Monday, October 26, 2009

In a must-win game against visiting Miami Edison on Friday night, the Key West High football team relied on a heavy dose of rushing and one of the team's best defensive performances of the season to stay in the state playoff race.

Led by Michel Sohi's 225 rushing yards and two touchdowns, and a defense that held the Red Raiders out of the end zone until the final two minutes, the Conchs picked up a crucial 31-10 victory that improved them to 1-1 in District 16-3A play and set up what will essentially be a play-in game Nov. 6 at Miami Jackson. The Generals fell to unbeaten Booker T. Washington, 16-8, Friday night. Booker T. clinched the district title with the win and Edison's loss.

"We told them, 'Our backs are against the wall, and if we're going down, we're going down fighting,'" Key West coach Jerry Hughes said of his team's mentality going into Friday night. "They came out with their backs against the wall and had a great performance. We're going to need a performance like this against Miami Jackson."

Sohi's career night led a dominant ground attack for the Conchs (5-2, 1-1), who rushed for 396 yards in the victory. Quarterback Stephen Jones, who passed for just 42 yards on seven attempts, added another 85 rushing yards and a touchdown on just five carries, and Phillip Young finished with 59 yards on the ground.

Jones also threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Christian Stewart en route to breaking the 25-year-old Key West High record for passing yards in a season. Jones broke the career mark the week before.

When the Conchs weren't running over or past Edison (0-7, 0-2), their defense was stifling the Red Raiders' offensive attack.

Edison's first points came on a 55-yard Michael Lima field goal after a Key West fumble with just one second remaining in the first half. Hughes said he was a little surprised the Red Raiders even attempted the long kick, which hit the bottom crossbar and bounced through the posts to cut the Conchs' halftime lead to 17-3.

"I thought they might give it a shot, but I didn't think he would come anywhere close," Hughes said. "But you could see what a strong leg he's got. That was a heck of a kick."

Edison, which was harassed in the backfield all night, didn't get on the scoreboard again until the waning minutes while trailing 31-3. Hughes credited defensive coordinator Paul Davis' preparation for the standout performance.

"The defense did a heck of a job," Hughes said. "Coach Davis came up with a great plan. We knew they couldn't throw, so we put eight men in the box and they didn't have a lot of places to go."

The Conchs are off this week before leaving the Keys for the first time this season to take on Jackson on Nov. 6.

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The Marathon High football team continued to fight for its playoffs lives on Friday night and looked good in doing so rolling to a 49-9 victory over District 8-1A foe Florida Christian. The Dolphins were led by their quarterback Nyran Ross, who was part of all but one of the seven touchdown, as he found pay dirt twice on the ground and connected with receivers four times for scores. The other Marathon touchdown came on a Deonte Stemage touchdown run on the first play the team was on offense.

After allowing opponents to score 89 points during a three-game losing streak to start the district schedule -- including a 17-10 loss to Key West -- the Dolphins defense has been solid as of late. During the current two-game win streak they have kept the opposition to a combined 16 points. The offense also has found the groove scoring 46 more points in the last two games than they did in the previous three.

Marathon (3-4, 2-2) returns home on Friday -- where they have won only once this season, a 64-0 win over Coral Shores -- and continues with its district schedule against Miami Country Day. A victory is important for the Dolphins if they are to set up a crucial game against Westminster Academy in two weeks. If the Dolphins are to make the postseason they must win both games.

• • •

It was another rough learning experience for the Coral Shores High football team on Friday night in front of a Hurricane homecoming crowd. Facing off against another winless team, the 'Canes looked like they had a chance to get into the win column for the first time this season, but penalties and turnover marred the night, allowing Doral High to win its first game of the year, 42-6.

With youth all over the field, the teams combined to allow 11 live balls to hit the turf -- four of which were recovered by the defense -- and commit 18 penalties in the game. The Hurricanes were flagged eight times for 75 yards and the Firebirds 10 times for 70 yards killing numerous drives for both teams.

In the end, blown coverages and offensive mistakes led to another Coral Shores loss (0-8, 0-5) and another running clock to end the game.