Going into week five of the high school football season, four of the varsity teams in the western communities are ranked in the most recent Super 25 High School Football Poll. Palm Beach Central High School (4-0) is ranked third, the King’s Academy (5-0) is ranked ninth, Royal Palm Beach High School (2-1) is listed 10th and Wellington High School (3-1) is ranked 12th.
Palm Beach Central High School —On Thursday, Sept. 10, Palm Beach Central traveled to Wellington High School for the annual Wellington Cup game, returning victorious with a 21-14 win. Going into the game, the Broncos had won the last nine Wellington Cup games.
PBCHS head football coach Kevin Thompson enjoyed the win but said that his team must play better for the rest of the season in order to have a deep post-season run this fall. “It was a messy win,” he said. “We aspire to play better, and we must play better for the rest of the season. I must say that Wellington is a much-improved team.”
Prior to defeating Wellington, the Broncos picked up their third win of the year when they defeated Dr. Joaquín García High School 24-12 on Thursday, Sept. 3. Now, with a 4-0 record, the Broncos have a bye week on Friday, Sept. 18.
This past week, the Broncos have been resting and recovering from four straight weeks of hard-hitting games. “Our focus this past week has been to get our players healthy and to study film to see where we can improve,” Thompson said.
Thompson is especially proud of his defense. “The last two games, our defense has been playing lights out,” he said.
The Broncos will seek their fifth win of the year when they travel to play at Palm Beach Lakes High School on Friday, Sept. 25. The following week, on Friday, Oct. 2, the Broncos will host another rival school when Royal Palm Beach High School visits.
Wellington High School — On Thursday, Sept. 3, the week before the Wellington Cup game, Wellington defeated Fort Pierce Westwood Academy, 26-0. Looking ahead, the Wolverines (3-1) have a bye week on Friday, Sept. 18. The Wolverines return to the gridiron on Friday, Sept. 25, when they host Jupiter High School. On Friday, Oct. 2, Wellington will travel to Lake Worth High School to play the Trojans.
So far this season, Wellington’s statistical leaders are sophomore wide receiver Tarrens Catul, who is averaging 52 receiving yards a game; sophomore running back Jay’Lan Tyler, who is averaging 73.7 rushing yards a game; and senior linebacker Dylan Miller, who is averaging 11 tackles a game. Both Catul and Tyler have scored two touchdowns each this year.
Wellington head coach Pete Walker said that he and his team will not dwell on the Wellington Cup loss.
“Although we are very disappointed in the outcome, we are encouraged that we continued to fight until the end of the game,” Walker said. “We remain focused on being more disciplined and paying attention to details going forward.”
Royal Palm Beach High School — The Wildcats, now pursuing their third straight winning season, are off to another strong start, though their season is about to get congested with three games in less than two weeks because of an upcoming make-up game.
After week one’s home game against Broward County’s Archbishop McCarthy High School was postponed due to inclement weather, the Wildcats opened the season with a gut-wrenching 16-14 home loss to Pahokee High School on Friday, Aug. 28. Pahokee won with a long touchdown pass on the game’s last play.
“We lost on a 75-yard Hail Mary pass,” RPBHS head coach Samuel Curry said. “It was a double-pass Hail Mary where a Pahokee receiver was behind our last man. It was a tough loss.”
The next two weeks, Royal Palm Beach responded with two road wins — a 48-13 victory at Martin County High School on Friday, Sept. 4 and a hard-fought 10-7 win against Glades Central High School on Thursday, Sept. 10 in Belle Glade.
After a bye week on Friday, Sept. 18, the Wildcats (2-1) will play three games in 12 days, two of which will be on the road, starting with a home game make-up against Archbishop McCarthy on Tuesday, Sept. 22, followed by a regularly scheduled game at South Fork High School on Friday, Sept. 25, before heading to Palm Beach Central on Friday, Oct. 2.
After three games, senior running back Demetrice Rolle is Royal Palm Beach’s top runner with an average of 124.3 yards a game. Rolle also leads the team in touchdowns with three. Defensively, senior Rodney Hammonds is averaging eight tackles per game.
The King’s Academy — The Lions (5-0) are committed to getting stronger and playing smarter. That philosophy is generating wins in games. TKA picked up two more wins on the road by defeating NSU University School, 35-12, on Thursday, Sept. 3. Then, on Thursday, Sept. 10, TKA defeated Miami Beach High School by the slimmest of margins, 10-9.
The game against Miami Beach was decided in the last two minutes of the game. Trailing 7-2 late in the fourth quarter, junior quarterback DJ Beneby scored a go-ahead touchdown on a 62-yard run with 1:45 left in the game, which gave TKA an 8-7 lead. To get a three-point cushion, the Lions went for the two-point conversion and got it when Beneby completed a short pass to wide receiver Sean Victor.
Miami Beach took the ensuing kickoff and marched quickly down the field. With 10 seconds left in the game, Miami Beach lined up for a potential game-tying 33-yard field goal. Fortunately for TKA, Jack Miller and Chase Croteau were able to get their hands on the ball after it was kicked. The deflected football rolled forward and was recovered on the one-yard line by TKA’s Alaka’i Henderson.
With two seconds left in the game, head coach Dan Burack instructed Beneby to get in the victory formation, take the snap, back up a few steps, watch the game clock go down to :00, and then take a knee in the end zone to give up the two-point safety, thus ending the game with TKA ahead 10-9.
“It was a hard-fought, well-played game by both football teams. It was a gritty win for us,” Burack said.
The Lions are looking to extend their winning streak when they play the first of four consecutive home games, beginning Friday, Sept. 18 when American Heritage School (Delray Beach) visits. On Friday, Sept. 25, the Lions have a bye, and then on Friday, Oct. 2, they host the SmartEn Sports Academy from Miami. After that will be Friday, Oct. 9 against Somerset Academy-Canyons and Friday, Oct. 16 against Inlet Grove High School.
According to Burack, the key to his team’s success has been a staunch scoring defense, which has allowed less than 10 points per game. That defensive prowess is the result of an intense off-season weightlifting program.
“I give a lot of credit to Jeremy Evans, our strength and conditioning coach,” Burack said. “He’s done an amazing job with our players during this past summer.”
Burack also said his team’s positive mental attitude is infectious.
“Our players are dialed in and are playing as a true team,” he said. “Our team leaders are three seniors — Jack Miller, Ben McPherson and James Powell. This is a player-led team. When it’s a player-led team, I can concentrate more on coaching.”
Seminole Ridge High School — While the Hawks are off to a rough 1-3 start, they displayed great progress in weeks three and four of the regular season.
After opening with two straight losses, the Hawks responded with a decisive 43-0 win against Tradition Prep on Friday, Sept. 4. Then, they had a close 7-3 loss at Palm Beach Gardens High School, on Thursday, Sept. 10.
“We played our first game of the regular season with zero returning starters from last year’s team,” said head football coach Eric Poyner, who assumed the role back on June 1. “Since that season-opening loss to Palm Beach Lakes, we’ve shown great progress in all areas. I’ve seen improvement every week — in practice and in games. We have good kids and good players.”
Seminole Ridge’s four team captains this fall are junior tight end/defensive end Shawnley Albert, junior quarterback/linebacker Tristan Kennedy, senior running back/linebacker Elijah Smith and senior offensive lineman/defensive lineman Alexander Suarez.
Poyner is particularly proud of the on-the-field efforts by Albert and junior running back/defensive back Dylan Johnson.
The next two games for the Hawks are at home on Friday, Sept. 18 against Olympic Heights High School and Friday, Sept. 25 against Martin County High School.
