Prep football: Immokalee wears down late against powerful American Heritage in 5A semis

All year long, the Immokalee High School football prided itself on its conditioning and ability to wear teams out in the second half.

They finally found an opponent that had just a little too much juice in the fourth quarter.

Facing a powerful American Heritage squad in the Class 5A state semifinals that represents the best athletes that Broward County has to offer, the Indians went toe-to-toe with the Patriots before wearing down late in a 28-21 loss.

American Heritage (12-0) takes on Baker County, a 48-28 winner over West Florida, in the state championship game Friday in Orlando. American Heritage will be going for its fourth title in five seasons.

“They’re a two platoon-team; we’re a one-platoon team,” Immokalee coach Rodelin Anthony said. “We got tired at the end of the day. That’s a strong, physical team. When you can handpick the guys out of your area, that’s what you get, the best of the best. It was a brawl, but we just came up short.”

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Immokalee led 14-7 at the half and 21-14 entering the fourth quarter, but American Heritage showed the resiliency of a champion after falling behind, much like it did in last week’s wild triple-overtime win over Cardinal Gibbons in the Class 5A-Region 4 championship game.

“We were seven points down and we’ve been in that position before,” American Heritage coach and former Miami Dolphin star Patrick Surtain said. “I told them before the game, 'You’re going to cross some adverse situations in the game of football.' We definitely did in the first half of the game. We knew we were getting the ball back in the second half. So we needed to get some momentum and get the ball back on our side. What more can I say about these guys? They’ve been fighting the whole year, and they fought tonight.”

Undaunted by Immokalee’s time-consuming drive that gave the Indians a 21-14 late in the third, the Patriots got a huge 38-yard kickoff return from Miles Jones to midfield. American Heritage quickly marched down the field, tying it on Tyler Jones's short run early in the fourth.

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The Patriots’ defense, reinvigorated by the score, forced an Immokalee punt on the next drive. Miles Jones again answered the call, taking the handoff and darting 73 yards for the go-ahead score.

Immokalee drove to the American Heritage 37 on the ensuing drive, but it stalled out after a holding penalty moved the Indians back. The Indians pinned the Patriots inside the 5 on a punt with four minutes to go, but never got the ball back as the punishing American Heritage rushing attack was able to run out the clock.

“This was the best group of guys I’ve ever played with,” Immokalee senior running back Malcom Jackson said. “Best team ever. It hurts for all of us.”

Immokalee gave American Heritage all it could handle. The Indians held a 14-7 halftime advantage and outgained the Patriots 156-132. Immokalee gave American Heritage a steady diet of big back Abraham Alce and shifty Fred Green, with each picking up 50 yards rushing in the half. Green scored the Indians’ first touchdown as time expired in the first quarter, hauling in a 37-yard touchdown pass from RJ Rosales to tie the score at 7.

Rosales found Shedro Louis for a 23-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter to give the Indians their first lead.

“I have complete faith in (defensive coordinator) Culmer St. Jean and (offensive coordinator) Izzy Gallegos, that they’re going to put our kids in the best possible position to win,” Anthony said. “That’s what we’ve done all year, running Abraham inside to open things up for Fred and Malcom.  We give you a steady dose of all three. We just got a little fatigued at the end.”

After Heritage scored quickly on quarterback Cameron Smith’s 63-yard touchdown burst in the third quarter, the Indians appeared to again take control with a nine-minute drive. Alce’s 5-yard touchdown run put Immokalee back on top 21-14 with 1:28 to go in the third.

“We never felt comfortable. We knew we had to keep fighting,” Jackson said. “They weren’t better than us -- no way. But they were able to come out on top in the end.”

AMERICAN HERITAGE 28, IMMOKALEE 21

I           7          7          7          0          -           21

AH       7          0          7          14        -           28

First quarter

AH - Marcus Lodge 56 pass from Cameron Smith (Jared Elstein kick), 8:10

I – Fred Green 37 pass from RJ Rosales (Elias Cuevas kick), :00

I – Shedro Louis 23 pass from Rosales (Cuevas kick), 9:41

Third quarter

AH - Smith 63 run (Elstein kick), 10:45

I - Abraham Alce 5 run (Cuevas kick), 1:28

Fourth quarter

AH - Tyler Jones 5 run (Elstein kick), 10:09

AH – Miles Jones 73 run (Elstein kick), 8:40

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing – I, Fred Green 12-93, Abraham Alce 16-73, Yanavis Fuller 1-16, Malcom Jackson 3-14, Shero Louis 1-(minus 1), RJ Rosales 12-(minus 12). AH, Miles Jones 11-162, Cameron Smith 2-75, Jordan Johnson 16-63, Tyler Jones 5-37.

Passing – I, Rosales 12-17-0 124; AH, Smith 1-4-2 56.

Receiving – I, Fred Green 3-39, Shedro Louis 3-38, Malcom Jackson 4-28, Jordan Hall 2-19; AH, Calvin Lodge 1-56.