HOLLYWOOD – Junior kicker Noah Sidan drilled a 28-yard field goal as time ran out to give host Chaminade-Madonna a heart-thumping, 48-45 victory over rival American Heritage before a raucous crowd on Friday night.
Sidan, who missed a game-winning field goal in regulation along with an extra-point kick in the Lions’ 35-34 overtime loss to Blanche Ely last week, gave Chaminade its first win of the season.
“(The misses a week ago) didn’t affect my mental state at all,” said Sidan, who had winning field goals against Miami Norland and Miami Central last season. “I knew I had it. I’m confident in these situations…it’s an amazing feeling.
“I feel like any big game can come down to me,” Sidan added. “I am no stranger to this. I knew it was going to happen. It looked really big. It was right in front of me.”
Chaminade-Madonna senior quarterback Preston Wright, who started in the Class 1S state championship games in 2022 and 2023 for Ocala Trinity Catholic, and left briefly for Cardinal Gibbons before transferring to the Lions (1-2) this summer, threw for 428 yards and three touchdowns in his first start for the three-time defending state champions.
“Jasen (Lopez) ran a heckuva route that we hit on a couple of times tonight,” Wright said. “We did what we needed to…. we left some points on the table. We’ll fix some small things and be ready to go next week.
“We have been through some situations, especially me,” said Wright, who was filling in for sophomore Tyler Chance, who started the first two games of the season, but spent the night on crutches and in a knee brace after getting injured in the Ely loss. “I have teammates around me and coaches that put you in good positions to win and you can go out and succeed and that’s what we did tonight.”
American Heritage, the nation’s No. 14-ranked team, battled back throughout the contest and tied the game at 45-45 with 49 seconds remaining on a 16-yard TD scamper by junior quarterback Dia Bell. The Texas commit threw for two TDs and ran for another while piling up more than 350 all-purpose yards.
Chaminade-Madonna marched right down the field as Wright hit Lopez on a 31-yard pass to the American Heritage 2-yard line. Lopez, who finished the game with 9 catches for 268 yards, was able to get out of bounds to set up Sidan’s winning kick.
“This is a big win for us and our program,” Lopez said. “Coming off our two losses, both one-possession losses, we stayed together until the end.”
Lopez said after he hauled in the late pass, he was seeking the sideline.
“Of course,” Lopez said. “Either way, if I didn’t get out of bounds, we would have burned a timeout. This was a really big win. We just got bumped down in the rankings to No. 42 and many people were doubting us. We work hard every day, and we just came out and executed.”
Chaminade-Madonna seized a 24-21 halftime lead as Wright threw for 253 yards and a touchdown.
Chaminade-Madonna coach Dameon Jones said his team had been in dogfights the past two weeks. The Lions dropped its season opener 34-27 to third-ranked St. John Bosco (California). The last time Chaminade-Madonna started the year with two straight losses had been in 2013 when they dropped their first six games and ended the year 2-7.
“We got a young ball club that is still learning how to win,” said Jones, who graduated 21 seniors from last year’s state champion. “I tell them every year; we get oiled up around game five or six. We got a lot of stuff we got to clean up and do better. To pull this one out is fantastic.”
The Lions took the game’s opening kickoff and drove 80 yards in 11 plays capped by a 1-yard run by junior Derrek Cooper. Senior running back Jaquari Lewis made it 14-0 on a 20-yard run with 28.8 seconds left in the first quarter.
American Heritage (1-2) drew within 14-7 on a 19-yard scoring run by junior Malachi Toney.
Chaminade-Madonna extended the lead to 21-7 on a 59-yard bomb by Wright to senior wide receiver Kyle Washington with 6:46 left in the first half. The Patriots came right back and trimmed the lead to 21-14 on a 34-yard scoring toss from Bell to senior Jamar Denson with 3:49 to go in the second quarter.
The Lions stretched the advantage to 24-14 on a 30-yard field goal with 2:41 left in the first half by Sidan before the Patriots pulled to within 24-21 on a 36-yard TD pass from Bell to Toney.
The game see-sawed back and forth in the second half.
American Heritage picked up a 41-yard field goal by Gavin Harvey to tie the game at 24-24 in the third period. Chaminade made it 31-24 on a 56-yard TD pass from Wright to Denairius Gray with 2:09 left in the quarter. American Heritage senior Byron Louis scored on a 1-yard run with 45 seconds to go in the third, however, the Patriots missed the extra-point attempt, leaving it 31-30.
Chaminade-Madonna built on its lead midway through the fourth at 38-30 on a 14-yard TD pass from Wright to Koby Howard. The Patriots answered on a 28-yard run by junior Brandon Bennett and a 2-point conversion pass from Bell to Col Jean-Noel.
“We just work through it,” Jones added. “Whether we are 0-2, 0-3 or 0-4, we just got to work through it. (Preston) did a helluva job. He can get better, and I still want more.”
Did Jones expect a high-scoring affair?
“I expected a dogfight, not a shootout.”
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