Heritage closed out the regular season Friday night in the Homecoming game, steamrolling Hallandale en route to a 53-0 victory.
Hallandale received the opening kick, and after driving down into Patriot territory, Heritage forced a turnover on downs and never looked back. On their first offensive drive of the game, senior RB Carlson Joseph broke loose on a 32 yard touchdown run. Following the two-point conversion, the Patriots jumped out to an early 8-0 lead.
After holding the Hallandale offense to another fourth down, the Patriot’s special team group broke through to block the punt attempt, setting up the offense in favorable position. Senior QB Edwin Rhodes found junior WR Vinson Davis for his first score of the night. Another successful two-point conversion gave Heritage the 16-0 lead with four minutes to go in the first quarter.
Later in the game, with 11:40 remaining in the second, Rhodes connected with senior WR Douglas Emilien on a five yard slant to extend the lead to 23-0. On the ensuing Patriot defensive drive, the special teams group once again burst through the line to block their second punt of the night. The ball tumbled into the back of the endzone, resulting in a safety and a 25-0 lead for Heritage.
Joseph later sailed past the defense for his second rushing touchdown of the night with 7:21 to go in the first half, pushing the lead to 32-0.
After yet another blocked punt set up the Patriots offense inside the 20 yard line, the Patriots tacked on another score when Rhodes dropped a perfect pass to senior WR Zacchaeus Byrd for the touchdown on the next play.
Following a score by senior guard Khris Love on a direct snap in the final minutes of the quarter, Heritage would close out the half with a 46-0 advantage.
During the break, the Patriot crowd took time to recognize this year’s homecoming court: seniors Danielle Bess, Elias Levy, Chelsea Egbarin, Rajat Ramesh, Michelle Zapata and Teddy Rackauskas; juniors Mikalia Barsoum and Nigel Murihead; sophomores Carolina Sardinas and Prateek Gupta; freshman Skylar Lewis and Alex Hoffman. The Patriots also named Ramesh and Egbarin as this year’s homecoming king and queen.
When play resumed, the defense continued to remain strong, blanking Hallandale for the remainder of the game while freshman RB Jerry Dinkins added on another score for Heritage.
The Patriots would win the game with a final score of 53-0, finishing off their last game of the regular season with a statement victory. The win marked Heritage’s eighth of the year as well as their largest margin of victory all season.
“We played great,” Joseph, who had two touchdowns in the game, said. “We finally got our perfect game on Homecoming in the last game of the season.”
(Photos/Joanne Haner)
