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IMG Imposes Will On American Heritage

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Plantation, FL — The state championship is one thing, but the national championship is another.  To be considered the best high school football team in the land by the end of the year, the schedule has to include the best the nation has to offer.  On Friday night, it would be difficult to find a venue with better high school football players than at Heritage Field.  

IMG Academy, the reigning national champions traveled from Bradenton, FL to face-off against one of South Florida’s best in American Heritage.  At the end of the night, the visiting Ascenders handled the Patriots with a 35-15 victory.  Penn State commit Katyron Allen and Stacy Gage scored two touchdowns apiece as the IMG rushing attack was relentless in this preseason kickoff classic.

“They’re a good football team,” said Head Coach Pat Surtain.  “They’re tough, they’re physical, they run the ball, they have two terrific running backs, but we’re also a really good football team. And like I told the team, nobody else is beating us this year.  That was a test, it was a kickoff classic that doesn’t count against the standings.”

It Was Over When…

IMG converted a 4th and 18 from their 21-yard line into a touchdown throw and catch from AJ Duffy to Carnell Tate.  Duffy, a Florida State commit originally from Moreno Valley, CA, found Tate on an inside slant. 


The score made it a 28-6 game in the second half and Tate was also very impressive in the return game. The 2023 receiver (featured image), took his first punt return of the game for a touchdown, but the play was called back due to a block in the back penalty.

“We showed up ready to play,” said Tate.  “It was a great connection between me and AJ, he put the ball right where it needed it to be.”

IMG, although located in Florida, is an independent school that gets some of the top players from across the country to play at its educational institution.  Allen, originally from Norfolk, VA (6-0,200) was tough to bring down and found creases in the Heritage defense to break big runs. 

The same can be said for 2024 back Stacy Gage. The Tampa native, more of an elusive back, is shifty once getting to the second level, and scored in the second quarter to make it a 14-3 game. Gage would score his second touchdown late in the fourth quarter.  

Heritage would get on the board with a touchdown from 2023 running back Mark Fletcher to make it a close 14-9 game at the break (extra point blocked by Jihaad Campbell).  


The Ascenders would extend the lead with Allen’s second touchdown on the first drive of the second half.


The Patriots never gave up in this game and fought to the very end.  Quarterback Blake Murphy found Brandon Inniss for a touchdown in the second half and a Damari Brown interception gave the Pats a chance to make it a once-score game. 


However, the drive stalled, and James Smith‘s sack of Murphy after splitting a double team on fourth down ended all hopes of a comeback.


“Those guys get guys from all over the country to come there,” said Surtain.  “But we fought, maybe we could have punched it in more. We turned the ball over, we can clean that up, we gave up a lot of big runs, we gave up a lot of kickoff returns, we definitely can clean that up. So we’ll go in on Monday, watch the film, fix the things we need to correct, and move on.”  

American Heritage hosts Treasure Coast next week and IMG travels to Columbus to take on Bishop Sycamore.

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Marcus Benjamin works as the senior writer and editor for FootballHotbed.com. He attended Florida A&M and Florida Memorial University completing a bachelors degree in communications in 2010. He's covered high school football in the South Florida area since 2010 for the Miami Herald, Miami Sports Tribune and ShawSports.net. He is married and lives in Fort, Lauderdale, FL.

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