By Gary Curreri

With 20 returning seniors from last season, it wasn’t the season that Blanche Ely High School football coach Nakia Jenkins had hoped for; so, after careful thought, he told his players and administrators last week that he was resigning.

Jenkins, who finished 2-9 this season and 8-14 in two seasons as the Tigers head coach, did manage to reach the playoffs in both seasons. The Tigers lost to Atlantic, 21-13, in the first round of the Class 7A playoffs last year and Dwyer, 16-14, this season.

“I think it’s best for myself and the community that I move in another direction,” Jenkins said. “I think it’s best for my family and health to step away from the game of football.”

Ridley decides

Cavin Ridley is going from being a Buck to a Bulldog.

The Deerfield Beach High School senior receiver decided on the University of Georgia, surprising many who thought he would go to the University of Alabama, where he would join his older brother, Calvin, a freshman receiver and major contributor on the national championship squad.

“This was by far the hardest decision I’ve had to make in my life,” Ridley wrote on Twitter. “As you all have seen, I have really struggled to choose between some amazing universities with outstanding football programs. I took a step back to go over my recruiting options and take an in-depth second look at all the schools on my final list.”

The four-star recruit is regarded as one of the top skilled players in the country and briefly committed to South Carolina before switching to Georgia two days later. Ridley helped the Bucks win the District 11-8A title this past season. Deerfield Beach fell to the eventual state champion, Flanagan, 17-0, in the Class 8A Regional championship contest.

Local cheer teams qualify for state

Several local high school cheerleading teams are headed to the Florida High School Athletic Association state finals following their recent performances in the Region 4 tournament at Dillard High School.

Blanche Ely had the highest finish of the local teams as it placed 6th in the Large Non-Tumbling Division, while Pompano Beach and Deerfield Beach placed 12th and 13th , respectively, in the Small Non-Tumbling Division at the competition. The three teams all scored at least 60 points and are headed to the state semifinals.

The Small Non-Tumbling, Small Varsity, Medium Varsity competitions will be held on Friday, Jan. 29, while the Large Non-Tumbling, Large Varsity, Extra Large Varsity, Small Co-Ed and Large Co-Ed competitions are on Saturday, Jan 30.

Beach soccer tourney slated

The South Florida United Youth Soccer League will host its inaugural SFUYSA Beach Soccer Tourney on March 12-13 on Pompano Beach.

The tournament, which is coordinated by Pro-Am Beach Soccer, will feature all divisions and age groups from youth to men, women and co-ed.

The tournament format will consist of Micro Soccer, 4v4 (4 field players, no goalie and small goals will be used); the Under-9 division plays 6v6 (5 field players, one goalie), while all other divisions play 5v5 (4 field players, one goalie).

The first place will receive a team trophy and player medals, while second place teams will receive player medals.

For more information, call 415-308-0603.

By Gary Curreri

With 20 senior players returning from last year’s squad, Blanche Ely football coach Nakia Jenkins believes that his team will fix last year’s late-game woes.

Jenkins, in his second season at the helm of the Tigers football team, said his team has a wealth of experience.

“Last year, we had a lot of talent, but we were young,” said Jenkins, whose team finished 6-4 with three losses in the closing moments of games. “We are returning about 20 seniors this year that played last year so we are really senior heavy this year with a lot of experience. That should be our plus this year. We should know how to finish ball games.”

The Tigers reached the first round of the FHSAA Class 7A state playoffs where it fell to visiting Atlantic, 21-13, in the closing moments, much like two other losses during the season to Miami Northwestern (23-20) and Plantation (31-23).

“Last year, we lost three games in the last minute and a half that we were winning,” Jenkins said. “We should have easily been 9-1 last year instead of 6-4.”

“It still stings,” Jenkins added. “It is going to sting probably until our first regular season game. We have about 15-20 players who contributed last year and helped us out.”

Jenkins will need to get some rapid growth from an inexperienced offensive line; however, they will have three strong running backs to run behind them, including Arthur Forest, Demeterice Bellamy and Robert Williams. Quarterback Zackery Purdue also returns and has talented wide out Thomas Geddis to throw to.

“The offense is going to be loaded,” Jenkins said. “A couple of other wide receivers who are going to help us are Jeremy Taylor and Leonard Williams.”

Defensively, look for senior David Francis to lead the way.

“He’s a leader, captain and three-year starter,” Jenkins said. “He knows where everybody should be.”

