SUNRISE, Fla. – The Deerfield Beach Bucks and the Piper Bengals clashed Friday night for sole possession of first place in District 11 Class 8A. Both teams entered the contest undefeated against district opponents and both teams had already clinched a playoff berth. But this game was about more than clinching home field in the postseason. This game was for pride, and the Bucks showed up Piper in a 34-0 rout on the road to hand Piper its first loss on the year.
It was clear from the jump that Deerfield was going to go at the Piper secondary with Alabama commit Jerry Jeudy as Nick Holm found him four times early in the game before capping off a scoring drive with a touchdown pass over the middle to Daewood Davis to go ahead 7-0.
Early in the second quarter, Holm found a wide open Alton Allen streaking down the sideline for a 25-yard score to increase the lead. On Piper’s ensuing possession they were forced to punt, and Shandon Marsden launched a 69-yard punt that set up the Bucks inside their own 10.
On the Bucks’ possession, Holm took off from the pocket for a six-yard carry but went down with an injury and walked off of the field under his own power. Alec Brown, who doubles as the team’s punter, came in at quarterback in Holm’s absence and the focus of the offense shifted away from a passing attack towards the ground game.
Later in the quarter, Piper’s freshman quarterback Derohn King escaped the pocket and threw a bomb down the sideline for what would have been the Bengals first touchdown, but multiple flags against the offense called the scoring playback. On that same drive, King threw an ill-advised screen that Ashton Pierre intercepted and returned for a touchdown to go ahead 21-0.
Piper’s opening drive in the second half had a lot of promise. After a 35-yard return by Jaycob Williams set the Bengals up in good field position. Zayin Henry led the rushing charge on the drive, moving the chains multiple times, but King threw another interception inside the red zone to Branden Bailey to end the drive.
Heading into the fourth quarter, trailing 21-0, this game was all but over for the Bengals. Deerfield made sure that it was over. The Bucks scored twice in the final four minutes of the game to go ahead 34-0. One score came on a 70-yard rushing touchdown by Taletrius Bradley and the other a receiving touchdown by Jeudy from Alec Brown.
“This is what we expected. This is a goal we set for ourselves, it’s what we wanted to do,” Deerfield Beach head coach Jevon Glenn said. “Wins are tough to come by in South Florida, it’s the greatest high school football in the world, point blank. So to go out and go undefeated in the district and beat an undefeated team for the title, I’m proud of my guys.”
Up next for Deerfield (8-1) will be the Cardinal Gibbons Chiefs at home, before the playoffs begin. As for the Bengals (8-1), they will travel to Cooper City to take on an upstart Cowboys team to round out their regular season schedule.
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