Archbishop McCarthy slips by Key West for Gold Coast Football Conference championship

SOUTHWEST RANCHES — Unconquered. Unbeaten. Champions. The three words that are used to describe the Archbishop McCarthy Mavericks’ 2015 season, as they achieved a Gold Coast Football Conference Title.

“Amazing. That’s it, amazing, one word,” Senior Mavericks running back Anthony Rey said after the game.

The Mavericks continued to ride on their hard-nose defensive play combined with senior Anthony Rey’s stud running en route to a 28-20 victory over Key West (6-5) to seal the school’s first ever football championship. To add to the sweetness, Archbishop McCarthy completed their first undefeated season ever, finishing the year at 11-0.

The Archbishop McCarthy defense was forceful throughout the championship contest, but they stepped up even bigger than ever at one of the most crucial parts of the game. With under a minute left in the half, the Mavericks’ defense was able to stop stud Key West running back Mekhi Sargent four times at the goal-line to limit the Conchs from scoring, and sent Archbishop McCarthy into the halftime locker room with a 14-0 lead over Key West.

“If we give up a score late in the half and they get the ball coming back [out of the second half], it’s a whole different ball game,” Archbishop McCarthy head coach Byron Walker said about his team’s defensive stand at the end of the half.

However, to say Key West didn’t have an opportunity to take the tile would certainly be false. The Conchs found themselves with 4th down and goal from the 10-yard line with just over six minutes left in the game. Conchs’ senior Alvin Howard ran a reverse in for the touchdown, but with Conchs’ starting kicker hurt, they were forced to go for two. On the two-point conversion play, sophomore quarterback Michael Cleaver fumbled the handoff to Sargent, and the Conchs would have to kickoff still trailing, 21-20.

“They [the refs] made the right call. It looks like we bobbled the snap, Mike [Cleaver]’s knee hit the ground before he fell in the endzone, so I think they got the right call on that,” Key West head coach John Hughes said after the game about the missed two-point conversion at the end of the half, “It’s unfortunate. I think we had the play.”

Even after the Conchs nearly tied the game, there was still an opportunity for Key West to regain possession with still over six minutes remaining. But the Mavericks’ season-long workhorse Anthony Rey once again jolted the Archbishop McCarthy reigns when they needed it most. Rey broke through the Conchs’ defense for a 64-yard touchdown to give the Mavericks a 28-20 lead with just over four minutes to play in the game.

“That was the whole season, all in that run,” Anthony Rey said.

“It was huge. Of course I’m walking down the sideline saying, ‘We scored too fast,’ because they still had five minutes left on the clock,” Byron Walker  explained about after the game, “but Anthony [Rey] there’s just not a drop of quit in him, you know he enforces his will on the defense.”

Senior Quarterback Eric Paul had himself quite the night in his last high school football game ever. With Anthony Rey being the center of the Mavericks’ offense, the Conchs’ game plan was beginning to stifle Rey, until Paul stepped up. Late in the first quarter–on a third down play–Paul rolled to his right, was about to be sacked, until he pump faked and drilled a touchdown pass to Tyler Messer to give the Mavericks a 7-0 lead. Paul would later hit his favorite target Messer a second time, which expanded the lead to 14 over the Conchs in the second quarter.

“My offensive line gave me a great look, did a great job for me,” Eric Paul said, “the lanes were open, we just started throwing there.” “I was thinking about tucking it, taking the sack, but at the last second I saw Tyler Messer sitting in the back of the end-zone,” Paul depicted about the first touchdown.

Earlier viewed as a change-of-pace back, Mavericks’ Willie Davis stepped up in a feature position tonight. Davis rushed for over 100 yards and a touchdown in the championship victory, and his score couldn’t have come at a better time. Just following the Conchs tying the contest at 14, Davis reversed the momentum of the game back in favor to the undefeated Mavericks. He broke off a 45-yard touchdown run, energizing the crowd, and putting Archbishop McCarthy back up by seven. Davis’ success would eventually open things up for lead back Anthony Rey on the ground.

Even in a loss, Conchs’ senior rusher Mekhi Sargent had another game for the ages. Sargent rushed for over 200 yards and two touchdowns yet again, finishing with 2,094 yards on the season, which leads all running backs across South Florida. Although it did not end ideally, Mekhi Sargent will certainly go down as the best Key West running back ever, and as an underrated prospect, Sargent will make whatever college he ends up at, very happy to have him.

“He’s a beast, he really is,” John Hughes said about Sargent.

Interesting to note, Key West was forced to go for two after every score in this game. The Conchs’ starting kicker was not able to make the trip to Southwest Ranches for the championship due to unidentified reasons, but it was costly. Key West converted on just one of their three two-point attempts, which eventually cost them the game.

“We had to leave our kicker home, that hurt us, and cost us some points,” Hughes proclaimed about going for two, “We had some extra kick-off guys, but no extra-point guys, so we had to [go for two].”

And so a year removed from their season ending at the hands of the Conchs in Key West, Archbishop McCarthy finishes off the school’s first ever championship season and undefeated year with a victory over those same Conchs in the final showdown. A hard fought game, summarizes a hard fought season for the Mavericks–always working hard, inch by inch to achieve success. In this game, the Mavericks’ offense was certainly not as explosive as in previous games, but it was certainly able to wear down the Conchs in quest to victory.

“The kids played hard. It’s about them, this program, this win, it’s for them,” Walker said.

It is yet another title for veteran Archbishop McCarthy head coach Byron Walker, who in just his third season, produces the result that the Mavericks had yearned when hiring him. To express how valuable Walker is as a head coach, one player said to him after the game, “I love you coach. You’re the greatest coach I’ve ever had.”

“I’ve been in a lot of championships, but this one is probably my greatest,” Bryon Walker pronounced.

It will be a championship Archbishop McCarthy will never forget.