Purdue is looking forward to the season.

“This year, I am more confident,” he said. “Last year, I didn’t really read my coverages and go through my progressions. This year, we are loaded with seniors and we are going to be a better team.”

Bellamy, 17, a senior in his fourth year at the school, said he’s excited for the season.

“I have to prove a lot of people wrong,” said the 5-ft., 6-in., 165 lb. running back. “They underestimate me. They say I am too small and not fast enough, and not strong enough. I have been doing two-a-days, and sometimes three times on weekends.”

The 18-year-old Geddis agreed and said the seniors could make the difference.

“We have a lot of guys who are going to go out there and compete and go hard, and are very experienced,” Geddis said. “Being seniors, it makes you want to go harder. Our coach says you only got one game and you have to take every game like it is your last high school game.”

Geddis, who received 18 college offers during the spring, said last year’s tight losses were frustrating and they will look to change that this season.

“You don’t have the time to come back and redo the mistakes you made,” Geddis said. “You have to go 110 (percent) on every play and just know that you are putting everything on the line.”

Jenkins said the team would have to fight through adversity.

“What I am teaching my guys now is football in four quarters,” Jenkins said. “It is not three quarters and we have to finish until the last whistle blows. That is the one thing that we are teaching day in and day out. It is fighting to the last whistle. If we do that this year, we should be in the thick of things this year.”

By Gary Curreri

Blanche Ely first year football coach Nakia Jenkins left the field Friday night following his team’s Class 7A regional quarterfinal loss to Atlantic convinced he had the better team.

The problem was Atlantic is moving on in the postseason following the 21-13 win and the Tigers will have to wait another year to see if it can reach the same heights it did in 2002 when it won the Class 5A state championship and finished the year 14-1.

Jenkins, the school’s sixth coach since 2006, cited the team’s inexperience as a key factor in the loss. The Tigers have only won more than seven games three times since former coach Steve Davis left the school and went to Plantation in 2003.

“I’ve been telling my guys all season that you guys have to make the best of every opportunity and dropped balls killed us again,” Jenkins said. “Dropped balls and blown opportunities … Early in the game we are down in the red zone and we don’t capitalize … just miscues and it shows that we are a young team. We learn from experience and I am proud of them. We will just get ready for next year.”

Atlantic High junior quarterback Edwin Hernandez threw two touchdowns within a 2-minute and 48 second span of the third quarter to give the Eagles (9-2) the victory. Hernandez tossed touchdown passes of 19 yards to Markinson Ripert and 30 yards to Lamar Washington to stake the Eagles to a 14-0 lead.

Blanche Ely (6-5) cut the deficit in half to 14-7 on an 8-yard scamper by Teddrick Moffett with 11:49 left in the game; however, the Eagles wasted little time in answering as Davan Cleckley returned the ensuing kickoff 80 yards for a 21-7 lead.

Blanche Ely closed the gap to 21-13 on a 23-yard scoring pass from Moffett to Laderrick Smith with 2:19 remaining in the game, but the Tigers couldn’t tie the contest after it got the ball back with just 45 seconds left on its own 9-yard line.

Blanche Ely also had a chance to take the lead at 3-0 with 8:15 remaining in the third quarter when Carmeley Charite’s 30-yard field goal attempt was wide right. Demeterice Bellamy finished the game with 11 carries for 54 yards for the Tigers, while Laderrick Smith caught 5 passes for 94 yards.

Atlantic won the contest despite committing 18 penalties for 187 yards that nearly wiped out its 260 yards of offense in the game.

Jenkins’ team featured 80 percent of its roster with players in their first year on varsity. Three of the team’s five losses came in the closing minutes to Deerfield Beach, Miami Northwestern and Plantation.

“We just got to learn how to finish ball games, man,” Jenkins said. “It shows. We had opportunities. We should have beaten this team tonight, hands down. We just didn’t capitalize on the opportunities that we had and that has haunted us all year. We’ll take it. We’ll learn from it and just get ready for next year.”

Jenkins said the most important thing the team should bring away from the season is to play a complete game.

“They need to learn to play four quarters,” Jenkins said. “They need to learn to fight through adversity. They need to learn from mistakes. Dropped balls killed us all year and we probably had seven to eight dropped balls tonight and that could have helped us. We got away with it early in the season, but playing a good, solid team like that which runs the ball well and chews up a lot of clock, that’s what happens.”