Highlands football team reaches title game

Posted on 03 November 2016 by LeslieM

sports110316By Gary Curreri

The numbers were so sparse that Highlands Christian Academy had one player attending off-season workouts and the school had to cancel its spring football game.

This Friday, the Knights (4-3) will travel to Palmer Trinity (5-0-1) to play for the Florida Independent Football Conference (FIFC) championship at 3:30 p.m.

Highlands Christian, which knocked off Palm Glades Prep Academy, 26-14, in the semifinal game, avenged a 25-22 loss earlier in the season to Palm Glades.

There is always the outside thought that it was possible if everything went well, but, realistically, no,” said Highlands coach Josh Harris, 36, of Boca Raton.

Harris, who is in his first year as head coach after assistant coaching stints at Miami Northwestern, Doral Academy and Somerset Academy started to believe that his team could make a run at a championship when the team played Palmer Trinity in the regular season. The Knights led the host Falcons, 14-13, with five minutes remaining in the game and was halted because of darkness.

I saw that we could compete with the best teams in the conference,” Harris said. The game was never finished because it wouldn’t have affected the standings. The FIFC consists of five teams: Highlands Christian, Palmer Trinity, Palm Glades Prep Academy, Scheck Hillel, and Pinecrest Prep (Miami).

One of the things I had to work with on them was having pride in themselves and pride in the program,” Harris said. “They have something to play for and a chance to leave a legacy where they can come back 40 years from now to the school and see a banner up there for football. Right now, there is nothing up there related to football, but a lot of other sports are there. That’s what they have come out and done. Winning Friday would be huge!”

The Knights, with just 23 players on the roster and seven players going both ways on offense and defense, have been led by 8th grader Christian Opalsky (RB/DB), seniors Carl Schuberth (QB), Noah Camanini (OL/LB), Josiah Ritzer (OL/DL) and sophomore Titus Baggs (TE/DE). Opalsky has rushed for more than 1,000 yards this season in just seven games.

Highlands Christian Academy hasn’t had a winning season since 2011 when the team finished 6-4.

Bucks win district title

While Deerfield Beach head football coach Jevon Glenn was disappointed with his team’s play in a 35-0 victory over host Piper on Friday night, the effort was still good enough to clinch the District 11-8A championship for a second straight year.

I am disappointed as you can be with a 35 point win,” said Bucks coach Jevon Glenn, whose Bucks improved to 8-1 overall and 5-0 in the district. The team’s lone loss this season came against Grayson (Logansville, GA) on the road, 39-14.

We came out in the first half and got on them,” Glenn said. “With (Nick) Holm going down, that kind of hurt and we could have brought him back but we felt we could do this to this team.”

Nick Holm threw for two touchdowns before leaving with 10:04 remaining in the first half with an injury to his throwing shoulder as the Bucks knocked Piper from the ranks of the unbeaten for the second straight season. Last year Piper entered the game undefeated at 9-0, only to lose 38-0 on the road to the Bucks.

Holm threw TD passes to Daewood Davis for 7 yards and a 29-yarder to Alton Allen to stake the Bucks to a 14-0 lead. Ashtan Pierre returned an interception 41 yards with 5:46 remaining in the first half to extend the lead to 21-0.

Deerfield put the game away late in the fourth quarter when Taletrious Bradley scored on a 67-yard TD run in the fourth quarter and Alec Brown hit Jerry Jeudy for a 28-yard TD to seal the game. Piper fell to 8-1 overall and 4-1 in the district.

Deerfield Beach plays host to Cardinal Gibbons Friday at 7 p.m. in a non-district game.

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