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Another unofficial grouping of teams in Class 3A, which no longer has defined districts. One team in particular from this group will receive plenty of attention – and rightfully so – but it would be a crime to completely overlook the other teams listed.
Fort Lauderdale Calvary Christian
2016 Record: 7-3 (played in Gold Coast Conference)
Coach: Kirk Hoza
2017 Outlook: Right under a lot of folks’ nose, Calvary Christian has been one of South Florida’s more consistent programs. Within the context of its classification, the Eagles and head coach Kirk Hoza have a winning formula.
Since 2013, Calvary Christian has gone 33-9 – which includes 2014’s undefeated (11-0) season that culminated in the Eagles winning the Southeastern Football Conference (SFC) championship. Calvary reached the SFC championship game again in 2015, but lost to Coral Springs Charter.
Looking at the 2017 season, Calvary Christian will once again have a nice core with which to work.
Junior quarterback Skylar Pearcy returns a year older and a year wiser, after starting for the Eagles as a sophomore. Having another offseason to work with Coach Hoza and his coaching staff should mean a more efficient completion percentage and a bump in yards and touchdowns.
Also returning are Calvary’s second and third-leading rushers from 2016 in Robert Evans and Ronnell Lewis respectively.
One thing to watch will be if Tiras Shashaty, who led the team in receiving this past season, will continue to play football since he’s also one of Calvary Christian’s top lacrosse players.
Graduation hit the Eagles’ defense hard, so it’ll be up to senior Steven Cymrot and junior Johnathan Hardy to step into leadership roles while youngsters like 6-foot-4, 180-pound sophomore defensive end Samuel Williams finds their way.
Hollywood Chaminade-Madonna Lions
2016 Record: 9-4 (2016 District champion; Class 3A state runner-up)
Coach: Dameon Jones
2017 Outlook: Chaminade-Madonna is on a mission in 2017.
Talk to any of the Lions and they’ll tell you that they have unfinished business. Leaving Orlando this past December with the Class 3A state runner-up trophy did not sit well with head coach Dameon Jones and his young players.
Coach Jones enters his second season at the helm but it probably feels more like his first full year since he took over the team literally a couple weeks before the start of 2016 season.
He hit the ground running and quickly ingratiated himself with the program and the community while also implementing his own structure, which he developed from multiple successful stints at Hallandale High.
Getting so close to a state title this past season put a lot of things in motion for the Lions. The big thing it did was attract a great deal of talented players to the program – which offers excellent academic resources as well as athletic prowess.
Chaminade picked up at least eight impact players during “Transfer Season”.
The offense was bolstered by the addition of receivers Akeem Hayes (South Broward/Blanche Ely) and Marvin Alexander (Flanagan).
Adding Hayes and Alexander, both of whom are committed to the University of Kentucky, as well as former Archbishop McCarthy receiver Logan Giordano (an Eastern Michigan commit) will give opposing defenses a lot of tough choices to make since the Lions already had four-star receiver and Alabama commit Xavier Williams coming back.
Chaminade’s offensive line, which needed to replace a pair of graduated starters from 2016, got a much-needed boost when 6-foot-3, 330-pound offensive guard Sebastian Sainterling came over from Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas and Timothy Butler came in from South Plantation High. Getting Sainterling means the Lions can create a potentially dominant left or right side when he works alongside returner Davoan Hawkins (6-foot-5, 270 pounds).
Also coming over from Southwest Ranches Archbishop McCarthy was quarterback Quinn Dempsey. Dempsey, a senior, can fill the void left by the graduation of Henry Colombi – if he is able to stave off junior holdover Daelen Menard. Menard does have the advantage of being in Jones’ system for a year, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if he was given the ball early in the season.
Even with all the new pieces, Chaminade’s offense will still be centered around senior running back Shaun Shivers. While Shivers will never be the biggest player on any field he steps on, he is definitely among the fastest and most dynamic.
A 5-foot-8, 175-pounder and Auburn commit, “Worm” has elite speed and a knack for making big plays – evident by the 1,500 rushing yards and 19 touchdowns he accounted for this past season. He even put the state on notice when he took a handoff 80 yards to the endzone on the Lions’ first offensive play in the 3A title game this past season.
