Miami Central 24, Armwood 10

Orlando – It wasn’t pretty and that’s what you would expect to happen when two teams that clearly had better defenses than offenses collide, as well as coaching staffs that intimately knew their opposite sidelines tendencies start scheming. It was going to come down to Armwood’s Defense making plays in open space and containing Central’s blossoming tandem in the backfield of Anthony Jones and Cedric Miller. It was going to come down to Miami Central locating #99 for the Hawks and planning accordingly along with offensive execution that would allow Armwood to hep themselves immensely. And last but not least, it was going to come down to “who-could-make-the-least-amount-of-mistakes” in the penalties category; something both teams were in the habit of combatting on a regular basis this season.

So what happened? Where did it go right for the now 3x’s consecutive state champions for Dade County? Central used their basic-yet-insanely efficient Wildcat formation in the second half to student-body-right-and-left the Hawks and strategically go away from wherever Byron Cowart was located. The Rockets were a paltry 30% in converting 3rd downs, which was an enormous key to the success of Armwood – which was to get their defense off the field and stay ahead of the chains forcing Central into predictable situations. However in the second half the Rockets found magic with Jones and Miller (especially with Jones…and in the last two quarters) putting up 202-yards and eventually pulling away.

Where did it go wrong for Armwood? The onus fell on the nations #2 player and Cowart to be the spark that lights the Hawks fire. The senior DE started the game with bad intentions; beat a double-team and nearly swallowed a Central RB whole in the first series. That was nearly the extent of his output though; Cowart finished the game credited with just two tackles and one for a loss. The Rockets were able to neutralize Cowart even scheming to leave him completely unblocked at times. The Hawks left side of the line was gashed by Central’s Wildcat and the Hawks offense was offensive when it came to third down conversions finishing 2-of-13 for just a 15% conversion rate. In fact, the Hawks defense for all of the “lack” of production from Cowart was nothing short of awesome. Jordan Griffin was the main benefactor with 19 total tackles, along 3 tackles-for-losses. Griffin was the game’s leading tackler with next-closest player being his teammate Aaron Covington with nine.

Mind-numbing metrics:
The teams combined for five sacks, and a total of 23 tackles-for-losses. Central’s 152 yards in penalties was just 16 yards shy of Armwood’s entire offensive output. Miami Central won the battle of time possession with nearly 27 minutes of time with the ball versus Armwood’s 21-minutes. Today’s victory was Central’s fourth in their last five seasons as well.

Armwood Head Coach, Sean Callahan:
We aren’t going to talk about what could have been, we’re going to get back to work soon; not talking about getting in the weight room or anything [crazy] like that, because I need a break.

Central Running Back, Anthony Jones:
“I just kept talking to the offensive line and telling them to calm down; be coachable and let’s get down to business. We know what it takes to win and how to be on top. We push ourselves in the offseason to the limits. Our coaches push us to the limits and we have some of the best coaches in America. I just want to thank God for them.”