Deerfield Beach knocks off defending Class 8A state champion Flanagan to reach regional final

PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. – Deerfield Beach head coach Jevon Glenn said that Deerfield and Flanagan have been on a collision course all year long, following last week’s win over Western. This week, in the regional semifinals, these two programs finally collided. A year ago, these two programs met in the playoffs and Flanagan blanked Deerfield Beach on the way to their 8A title. That would not be the case tonight as the Bucks left Pembroke Pines with a victory over the Dirty Birds.

Flanagan put itself in a hole early when Faion Hicks fumbled the opening kickoff and Deerfield recovered the ball on the 22-yard line. A holding penalty against the offense and a strong defensive stance by the Falcons pushed the Bucks backward, setting up a more difficult field goal attempt. On fourth and five, freshman Ledin Rivera did not split the uprights and the Falcons caught a huge break.

Stanford Samuels III, a cornerback and FSU commit, has been playing at quarterback down the stretch for the Falcons. Nothing changed tonight as Samuels lined up behind center to begin the drive. The senior held on to the ball on short quarterback keepers for much of the first drive and the Falcons were forced to punt away.

Flanagan forced and recovered a fumble, but the defenders did not allow the returner room to catch the ball and a flag negated the recovery, and in fact moved the spot of the ball up for Deerfield.

Driving down the field, the Bucks faced a difficult decision on fourth and short. Jevon Glenn called on sophomore Jakari Norwood to move the chains and that he did. Plays later Nick Holm found Leroy Henley and then Jerry Jeudy, moving the offense into the red zone. This time, on fourth down Rivera’s kick, sailed true and the Bucks went up 3-0 late in the first quarter.

Early in the second quarter, the Bucks made a bold decision to fake a punt inside their own 20-yard line. Punter Alec Brown connected with Kobe Green, who found space in the flat to go 25 yards, for the first down. However, Deerfield was unable to continue driving and punted the ball away.

In the second half, Flanagan started off locked in. After kicking off to Deerfield, Flanagan set the Bucks up with a third down and 17 situation, in which Samuels broke up a pass intended for Jeudy.

Samuels maintained that intensity on offense, driving down the field and picking up first downs on the ground and through the air. It appeared that Flanagan would tie the game up, if not take the lead, but a failed fake field goal attempt left three crucial points on the board in the third quarter.

Early on in the fourth quarter, the Falcons had another chance to tie up the game with a 35-yard field goal attempt. Wilfredo Renderos’ kick sailed well over both goal posts and the referees indicated that it did not split the uprights.

Deerfield was unable to increase their lead on the next possession and was forced to punt back to Flanagan. On a comeback route on the right side of the field, Samuels was intercepted by Jerry Jeudy, who primarily plays wide receiver, and the Alabama commit did what he does best: find the end zone.

“We knew we could save him, we knew when he threw him out there we would have one of the top cornerbacks in the state, and one of the better ones in the country,” Deerfield Beach head coach Jevon Glenn said. “That’s an ace that we had in the hole.”

Jeudy logged his second consecutive playoff game with an interception, and the Bucks led 10-0 over the defending champs with time running out on the clock.

Samuels threw another interception on Flanagan’s next drive, this time to Kobe Green. But the next time the ball was in Samuels’ hands he would not be denied. The cornerback turned quarterback pounded his way into the end zone from the 1-yard line to cut the deficit to just one possession halfway through the fourth quarter.

Just needing to move the chains and run out the clock, the Bucks called on Jakari Norwood. The Falcons defensive line would not surrender a single yard and the clock kept ticking. Deerfield failed to pick up a first down and was forced to punt with Faion Hicks set back to return. The punt went out of bounds around the Flanagan 30-yard line.

Trailing by three points, Samuels launched a throw downfield from inside a collapsing pocket and Green once again came away with an interception to end the game. The Bucks prevailed, in a game that they led from start to finish, 10-7.

Stanford Samuels III scored at quarterback, defended Jerry Jeudy and even had a punt inside the 10-yard line, but the all-around effort was not enough in the end. Ironically, Samuels, a cornerback, scored on offense and Jeudy, a wide receiver, scored on defense. Those were the only two touchdowns of the game, with Rivera’s lone field goal being the difference in the game.

“[Flanagan] is one of the better teams, better programs, better coaching staffs in the state so we knew we had our work cut out for us coming in here,” Glenn said. “All year people said how good Flanagan’s defense was, our guys, we got a hell of a defense too. We didn’t want this to be the first time we had a ‘best of the best’ matchup, that’s why we played the teams that we played. We’ve been on the other side of it too, and now we’re on the winning side. It’s led us to this moment and it’s next thing up, it’s a great feeling.”