosphere.”
Kowboys sophomore running back Taevion Swint carried 23 times for 100 yards to finish with more 1,600 for the season.
With his playoff win last week, Lakeland’s Bill Castle — now in his 47th season — passed the late Corky Rogers as the winningest coach in Florida history with 427 victories.
Osceola won a 1998 state championship and was a state runner-up in 1982, 2007, ’14 and ’15. The Kowboys came in on an eight-game win streak.