5 Takeaways from Chaminade-Madonna’s big win against Miami Norland

Derrek Cooper stands out on both sides of the ball, and the Chaminade-Madonna cruises to third straight impressive victory

Chaminade-Madonna standouts RJ Alphonse (56) and Derrek Cooper (1) after the Lions roar past Miami Norland, 45-20. / Joe Frisaro

HOLLYWOOD, FLORIDA – The Chaminade-Madonna Lions are starting to establish an identity.

It’s taken five games for this youthful unit to put things together, which is about what coach Dameon Jones expected.

On Thursday night, Chaminade overcame three first half turnovers, and pulled away with a 45-20 victory against a strong Miami Norland squad.

“That’s what I say every year,” Jones said. “About game four or five, we start feeling stuff out. Fixing the nooks and crannies. But, hey, we still have got work to do. We still ain’t there. We still have stuff to clean up.”

What the Lions are regularly showing is the ability to score, seemingly at will.

Jaquari Lewis of Chaminade-Madonna with a rushing touchdown that gave the Lions a 14-point lead in the first quarter. / Joe Frisaro

Now winners of three straight, Chaminade (3-2) showed its primed to make another run at a state championship.

SBLive offers our five takeaways from Thursday’s convincing victory:

Derrek Cooper is the real deal on both sides of the football

Remember the name, Derrek Cooper. The junior has a chance to be a superstar who eventually will be playing on Sundays.

Listed as an athlete, Cooper is rated a 5-star by Rivals.

Against Norland, Cooper was a game changer on both sides of the ball. On the ground, the junior had 84 yards rushing, and 106 all-purpose yards.

Chaminade received the opening kickoff, and Cooper broke free for a 57-yard touchdown run to open the scoring. His teammate, Jaquari Lewis added a first-quarter TD run making it 14-0.

Perhaps Cooper’s biggest play came at the start of the second half.

Chaminade led 24-20 at halftime, with Norland receiving the second half kickoff. But two plays into the third quarter, Vikings’ quarterback Ennio Yapoor had his pass attempt broken up by Carmani Hall.

5-star athlete Derrek Cooper is a junior at Chaminade-Madonna who scored two TDs in a victory against Miami Norland / Joe Frisaro

On the play, the ball deflected into the air, with Cooper swiping and dashing 23-yards for a touchdown, padding the Lions’ lead to 31-20.

“Big momentum boost and it just went from there,” Jones said.

Cooper has a knack for making big plays, especially on defense.

“Me and my teammate, Camari Hall, we were just ready,” Cooper said of the key turnover. “Camari Hall got that smack in, and the ball was in the air. That’s me being an athlete. Go get the ball. Pick six!”

Showing the “Wright Stuff” at quarterback

Perhaps the biggest surprise in South Florida football has been the emergence of Preston Wright as the Lions’ quarterback.

The senior transferred into Chaminade after playing last year in Ocala. When Tyler Chance went down with an injury in the second game, Wright stepped in as the starter.

Against a tough Norland defense, Wright completed 22-of-38 pass attempts for 284 yards and two touchdowns.

Wright overcame a couple of interceptions, and threw touchdown passes of 26-yards to Denairius Gray (Auburn commit) and 8 yards to Jasen Lopez.

A humble leader who is being recruited by Ivy League schools, Wright praised the effort of his teammates.

“Defense and offense really pushed each other all week in practice,” Wright said. “Everybody looked sharp. The offensive line played amazing. I’ve got to give them a great shout out. They played extremely well, especially with all the circumstances. With a very good D-line across from them. Talking [trashing on line]. Everybody hears it. The defense, once again, give them their props. They showed up when we needed them too.”

Norland’s ball-hawking defensive is back

Throw in the direction of Jerrard Smith at your own risk. Norland’s senior defensive back had two interceptions on Thursday, including a 50-yard return for a touchdown.

That scoring play at the time trimmed the Vikings’ deficit to 14-13.

Smith’s first interception came with Chaminade leading 14-0 and threatening for more. The Lions had driven to the Vikings’ 27. And on fourth and long, Smith picked the ball off near his own end zone, and brought it back to the 17.

In the past two games, Smith has four interceptions.

The Lions defense is coming together

Yes, Norland did score 20 points. But the Lions defense actually allowed only one touchdown.

Overall, Thursday was Chaminade’s best defensive performance of the season.

One of the standouts was defensive end RJ Alphonse, who has effectively rushed the passer in recent games, and is listed as having four sacks on the season.

Defensive end Matthew Pointer also had a big game, with a key sack on fourth down, and a fumble recovery.

Cooper’s heroics have been noted above. And defensive back Chris Ewald, a Miami recruit, broke up a fourth down pass near the end zone when the game was still close. And in the final quarter, Darius Smith’s interception sealed the win.

“All four D-linemen,” Alphonse said. “We all came together as a unit, and we executed perfectly.”

Defensively, the Lions’ limited the amount of explosive plays by Yapoor.

“Our main objective was to keep their quarterback in the pocket,” Alphonse said. “We did that. We were able to make our D-tackles succeed and elevate their game. They got a lot of sacks tonight.”

Ennio Yapoor to Dawson Quarterman is a tough combination to cover

Turnovers and penalties were costly for Norland. The Vikings were held without a point in the second half, after leading 20-14 in the second quarter.

Something to building upon for the Vikings is the combination of Yapoor to receiver Dawson Quarterman, a junior who is hard to cover.

In the Vikings’ lone offensive touchdown drive, Yapoor had completions of 18 and 41 yards to Quarterman.

Yapoor capped that drive with a 16-yard TD run.