KEY WEST – Drip…Drip…Drip. It is not the aspired Gatorade bath, sweat, or squirt of water to quench dying thirst after a hard fought playoff game. Instead, it’s the tears trickling down the faces of the North Broward Prep seniors as they realize they’ve played the last game in an Eagles’ uniform, and for some, their last football game ever. After years of seven AM practices, 6:30 AM workouts, gut wrenching ‘opportunities’ (a North Broward football traditional punishment), gracious victories on Tom Marcy Field, and most importantly lots of hard work—it’s all over for the Eagles’ seniors. Perhaps the most dreadful consequence of all, however, regretful losses, and Friday night’s playoff defeat certainly will fall under that category.
North Broward’s season ended Friday night at the hands of the Key West Conchs, 55-28, at the southernmost point in the United States. After falling to Oxbridge Academy last year in the same position—the Gold Coast Conference semi-finals—the 2015 campaign ends in the same way, and the same agony for head coach Rex Nottage’s Eagles.
“It’s very tough,” North Broward senior captain Ray Maldanado said after the playoff loss, “but I’m not going to let it be what I remember most about this season.”
To say North Broward did not have a successful season would certainly be false, boasting a record of 6-2 heading into the final two games of the year. But as NFL hall of fame coach Bill Parcells always said, “It’s not about how you start, it’s about how you finish.” Such is the case for the Eagles, losing each of their final two games against Pembroke Pines Charter to finish the regular season, and the playoff showdown with Key West to determine their fate.
“It’s pretty tough to make it there with all of the hard work and dedication that we put in as a collective group and then come up short in the semi-final,” junior Dymitri McKenzie said after the loss. McKenzie rushed for a team high 852 yards and 16 touchdowns this season.
As they have all year, poor run defense and turnovers were what buried North Broward on Friday night. Key West running back Mekhi Sargent broke the Key West high school single season rushing record, racking up 276 yards and three touchdowns for the Conchs, diminishing the late Speedy Neal’s record set back in 1979.
“It’s an accomplishment that not everyone is going to see, so I feel extremely blessed, and thankful for the group of guys that helped me become the all time leading rusher,” Mekhi Sargent said after breaking the record.
The Eagles also turned the ball over three times in this one, but it was quality over quantity: each of the turnovers were costly.
On just the first play from scrimmage, David Vozzola’s handoff to Kevin Austin slipped out of his grasp and was quickly scooped up by Key West defender John Mann and returned for the touchdown to give the Conchs a 7-0 advantage less than one minute into the game, which is not the start North Broward would’ve anticipated. The Eagles later found themselves with first and goal from the ten yard-line with an opportunity to potentially tie the game, but yet again North Broward shot themselves in the foot. Vozzola’s pass was tipped, and fell into the graceful arms of a Conchs’ defender. And then in the third quarter, Kenny Henningsen completed a catch into Key West territory, but before he too coughed up the football, a play that was followed by another Mekhi Sargent touchdown—this time 49 yards.
sideline Friday during the final minutes of
his last high school game. (Photo: Morgan Sherman)
In a September 18th loss to Key West at home, the Eagles’ coaching staff clearly noted postgame that a late halftime passing touchdown, which was a total collapse in the North Broward secondary, was the difference in their difference. However, as if it were deja-vu at its finest, the mistake repeated itself on Friday night. After a Sargent touchdown drove the Key West lead to 28-14 with just 1:14 left in first half play, it had appeared as if North Broward would be prancing into halftime down two touchdowns, but things got worse. A sudden three-and-out had the Eagles punting with under a minute left, transferring the ball over to the Key West offense. That’s when a flashbulb memory, or a re-occurring issue that has you saying, “not again,” Key West (which rarely throws the ball) struck. Quarterback Michael Cleaver threw one of his only few in the game, but it was a beautiful crisp touchdown pass over the seam of the Eagles’ defense to Alvin Howard in what was a dagger in the North Broward championship dream.
“It’s been a great four years of having fun with my second family,” Eagles’ captain Ray Maldanado said when asked how he would summarize high school career.
But such wasn’t only example of history repeating itself for North Broward in the playoffs. In what was just only their second playoff appearance in the last five years, the Eagles followed last season’s playoff mistake of stumbling into the halftime lockers after appearing to be in the game. Far heftier underdogs against a superior Oxbridge team in 2014, North Broward was actually tied with the Thunderwolves in the second quarter, a result that consumed the Eagles will energy momentum, and a “we can do this,” mentality.
But in West Palm Beach last season, too, the Eagles’ defense surrendered two late scores close to recess which dropped them into a dark two-touchdown hole. The Eagles were never able to climb out, resulting in a 54-15 loss at the hands of Oxbridge Academy, but there was next year. And now here is next year, in which the Eagles duplicated their same re-occurring blunders, which has them thinking of next year yet again.
“Even though we didn’t reach our common goal in a championship I feel that it was still a very successful season,” McKenzie said about this year, “When we were hit with the injury bug and lost key components to our team such as Andres [Sierra], Kenny [Henningsen] for 6 weeks, and Ted [Arthur] for the season no one folded or gave up. We all kept fighting day in and day out during practice.”
Perhaps there were two lone silver linings for North Broward Prep on Friday night, all be it one of them will be off to play division one football next season. Eagles’ star C.J. Riley did everything he could to attempt to push North Broward into the Gold Coast championship, hauling in a career-high three touchdowns in one game. Riley caught a 29-yard score in the first half, followed by 33 and 43-yard touchdown grabs later. However, Riley—a senior—holds numerous division one offers and will be making his next touchdown catch in college. He finishes his Eagle career with 1,551 yards and 22 receiving touchdowns over just a two-year span.
As for the other bright spot, well, it was something North Broward has done all season: never giving up. Last season, the Eagles had a currency of not scoring the rest of the way in a bad loss, but North Broward scored two more touchdowns before the buzzer on Friday night, playing until the final whistle.
And so it is back to the weight room, the tenacious off-season workouts, the blood, sweat, and tears of grinding out the off-season for North Broward. For they will have to wait at least 12 more months to get another shot at the aspired title. For now, it’s just another season gone by, and another long break approaching before fall football season re-emerges next August.
