Miami Southridge @ Homestead
3M PLAYOFFS ROUND 2 | 2023 SEASON
November 17, 2023
by Josh Zedner
Homestead, Fla. | “Broncos Rush Past Spartans”
Florida Man Sports is back with another big-time playoff showdown. Tonight we had a regional semifinal matchup between the Southridge Spartans and the Homestead Broncos. Southridge came in at 7-4 after a blowout victory against Hialeah last week. Homestead was 9-1 and off of a blowout victory of their own against McArthur.
The first quarter was highlighted by a lot of defense. 2025 DE Johannes Mager had an early sack for the Stead. 2024 DB Daylan Parks jumped a pass over middle thrown by 2024 QB Joshua Townsend that got the Ridge in good field position. But nothing resulted out of these big plays and a smattering of punts resulted.
In the second quarter, the Broncos got a drive going through the legs of star 2024 RB and Louisville commit Issac Brown. After a pass breakup by Parks, Townsend threw a prayer into double coverage that was picked off by 2024 WR/DB Jayquan Reid, who then proceeded to take the ball end to end to give the Ridge a 7-0 lead.
2024 ATH James Randle had a nice return that set up Homestead with good field position. And the team responded with the star Brown. Two rushing first downs, then a screen pass from Townsend to Brown to get the Broncos on the goal line. Townsend then ran into the endzone on a QB draw to knot the score at 7 a piece.
Southridge had a response to this drive. 2027 QB James Perrone threw a dime to 2024 RB/WR James Louis to get the drive started. Then after a couple of Bronco penalties, the Spartans were on the goal line. The drives were thwarted by tackles for loss by Randle and 2024 DB Jakhai Rainey. 2024 K/P Gabriel Perez kicked a field goal to get the lead to 10-7 at half.
4 touchdowns were taken off the board for Homestead in the first and second halves. 3 of which from Brown. Another one on a wild deflection caught by 2025 4-star WR Cortez Mills. The zebras were tossing laundry on the field for both teams, but moreso for the Broncos.
After a ridiculously good return by Brown, 2026 RB Kemari Morrison had a couple of first-down runs to get the Stead to the goal line. Brown then took the pitch off the speed option to the endzone to get Homestead their first lead of the game.
After a fortuitous bounce on a long kick return by 2025 ATH Darius Clements, the Ridge was set up nicely. 2024 RB Mekhi Bethel ran for a first down. Another penalty in the endzone killed Homestead again. 2024 LB Eduardo Nunez and 2025 DE Joseph Mackey had tackles for loss to force another field goal kicked by Perez. After a pass breakup by Reid, Homestead was forced to punt again.
Perrone then got into a rhythm. He threw for first downs to Clements and Reid. Then a touchdown to 2024 WR Glenn Smith. Southridge had regained the lead. Rather shockingly. Townsend got the next drive going with a first-down toss to 2025 WR Kevin Cascudo. Then a big rumble by Brown again, which was followed by a penalty from Clements that ejected him from the game. A huge loss. But Southridge was able to achieve a turnover on downs through a huge combined tackle on Townsend by 2025 DE Tyler Davis and 2025 DT James Miller. But on the next play, Perrone made a critical mistake. Throwing to a blanketed receiver, he was picked off by 2024 DB Keyon Martin.
That got Townsend rejuvenated. A toss to Brown got the Broncos in the redzone, and then a slant to Cascudo gave Homestead the lead back at 21-19. After a turnover on downs forced by Nunez, Homestead looked to pull away. Townsend rushed in for another touchdown to put the Broncos up 9. After a huge return by Smith, Perrone immediately responded with a dime of a touchdown thrown to 2026 WR Jahkari Johnson. 28-26 Homestead now.
With no timeouts left in the 4th, the Ridge needed a stop. They could not get it. Townsend found Cascudo twice to essentially ice the game. The second time being a bomb that destroyed the Spartan faithful’s hope. Perrone was dialed in again on the following drive delivering first-down passes to Smith and Johnson. But time was running out. He delivered a huge touchdown to the original starting quarterback of the game, 2026 ATH Malik Penson. 35-33 with about a minute and a half left.
One last miracle for Southridge was needed. An onside kick recovery. But it was for naught. The ball was easily recovered by Homestead and the game was salted away.
For the Homestead Broncos, the expectations were high and they have not disappointed. They are now 10-1. They have stars on this team. Brown, Cascudo, Mills, and Townsend are all next level guys. They have to clean up the penalties though in order to get back to states. Between that, and the mediocre defensive performance against a freshman quarterback, they have a lot to work on before next week’s showdown against Miramar.
And the Southridge Spartans, despite the low expectations coming into this game, really surprised me tonight. They played with such incredible effort tonight. They have some really talented guys on both offense and defense. It will be tough to lose Reid and Smith, but this team has some great players coming back. 2025 LB Joshua “Hot Dog” McDowell, 2026 DE Kam Wilson, Clements, Johnson, and Perrone should all be back next year. The focus has to be on beefing up their run blocking. They got next to nothing going on the ground tonight, and mostly all year in their other games we’ve covered. Perrone looks good though, and this game should be a huge confidence builder heading into next season.
FINAL SCORE:
Homestead beats Miami Southridge 35-33
About Josh Zedner:
Joshua Zedner is a beat writer covering high school football for Florida Man Sports. A native of Miami Beach, he attended Florida International University before finishing his undergraduate Business Administration degree at the University of Florida. Josh is an avid Miami sports fan, and he also writes a music review blog as a passion project under the @AlbumAnalysisWithZ handle on Instagram.
