Monarch @ Miami Southridge
6A PLAYOFFS ROUND 2 | 2024 SEASON
November 26, 2024
by Jake Lazar
Miami, Fla. | “Spartans Outduel Knights”
Florida Man Sports is back with some Round 2 coverage of the South Florida high school football playoffs. The stakes were the highest it’s been for both teams all season Friday night, and both understood the assignment. With Round 2 underway, we have a matchup between the Monarch Knights and the Southridge Spartans. The Knights were 7-3 coming into Friday’s game after their controversial first-round win over Homestead. Southridge has had a fantastic season, at 9-2, and finished off the regular season strong with a blowout victory against South Dade a couple of weeks ago. They earned the #1 seed in their region and handled business against South Broward in the first round. It was a 1-seed vs. 4-seed matchup, and the stakes were high. Win or go home.
Monarch got the ball first and things were underway on a chilly night at Southridge Stadium. On the Knights’ first drive, it looked like the Spartans forced a three-and-out when Monarch had a 4th & 10 on their own 30-yard line, but the coach decided to call a fake punt on the very first drive! Unfortunately for the Knights, Southridge was all over it, and they took over with great field position.
After being gifted fantastic field position, the Spartans had just one good rush for a first down at the 13 after the Knights forced a 4th & 5 at the 8-yard line. Knocking on the door, Southridge chose to go for it, but an incomplete pass resulted in a turnover-on-downs and Monarch football.
Monarch was able to move the ball down quickly with big chunk plays from 2025 ATHs, Antwaun Parham and Ole Miss commit Samari Reed. Once they got to 1st & Goal at the 10-yard line, Southridge held them to a 4th & Goal from the 10. On 4th down, 2026 QB Florentino Lopez connected with 2026 WR Jabari Brady for the first touchdown of the game. The two-point conversion was no good, and the Knights were up 6-0 with just under a minute left in the first quarter.
The Spartans offense was back on the field, and on the very first play of the drive, 2027 QB James Perrone found 2027 WR Jhakari Johnson down the Monarch sideline for a 45-yard completion. After the big gain, Southridge found themselves facing a 4th & 5, and they elected to go for it. On the QB draw, James Perrone was tackled just at the line to gain so they brought out the chains and that’s where things got questionable. It originally looked like the ball was just past the chains when they first placed it down, but the chain crew re-adjusted it, and the call was turnover-on-downs.
Even though the Knights got the ball back, “ball don’t lie” since Monarch’s quarterback fumbled on a keeper of his own and Southridge recovered it at around midfield. Back on offense, the Spartans had two plays for no gain and then a 9-yard completion to set up 4th and 1. This time around things went different for Southridge when they ran a wildcat power with 2025 LB Joshua “Hot Dog” McDowell. What looked like just a gain of a couple turned into a 45-yard touchdown when McDowell made it out of the scrum on his feet and kept churning with Knights all over his back into the endzone. After the beast-mode-like run, the Spartans were ahead 7-6 with just over six minutes to play in the first half.
Southridge was able to get the ball back again after Monarch had an uneventful drive and punted. 2026 RB William Williams had room to run and turned a short dump-off into a 35-yard run. But a dead ball foul after the play tacked off 15 of those yards. On the very next play, it looked like Williams’ work was all for nothing after a fumbled exchange, but Perrone recovered. Again, the Spartans went for it on 4th & 1, but this one looked like the controversial one at the beginning of the game, and the chains were brought out for a second time. The call was again Monarch football and the Southridge sideline was going ballistic.
Although it initially did not look like the football gods were on Southridge’s side for these 4th & 1 situations, “ball did not lie” again for the Spartans after they stopped Monarch on their own 4th & short. A huge stop for Southridge gave them the ball with a chance to score with just over a minute to play in the half.
The Knights defense was playing well, but a roughing the passer call gave the Spartans a first down on what would’ve been a 3rd & long. And they cashed in on it when Perrone scrambled 33 yards into the endzone just before halftime to put his Southridge Spartans up 14-6.
