Armwood Hawks Capture 3rd State Title To Cap Perfect Football Season

ORLANDO — The Armwood High football achieved perfection Saturday.

The Hawks capped an undefeated season and picked up the program's third state title, beating Miami Central 40-31 in the Class 6A state championship game.

The Hawks came out a little shaky, but two first-quarter pick-sixes, the first by senior defensive back Jarvis McCall, the second by junior defensive back Leon McQuay, electrified the Cirtus Bowl as Armwood jumped out to a 16-0 lead with 3:57 left in the first quarter.

"We love challenges like this," said McCall. "We love when it comes down to the defense to make a play."

Head coach Sean Callahan, who piloted Armwood (15-0) to a state crown that could eventually be wiped away by an , agreed McQuay's interception was huge.

"That was one of those big momentum swings for us," Callahan said.

The Rockets just could not get out of their own way in the early going, committing damaging penalties and not playing with any rhythm. They gained 38 yards and were penalized 20 in the first quarter.

They woke up in the second quarter when sophomore running back Dalvin Cook found a nice hole and popped a 63-yard touchdown run, dragging would-be tacklers with him.

That's when the pressure started to get to Armwood. The Hawks' next drive stalled at their own 41-yard line, when the snap got away from junior Armwood punter Nicholas Feely. Feely did well to recover the ball, but it was 1st-and-goal for the Rockets. Sophomore running back Joseph Yearby punched it in on third down to set the halftime score at 16-14 Armwood.

The Hawks stole the momentum right back in the second half as junior defensive lineman Sheldon Lewinson recovered a fumble at the Rocket 32-yard line. On the very next play, the Hawks rolled right and slipped senior running back Wade Edwards out to the left. The Central defense was out of position, Edwards made the catch and walked into the end zone untouched.

"They were playing a lot of man (coverage) and we have plays for that; we call them man-killer plays," said Callahan.

Central stuck to its man coverage but got burned whenever Armwood ran a play with a counter or misdirection. However, the momentum swing was fleeting.

On the ensuing kickoff, Cook took it 99 yards to the house, closing the gap to 23-21 Hawks.

Both teams traded three-and-outs, then Armwood put a 40-yard drive together but it stalled at the Rocket 41-yard line. Then the Hawks direct-snapped the punt to senior defensive back Garian Brown, who got the first down. The Hawks pressed in to the 19-yard line and then caught Central with another misdirection play with senior receiver Javonte Sneed taking the option pass and hitting a wide open junior receiver Alvin Bailey, who walked in for the touchdown to make it 30-21 Hawks.

Central put together maybe its best drive of the game on their next possession. They put together a 19-play, 67-yard drive, with a 4th-and-one conversion that resulted in a junior Emilio Nadelman field goal to make it 30-24.

Field goals were not what the Rockets needed.

On Armwood'd next drive, on yet another misdirection play, senior running back Matt Jones got behind the defense and scored on an 80-yard catch-and-run to make it 37-24 with 7:52 left in the fourth quarter.

Game over, right?

Wrong.

Central put together another great 10-play, 69-yard drive, this one resulting in a seven-yard touchdown run from Yearby that made it 37-31 with 5:01 left to play.

The Citrus Bowl erupted from both sides as Armwood burned off three minutes of clock before giving it back.

Pressure from senior lineback Eric Striker forced an incompletion and fourth down with just 1:39 left. On the next play, senior defensive lineman Lonzel Davis sacked Central quarterback Austin Stock and got the ball back for the Hawks.

Armwood whittled the clock down to 37 seconds, and Feely hit a field goal to stretch the lead out to 40-31. Central got it back and threw an interception to Armwood sophomore defensive back Kyle Gibson to seal the game.

Some of the usual stars shone in the Class 6A final.

Bailey was 6-for-6 passing for 157 yards and two touchdowns. He also had 25 yards receiving and a touchdown. While Jones had 120 yards receiving, 80 of them came on the misdirection touchdown catch. Jones only gained 40 yards on the ground to Edwards' 50 yards. Edwards also caught a 39-yard touchdown pass.

The Armwood defense did what it has done all season — close out games. The defense set it up with two big scores and got the stops when they needed them.

And now, the Hawks are state champs.

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