Chaminade-Madonna flattens St. John Paul II for district crown

From the opening snap the Lions exert their dominance; Cedric Bailey throws for three scores; defense and special teams also score often

HOLLYWOOD, FLORIDA – If you want to see what dominance looks like, attend a Chaminade-Madonna football game.

The Lions are not just winning, they’re devouring the opposition in a way that just isn’t fair.

The latest victim to step into the Lions’ den was St. John Paul II Academy, a district opponent from Boca Raton.

The mismatch was evident on the first play, when Cedric Bailey hooked up with Joshisa Trader on an 80-yard touchdown pass play.

One play. Six points. The blowout was on.

Dominating in all phases, Chaminade-Madonna rolled to a 63-0 victory in a game that had the clock mercifully running late in the second quarter and throughout the second half. The quarters were even shortened to 10 minutes.

Chaminade-Madona star quarterback Cedric Bailey connected for long touchdowns with his first two throws of the night and finished with three TD throws in his team's 63-0 victory on Thursday / Photo by Joe Frisaro

Want to know what’s scary? Lions coach Dameon Jones sees more room for improvement.

“We haven’t peaked yet,” Jones said. “We’re not even close. Hopefully, once the playoffs start, we get rolling, and get going.”

The biggest challenge Chaminade is currently facing is performing to its own high standard.

The bar is set super high. The Lions are not just arguably the best team in Florida, they’re making a claim to be ranked among the best in the country.

“I feel like we’re going out and showing everybody, we’re not to be played with,” junior defensive back Zaquan Patterson said. “We’re one of the best teams in the nation.”

With how they’re rolling, it’s hard to deny.

Chaminade (8-0, 3-0) officially won 1M District 6. St. John Paul fell to (3-7, 1-3).

After the game, Jones spoke to the Eagles players and praised them for showing up and competing with a roster of less than 30 players. There was concern earlier in the week, the game wouldn’t be played.

Finding quality opponents has been difficult for the Lions.

For the season, Chaminade has outscored its opponents, 412-104.

And get this: Since beating American-Heritage Plantation 42-34 on Sept. 16, the Lions have outpaced the opposition, 244-0. They’ve had back-to-back 63-0 wins, and on Oct. 13 blew out Somerset Academy Key, 90-0.

“We definitely haven’t peaked,” Patterson said. “We all feel like we haven’t peaked because I feel we still have space to grow. Everybody has space to grow. Our second group, our younger guys, they are developing good now. I feel like, once we’re a complete team, it’s going to be different.”

Zaquan Patterson said, "We definitely haven't peaked." That's scary thought for a team that has outscored its last four opponents 244-0 / Photo by Joe Frisaro

Next week, Chaminade is expected to get a tougher test against Treasure Coast in a Thursday night game at home. That’s expected to draw plenty of media.

For Chaminade, the mission is clear: win state and be nationally ranked.

“It’s very important to us,” Patterson said. “Our coach, he will play anybody. That’s what he always tells us, he will play anybody. That’s very important to everybody. We want to show that we’re the No. 1 team.”

Early in the season, Chaminade was tested, facing quality opponents like St. John’s from Washington D.C., Dillard, Miami Northwestern and American Heritage. Since, the Lions have been blowing teams away.

It is to the point where Jones and his staff must figure out ways to keep the players focused.

“Every week we’ve got to come up with some different strategy to keep everybody focused and in line,” Jones said. “It’s tough. It’s tough.”

Chaminade beats you down in all phases of the game.

For example, in the first quarter on Thursday, the first two offensive plays were long touchdown passes. After Bailey’s 80-yard strike to Trader, his next pass was a 60-yard toss to Jeremiah Smith.

The Lions led, 28-0, after the first quarter and ran just those two long pass plays on offense.

At halftime, the margin was 42-0.

Chaminade didn’t run a play on offense in the third quarter, and yet, scored two touchdowns, building a 56-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The Lions scored five non-offensive touchdowns: Three on punt plays, and two pick-sixes.

In the first quarter, Denzel Johnson returned a punt 48-yards for a touchdown, and Chris Ewald had a 50-yard interception return for a score.

In the second quarter, Bailey threw 15-yards to Duane Thomas for a touchdown, and Tywan Cox had a pick-six interception.

“It’s really about the game plan we set,” Bailey said.  “The first plays we did to get the guys going. It’s like hitting a fly with a sledgehammer. Even though they are undermanned, we want to put them to sleep.”

It was more of the same in the fourth quarter.

Kwame Smith scooped up a fumble by the punter, and scored on a 15-yard run, and Edwin Joseph returned a punt 40-yards to make it 56-0.

In the fourth quarter, Javarius Robinson connected on a 41-yard pass to Kyle Washington, capping the scoring.

“Our offense, they’ve been running up the score all year,” Patterson said. “Just recently, in that game we scored 90 in, that’s when we really started getting turnovers on defense. So ever since then, we’ve been trying to keep it going.”