The Lions defense picked up former Pembroke Pines Flanagan linebacker Zachary Dixon, former Sunrise Piper defensive back Patrick Ottey as well as former Davie Nova 6-foot-5, 215-pound defensive end Cameron Williams – who is committed to Florida.
That trio will have to mix in with senior linebacker C.J. Williams (6-feet, 225-pounds), senior defensive lineman Corey Prince (a 6-foot-1, 275-pound Wofford commit), four-star junior safety Keontra Smith (a 6-foot-1, 195-pound Kentucky commit) and junior cornerback Te’Cory Couch (6-feet, 170 pounds).
Coach Jones decided to put his team through the ringer this season, building one of the state’s toughest schedules for his team to navigate through.
Chaminade will kickoff the 2017 season with a showdown with Miami-Dade County heavyweight Miami Central, a team that has won five state championships in the past seven years, on August 24th.
The Lions will also take on Class 8A power Miramar High (Sept. 1); defending Class 5A state champion and 2017 nationally-rated Plantation American Heritage (Sept. 22); and Miami Booker T. Washington (Oct. 13) – another team (Class 4A) that has won four state championships in the past five years.
Chaminade, which has also received national consideration, surely has the talent to compete with those larger classification teams – Coach Jones’ goal when building that schedule was to prepare his players for another deep playoff run and to prepare them for the major college football careers many of his players have on the horizon.
Boca Raton St. John Paul II Eagles
2016 Record: 3-6 (played in District 7-3A)
Coach: Jeff Dellenbach
2017 Outlook: Former Miami Dolphins offensive lineman Jeff Dellenbach enters his second season leading St. John Paul II and he’s hoping that 2017 proves itself to be a more productive year.
Not only did the Eagles have to endure the 3-6 year, they also had the season stained by a fight against Fort Pierce John Carroll High – which resulted in two Pope John Paul players and Dellenbach being suspended for the final game of the season.
An obstacle that the team will have to overcome is the transfer of 2016 passing leader Ryan Rizk, who transferred to Delray Beach American Heritage.
Taking Rizk’s place will be sophomore Zachary Bohannon. Bohannon (6-foot-1, 185 pounds) saw very limited action this past season and will be thrust into a key role in 2017.
Beyond Bohannon, the Eagles’ offense will need to find new playmakers at the skill positions. The top two rushers and receivers from this past season all graduated.
The team will need to rely on its defense, which will be buoyed by seniors Brock Trotto (6-foot-2, 250-pound defensive end), Nick Pepe (6-foot-2, 200-pound defensive end) and junior linebacker Kyle Corona (6-foot-1, 200 pounds).
Boca Raton St. Andrews Scots
2016 Record: 2-7 (played in Southeastern Football Conference)
Coach: Jimmy Robertson
2017 Outlook: St. Andrews is looking to wipe away the shortcomings of the past couple of seasons and press towards better fortunes this year.
The Scots have gone just 9-21 in a three-year span.
Head coach Jimmy Robertson enters year two of his tenure and will be looking to capitalize on a strong nucleus of returners so the team can get some tangible progression.
Senior quarterback Wyatt Ruth was only able to play in three games this past season, but he was still one of the team’s top offensive producers. Also returning is the team’s 2016 rushing yards leader, Gadiel Cartagena, as well as the top rushing touchdown producer, Jason Otis.
The trio of Ruth, Cartagena and Otis should enable the Scots to put up more points on a weekly basis and give them a better chance to come out on top in close games – since St. Andrews lost three games by three points or less in 2016.
Senior linebacker Matthew Hamorsky will be tasked with leading a group that will be searching for its identity and playmakers in 2017.
Fort Lauderdale Westminster Academy Lions
2016 Record: 5-4 (played in Gold Coast Conference)
Coach: Tommy Lewis (1st year)
2017 Outlook: Westminster Academy enters the 2017 season with a new architect building its foundation.
Gone is Willie Tillman, who led the Lions for one season before taking a job as an assistant at Valdosta State University.
