American Heritage (Florida) rallies behind pick six to defeat Western

Wisconsin commit Xavier Lucas thwarts the Wildcats final drive with a game-icing touchdown after his interception

DAVIE, FLORIDA – With so many offensive weapons on the field, Friday night had the makings of becoming a shootout between American Heritage Plantation and Western.

What transpired instead of a tough defensive slugfest.

The way the defenses scrapped all night, it was fitting that the biggest play of the night was cornerback Xavier Lucas’ 25-yard interception return for a touchdown that rallied Heritage to a 28-14 road victory.

Committed to Wisconsin, Lucas snared Davi Belfort’s pass and raced into the end zone late in the third quarter to give Heritage its first lead of the night. After Byron Louis’ 2-point conversion run, the Patriots led 14-7.

“It was a tough game,” Heritage coach Mike Smith said. “This is a tough place to play. We’ve got a lot of kids that know each other. We have a couple of kids that came from over here. So it’s going to be almost like a rivalry.”

Nationally-ranked Heritage (4-1) was coming off a dominating, 48-7, win against Cardinal Gibbons last week. It was a much more difficult task for the Patriots on Friday as Western (3-3) battled all night.

Belfort, a Virginia Tech commit, connected with Koby Howard on a 48-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter, giving Western the early lead.

American Heritage coach Mike Smith addresses his team after its 28-14 victory over Western on 10-6-2028 / Photo by Joe Frisaro

In the first half, all Heritage could manage was two Gavin Harvey field goals, and they trailed 7-6 at intermission.

Lucas, who had two picks on the night, made the game-changing interception late in the third quarter. And after Heritage recovered a fumble on the Wildcats’ 10-yard line, Louis scored on a 1-yard run to make it 21-7 heading into the fourth quarter.

Belfort powered his way into the end zone to pull the Wildcats to within, 21-14.

“They played hard. They played us tough. That quarterback, Davi Belfort, is a helluva player. He just kept coming, and they kept coming,” Smith said. “They did a good job coaching them up over there.”

But the speed of Deandre Desinor helped Heritage ice the game. Dia Bell hooked up with Desinor, who raced 47-yards for the touchdown.

“At the end of the day, we’ve got to put the ball in the hands of our playmakers,” Smith said.

-- Joe Frisaro | jfrisaro@gmail.com | @sblivefl