Since Southridge got the ball after the half, a double dip would’ve been nice to go up two scores, but they were content with the punt that was downed at the Monarch 10. Monarch would take over but would go three and out, and that gave Southridge good field position at midfield. The Spartans looked like they had a first down after a 10-yard completion, but the ball was punched out by 2025 DB Jaylen Liberal and recovered by Brady.
When Monarch got the ball back, Lopez rushed for 12 and then 37 yards to the Southridge 3-yard line. Lopez was injured on the second rush and 2027 QB Jack Spaeder came in for the rest of the drive at the goal-line. A pair of direct snaps to Reed out of the Wildcat resulted in short losses, and the Knights were stonewalled by the Southridge defense on 4th & Goal. An amazing defensive stand after Monarch was just three yards away from the endzone.
At their own three-yard line, Southridge got a first down but then had to punt to the Monarch 33. Immediately thereafter, 2025 WR Darius Clements, shadowing Reed on defense, caught an interception and ran it back 70 yards for a touchdown. The interception stood but the touchdown return was called back to conclude the third quarter.
Monarch ended up getting the ball back at their own 13 after a 44-yard Southridge punt. The Knights’ field position became even worse after allowing two sacks in a row, and an incomplete pass meant that the Monarch punter was punting from inside their own endzone. It got even worse when there was a delay of game which put them on their own 3-yard line, and now the punter was really backed up resulting in the punt going just 30 yards and Southridge taking over with great field position with 9 minutes to play.
The questionable calls kept coming for the Spartans offense when on the first play of their drive, Jhakari Johnson made an incredible catch on the Southridge side on the endzone, but even though the videos said in, the refs ruled it incomplete. After that athletic play was ruled incomplete, Southridge was unable to move the ball anywhere else on that drive and it was a three-and-out.
The Knights were able to march down the field after chunk plays, including a 15-yard catch from Parham and a 15-yard QB keeper from Lopez, and they were already to the 40-yard line. Lopez was injured again and had to come out for Monarch’s very important 4th & 8 from the 38. Luckily for the Knights, Spaeder was able to step up in the moment and rush for about 20 yards and the first down. The very next play, Lopez returned to the game, and it was 1st & 10 for the Knights just 19 yards away from the endzone. Parham got them a new set of downs after a 10-yard catch, and now it was 1st & Goal from the 9. A sack put them back two yards and two incompletions made it 4th & Goal from the 11. Monarch had to go for it if they wanted a chance to win this playoff game and move on to the next round. With just two minutes to play, Lopez dropped back and threw it up to Brady who made the play to put the Knights in position to tie the game up and go to overtime. It was an 11-yard touchdown and his second of the game, and now still down by 2, the Knights had to go to get the two-point conversion. On the try, it looked as if Southridge was all over it, but it bounced off the defender’s hands and Reed was able to make a diving grab to keep his team in it. It was all tied up at 14 with just over a minute to play.
The Spartans’ two-minute drill got a whole lot easier when the ball rolled out of bounds on the kickoff putting Southridge just 60 yards away from the endzone. A 15-yard catch from Johnson and one from 2025 WR James Gatewood put Southridge just 30 yards away from scoring a touchdown, and a defensive holding on the second catch moved them 15 yards closer. Before you knew it, Perrone rushed 14 yards to the Monarch 1-yard line. All game both teams were struggling to move the ball effectively, but in the final two minutes there were two touchdowns after Joshua McDowell launched himself into the endzone for his second score of the game. The extra point was blocked, and the Spartans were up 20-14 with only about thirty seconds left.
The Knights needed a miracle but were unable to get it and that was all she wrote. The Southridge Spartans were moving on. Next week, the Spartans will take on the West Broward Bobcats in the regional finals. The winner of that game will go on to the final four. Monarch’s season comes to a close, finishing 7-4 including playoffs. Unfortunately for Monarch, the fight the Knights put up at the end was just not enough and too little too late.
FINAL SCORE:
Miami Southridge beats Monarch 20-14
About Jake Lazar:
Jake Lazar is a beat writer covering high school football for Florida Man Sports. Lazar is a sophomore at Miami Palmetto Senior High, involved in TV Production, and has previously written for sports blog FL Teams.