Westminster Academy went out-of-town for his replacement, bringing in former Lakeland Victory Christian coach Tommy Lewis to be its new head coach. Lewis, who also spent time coaching in South Carolina – where he led a program to four state championships in 10 years, led his Victory Christian team to the 2014 Class 2A state title.
Tillman is a winner.
He’s taking over a program that was hit hard by graduation and lost its 2016 starting quarterback Kamran Kadivar to transfer (to Fort Lauderdale Pine Crest).
The Lions’ top returners all reside on the defensive side of the ball.
Senior linebacker Billy Bevill and senior defensive back Jonathan Moulton (6-foot-2, 180 pounds) can provide leadership and playmaking as can junior defensive back Blake Thifault.
Westminster Academy’s offense will have a lot of new faces, which could lead to struggles – especially early in the season.
Bald Prediction
There’s no district champion to crown here, but I do see two playoff teams.
Chaminade-Madonna is the no-brainer pick and Calvary Christian is the other. The Lions are easily one of the better teams in South Florida – regardless of classification – and they will show it this season.
Calvary has an experienced leader in Coach Hoza and he should be able to put enough around his returning core to tally the requisite points to earn a playoff spot.
It’ll be interesting to see what Westminster Academy is able to do under Coach Lewis in year one – if they can stay around the .500 mark. I’ve always subscribed the theory that year two is better than year for new coaches, so 2017 might be more of a foundation-laying year for Westminster.
Playoff Teams: Chaminade-Madonna, Calvary Christian
Bold Prediction
Some might call this bold, others might call this common sense – either way, I’m saying it.
Chaminade-Madonna will win the Class 3A state championship in 2017.
As stacked as the Lions roster is and as much faith as I have in Coach Jones, saying that a team will win a state title roughly 18 weeks before it happens is a bold statement.
I’m putting the pressure on the Lions, though. It’s championship or bust for Chaminade.
Group MVP
Chaminade’s Shaun Shivers is the easy pick for the MVP in this group. “Worm” has game-breaking speed, as he showed during the Lions’ appearance in the Class 3A title game this past season.
Having a player that is a threat to score whenever the ball in his hands wherever he is on the field is what Shivers personifies and that’s what makes him so valuable.
Big things come in small packages.
Top Players
Aaron Pomeroy – Westminster Academy
Akeem Hayes – Chaminade-Madonna
Anthony Molle – St. Andrews
Billy Bevill – Westminster Academy
Blake Thifault – Westminster Academy
Brandon Laurent – Westminster Academy
Brock Trotto – St. John Paul II
C.J. Williams – Chaminade-Madonna
Cameron Williams – Chaminade-Madonna
Danny Longman – Chaminade-Madonna
Davoan Hawkins – Chaminade-Madonna
Gadiel Cartagena – St. Andrews
Isaac Brittsan – Calvary Christian
Jason Otis – St. Andrews
Jonathan Moulton – Westminster Academy
Justinn Richardson – Chaminade-Madonna
Keontra Smith – Chaminade-Madonna
Kyle Conger – St. John Paul II
Kyle Corona – St. John Paul II
Logan Giordano – Chaminade-Madonna
Marvin Alexander – Chaminade-Madonna
Matthew Hamorsky – St. Andrews
Nick Pepe – St. John Paul II
Patrick Ottey – Chaminade-Madonna
Quinn Dempsey – Chaminade-Madonna
Robert Evans – Calvary Christian
Ronnell Lewis – Calvary Christian
Samuel Williams – Calvary Christian
Sebastian Sainterling – Chaminade-Madonna
Shaun Shivers – Chaminade-Madonna
Skylar Pearcy – Calvary Christian
Sterling Ortiz – St. Andrews
Steven Cymrot – Calvary Christian
Te’Cory Couch – Chaminade-Madonna
Timothy Butler – Chaminade-Madonna
Vincent Polimeni – St. John Paul II
Willie Moise – Chaminade-Madonna
Wyatt Ruth – St. Andrews
Xavier Williams – Chaminade-Madonna
Zachary Bohannon – St. John Paul II
Zachary Dixon – Chaminade-Madonna
Zeke Alexander – Chaminade-Madonna
