Blanche Ely football stuns nationally ranked Chaminade-Madonna in overtime

Tigers blocked a potential game-winning field on the final play of regulation and Chaminade missed an extra-point for the tie in OT

Gary Adornato | Aug 31, 2024

Blanche Ely quarterback Omari McNeal scored the game winning touchdown in overtime as Blanche Ely stunned nationally ranked Chaminade-Madonna, 35-34. / Omari McNeal Hudl

Not many people noticed when Blanche Ely High, out of Pompano Beach Florida, scored 70 points in a season opening win over Boyd Anderson, last week, but the Tigers certainly have everyone's attention now.

In a stunning outcome, Friday, Blanche Ely upset Florida super power Chaminade-Madonna, 35-34 in overtime, in a win for the ages.

Quarterback Omari McNeal scored on a 5-yard run in overtime to give the Tigers a 35-28 lead. The Lions scored a touchdown on their overtime possession as well, but missed the extra-point kick to set off a wild celebration for the home team.

Chaminade-Madonna had a chance to win the game on the final play of regulation but its 36-yard field goal attempt was blocked.

Blanche Ely built a 21-7 lead, before Chaminade battled back to tie it at 21-21 midway through the final quarter. Unphased, the Tigers went down and scored again to re-take a seven point lead, but Chaminade-Madonna scored again with a little more than four minutes to play in regulation to tie the contest, 35-35. The Lions the drove to the Blanche Ely 19 to setup of their failed attempt at the winning kick.

Blanche Ely is not ranked in any state polls, which should change now, while Chaminade is No. 8 this week's SBLive/SI Top 25 National High School Football Rankings. Just last week, the Lions went toe-to-toe with St. John Bosco (California), the No. 3 team in the country before falling, 34-27.

This story will be updated.

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Published Aug 30, 2024|Modified Aug 31, 2024

GARY ADORNATO

Gary Adornato began covering high school sports with the Baltimore Sun in 1982, while still a mass communications major at Towson University, and in 2003 became one of the first journalists to cover high school sports online while operating MIAASports.com, the official website of the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association. Later, Adornato pioneered market-wide coverage of high school sports with DigitalSports.com, introducing video highlights and player interviews while assembling an award-winning editorial staff. In 2010, he launched VarsitySportsNetwork.com which became the premier source of high school media coverage in the state of Maryland. In 2022, he sold VSN to The Baltimore Banner and joined SBLive Sports as the company's East Coast Managing Editor.