FLORIDA TOP 25 PREVIEW: No. 13 American Heritage Patriots team preview

With the 2022 high school football season here we are previewing the Top 25 teams in our Florida Top 25 rankings that we have already debuted on Varsity Sports Network’s Florida Gridiron Report last week. Rankings for the Florida Top 25 will be updated each Wednesday night on the Florida Gridiron Report and on FloridaHSFootball.com along with all classification rankings.

NO. 13 AMERICAN HERITAGE PATRIOTS (PLANTATION)

Head Coach: Mike Smith, 1st year

Classification & District: 2M-12

2021 Record: 6-4

Key Athletes: WR Brandon Innis, Sr; RB Mark Fletcher, Sr; QB Blake Murphy, Sr; DB Damari Brown, Sr; DB Dameon Fagan, Sr; CB Shamar McNeil, Sr; OL Joey Colosi, Sr; OL Jadon Brown, Sr; S CJ Goldsby Jr, Sr; LB Jamarcus Smith, Sr; RB Reggie Foster, Sr; LS Aiden Arias, Sr; LB David Vadala, Sr

2022 Schedule

Kickoff 7:30 PM ET unless noted

* – Denotes District Game

Fri. 8/20 (Week 0) – @ Valdosta Lowndes, Ga., 8

Sat. 8/27 (Week 1) – Los Alamitos, Calif. (at St. Thomas Aquinas), 4

Fri. 9/2 (Week 2) – Lakeland Lake Gibson

Fri. 9/9 (Week 3) – Belle Glade Glades Central

Fri. 9/16 (Week 4) – @ Hollywood Chaminade-Madonna, 7

Fri. 9/23 (Week 5) – BYE WEEK

Fri. 9/30 (Week 6) – @ Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons, 7

Fri. 10/7 (Week 7) – Davie Western

Fri. 10/14 (Week 8) – @ Fort Lauderdale Stranahan (AutoNation Community Field)

Fri. 10/21 (Week 9) – @ Naples

Fri. 10/28 (Week 10) – Hallandale

Fri. 11/4 (Week 11) – BYE WEEK

Season Outlook: The Patriots enter the season with a new head coach in Mike Smith, but Smith is no stranger to the program having been a longtime assistant under the previous two head coaches in Mike Rumph and Patrick Surtain who helped the school win multiple state championships over the last decade. Overall, 14 of 22 starter return for the team with the return split evenly on both sides of the ball and that is despite graduating 17 seniors from last year regional semifinalist team. While the goal is for American Heritage to return to the state championship game, it will be rather difficult given just how challenging the district will be with defending state champion Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons in the district, but also given how tough Region 3 and Region 4 will be in Class 2M.