PLANTATION — Junior running back Byron Louis carried 25 times for 216 yards and five touchdowns to lift host American Heritage to a 47-35 victory in the Region 3-2M game over rival Cardinal Gibbons on Friday night.
Louis, who has now run for 1,064 yards and 16 TDs, did everything in the eighth straight win for the Patriots (10-1). He even addressed the team for the first time this season following the contest after coach Mike Smith spoke with the group.
Louis, who said he has taken on more of a leadership role this season, implored the team to stay locked in. He said even though it was a big win, they still had to go back to the drawing board.
“All glory goes to God, without him this wouldn’t have been possible,” said Louis, who said the last time he had five touchdowns in a game was when he played on the 12-under Miramar Wolverines. “And also, that offensive line…listen, those guys blocked. They blocked. I am so proud of them.
“Every play they told me, ‘they got me,’” Louis added, “and I told them, I got them. Before the game, I told them the game was going to depend on us and how we run the ball. Those guys didn’t let me down, so I had to execute every time I touched it…every week we get stronger, and we get better.
American Heritage, ranked No. 20 nationally, will host Tampa Berkeley Prep (11-2) in the state semifinal Friday at 7:30 p.m.
American Heritage capitalized on a short punt by the Chiefs and needed just two plays to grab a 7-0 lead. Louis carried the two plays covering 50 yards, the second covering 4 yards for his first TD of the night.
American Heritage padded its lead to 14-0 with 1:46 remaining in the first half as they drove 80 yards in five plays capped by a 26-yard run by Deandre Desinor. As the rest of the game would go, every time the Patriots had a two-score lead, Cardinal Gibbons would cut the lead in half.
Cardinal Gibbons (9-4) cut the lead to 14-7 early in the second quarter on a 3 yard fumble return by Jonathan Rousseau for a score following a mishandled snap inside the Patriots 5 yard line on a punt attempt.
American Heritage took the ensuing kickoff and pushed the lead to 21-7 on a 1-yard plunge by Louis. The Chiefs came right back to pull within 21-14 on a 29 yard scoring run by Cedric Wyche II with 2:44 left in the half.
Cardinal Gibbons had an opportunity to tie the game when Cory Simon recovered a fumble by Patriots quarterback Dia Bell after a 25-yard run. The Patriots’ defense held, and defensive back Mekhi Hicks batted down a Mike Merdinger pass with six seconds remaining on a fourth-and-10 play from the American Heritage 33-yard line.
Louis, who finished the first half with 13 carries for 96 yards and two scores, wasn’t done as he added scoring runs of 7, 24, and 1 yards in the second half. He carried 12 times for 110 yards after the intermission.
Cardinal Gibbons wasted little time to cut the lead to 28-21 with 8:31 to go on a 91-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Wyche.
After American Heritage went up 35-21 on Louis’ fourth score, the Chiefs cut the deficit to 35-28 on a 3 yard run by Patrick Anderson. The Patriots came right back with a 64-yard scoring run by Malachi Toney on a jet sweep to make it 41-28 with 10:54 remaining in the contest.
The Chiefs scored on a 31-yard scoring toss from Merdinger to Antonio Lindsay with 9:04 to go before the Patriots answered on Louis’ fifth TD of the night, a 1 yarder with 6:37 remaining in the game to extend the lead to 47-35.
Cardinal Gibbons had one last gasp as Merdinger converted a fourth-and-15 with 3:55 remaining in the game at the Patriots’ 9, but one play later defensive back Semaj Jackson sacked Merdinger and forced a fumble that was recovered by Christien Moreau, and they ran out the clock.
“We fought hard, I’ll give us credit for that,” said Chiefs coach Matt DuBuc. “We didn’t make enough plays and we made that mistake at the end. That’s what happens.
“We practiced well all year,” he continued. “We just haven’t played four quarters. We made plays and made big plays which we hadn’t done all year. We’d get close and give it up. We’d get close and give it up. I’m disappointed.”
The two teams have met five times in the regional finals with Cardinal Gibbons winning 35-25 in 2018. Cardinal Gibbons also won in the regular season that year en route to the state championship. Those are the only two times the Chiefs have won in the past 20 games against American Heritage dating back to 2009.
“We knew we weren’t going to get the same Gibbons team we got the first time,” Smith said. “This was a typical Cardinal Gibbons game. We drop a put, they score, we score. I told the kids all week, they don’t start the game at 48-7.
“That was a hell of a football game,” Smith added. “We told the kids at halftime, forget everything else we have to execute and that’s what we did.”
Smith said he expected big things out of Louis.
“It’s crazy because he hasn’t had a lot of touches the last couple of weeks because of the blowouts,” Smith said. “He grew up tonight. He was a man-child tonight. What can you say about him? He’s a stud. We have been looking for a leader and he stepped up tonight.”
The Patriots had defeated Cardinal Gibbons 48-7 in the fifth game of the season, and American Heritage, in the playoffs against the Fort Lauderdale school, won 58-57 in the regional final in 2017 and 10-7 in 2016. The Patriots also downed Cardinal Gibbons 31-20 last year.
Regional final scores
Friday
Class 4M
Columbus 31, Western 13
Monarch 35, Palm Beach Central 13
Class 3M
St. Thomas Aquinas 28, Coconut Creek 0
Homestead 22, Miramar 17
Class 2M
American Heritage 47, Cardinal Gibbons 35
Class 1M
Chaminade-Madonna 40, Cardinal Newman 0
State semifinals (according to fhsaa.com)
Friday, Dec. 1, at 7:30 p.m. (unless noted)
4M
Jacksonville Mandarin at Monarch
3M
Tampa Gaither at St. Thomas Aquinas
2M
Tampa Berkeley Prep at American Heritage
1M
Miami Archbishop Carroll at Chaminade-Madonna