Cardinal Newman football reaches first FHSAA state championship game
NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...
Cardinal Newman football has cemented its best season in program history.
The Crusaders routed Carrollwood Day, 48-33 in their Class 1A state semifinal on Friday, Dec. 5.
Carrollwood Day ran back the opening kickoff for a touchdown, but the story was all Newman from there in a first-half demolition.
It’s the first ever state championship appearance for Cardinal Newman, who will play Chaminade Madonna in the Class 1A state title game on Dec. 11 at 12:30 p.m. at FIU’s Pitbull Stadium.
“Awesome, awesome,” head coach Jack Daniels said. “I’ve been telling these guys . . . 30 years coaching and I’ve been there four times. A lot of people never get there. We’re blessed with great players and great coaches. This is a very exciting night for us.”
“You play for the prize,” Daniels continued. “That’s what you play the game for. We’re one of two teams left. We’re there and we have a chance.”
Jyron “Snow” Hughley made it rain on offense
West Virginia commit Jyron Hughley accounted for five total touchdowns Friday night, including three through the air and a pair with his legs.
All came via explosive plays.
“He’s been doing it all year,” Daniels said. “He should be up for player of the year in the state. He’s an incredible player. He’s really put our team on his back offensively.”
The senior signal-called got the Crusaders offense rolling on a big run before hitting Janarro Sumpter for a touchdown to even the score in the first quarter.
The defense took care of much of the scoring in the second quarter, so that the Crusaders offense touched the ball for just a handful of plays prior to the halftime whistle.
Pheonix Donghia, who has been dealing with turf toe, scored on a power run, breaking three tackles.
But the offense really became a fireworks show between Hughley and Leslie Mosley, the latter of which caught two dynamic touchdown passes on long bombs from his quarterback, with a third near-score negated by penalty.
Mosley was on the receiving end of an 84-yard catch-and-run to the the game seemingly out of hand by halftime, and the Hughley-Mosley duo encored with a 67-yard scoring connection on just the second play of the second half.
“He didn’t sign on Wednesday,” Daniels said of Mosley. “And there’s a lot of schools that need to go get some new talent evaluators because that kid is a ball-player.”
Though Carrollwood Day would fight back into the mix, it seemed almost destiny that it would be Hughley that iced the game with a 42 run right up the gut.
“It’s sad because I know I only have one game left with him,” Daniels said of his explosive quarterback.
Hughley isn’t done yet, though, and he aims to make the most of that final game.
“I’m happy coach Jack trusted me to run his offense this year, but we’re not done,” Hughley said. “We came up short last year, but this year, we’re coming for it all.”
Opportunistic defensive stakes Crusaders to big halftime lead
William Hart then intercepted the ball on the Patriots’ ensuing possession, and it wasn’t long before Newman’s Phoenix Donghia powered into the end zone, breaking three tackles to stake the Crusaders to a 14-7 lead.
The Patriots has an opportunity to draw even, but Adam Balogoun-Ali read the pass, jumping a route for Newman’s second interception.
This one, the Auburn commit ran back for a wild, winding 89-yard touchdown return to give Newman a two-score lead.
“We had a difficult time getting them off the ball,” Daniels said. “They’re big and they’re physical. That was a potential 14-point swing there because they were driving the ball there and he pick-sixed it and that put us up 21-7.”
The break-don’t-break defense from Newman continued as Carrollwood drive to the red zone once again, but defenders punched the ball out, with Ignacio Zulaica leaping on the loose ball.
“We had breaks go our way and we hung on at the end,” Daniels said.
Defensive complacency warrants tweaks ahead of title matchup
Chaminade Madonna is not in the business of letting opportunities fly by them.
Cardinal Newman leapt out to a massive halftime lead, with both sides of the ball rolling — but a game that seemed out of reach for the visiting Patriots was apparently not.
Carrollwood stormed back with four straight touchdowns in the second half, drawing the score to within a single touchdown. In the end, it was too little, too late, despite raising the blood pressure of the home crowd.
“They’re a running team and they don’t want to throw the ball. We got up big and they had to throw the ball, they were tempo’d up, so they’re not spending a lot of time between plays. We had a more couple picks that we dropped, that we probably could have scored on. And we didn’t make plays to get off the field and let them stay in it.”
It also means that, had the three red zone turnovers not drastically changed the complexion of the state semifinal, things could have been closer.
“We have to do better at those things and put games away.”
Balogoun-Ali, who says that Cardinal Newman prides itself on its defense, called the leniency in the comeback “more of a mental thing.”
Heading into the state championship matchup against Chaminade Madonna, Cardinal Newman is not simply content with what they’ve accomplished so far.
“I feel like we’re the best team in Newman history,” Balogoun-Ali said. “We’ve got so many guys so many play-makers. When it comes to Chaminade, we fear God. We all bleed red. We’re going to give them that same game and do our thing.”
This is a developing story. Check back later for updates.
Alex Peterman is a high school sports reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at apeterman@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Cardinal Newman routs Carrollwood Day to clinch championship berth
More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos