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Miami, FL– There is a changing of the guard in Miami-Dade County football royalty, at least for now. Out is Miami Central, the pre-season nationally ranked team that had won four consecutive state championships in Florida’s 6A classification. Their fellow district mates Miami Northwestern and Miami Carol City were always finishing as runner ups in the district, but not this year. They played an exhilarating game at Traz Powell Stadium known as the ‘Mecca’ with Carol City winning 34-27.
Friday, Carol City used last minute heroics from back up quarterback Lorenzo Floyd to connect with wide out Victor Tucker for a last second touchdown. Floyd had been the starting quarterback for the Chiefs coming into the season but lost his position after suffering an early season injury. During his absence, Marlon Smith, a basketball player who excelled as a quarterback at the youth level, was asked by the coaching staff to come and play. He lead Carol City to five consecutive victories before losing to Northwestern on October 29th.
That game came down to a couple of last minute heroics by the Bulls as Carol City couldn’t hold on to a 14-10 lead with under two minutes left, eventually losing 19-14.
With Smith on the bench, Floyd delivered. Before leaving the game with injuries, Smith connected twice with Kevaughn Dingle for touchdowns. Dingle is a big time wide receiver who created space with his rare mix of size and speed. But Northwestern gave Carol City all they wanted.
The Bulls scored first on a Chatarius Atwell pass to Derrick Davis. They were aided by great special teams play also as Keiren Davis returned a kickoff for 90 plus yards. But in the end, the Chiefs just proved too resilient. They won without their star running back Nayquan Wright who was sidelined with a leg injury and also their best defensive player De’Andre Wilder (a University of Miami commit).
This is the first time since head coach Aubrey Hill took the helm of the program that they advanced past the second round of the playoffs. Hill is building a championship level contender and its no wonder, after college coaching posts at the University of Florida and Miami, he’s certainly got the resume. Couple his talents with those of defensive guru Damon Cogdell, a former college assistant coach as well, Carol City is built for championship level success.
