Mike Rumph Wins Back-To-Back State Championships

ORLANDO — During the 2014 high school football season, American Heritage faced many challenging opponents.

The Patriots' schedule, built by coach Mike Rumph, was assembled to win a championship.

It worked to perfection.

Not only did Heritage defeat Tallahassee Godby 38-0 to win the Class 5A state title at the Citrus Bowl on Friday, they became the second school in Broward County history to win back-to-back football championships.

This year title came on the heels of last year's 66-8 demolition of Clay High.

St. Thomas Aquinas was the first Broward team to accomplish the feat when they won in 2007 and '08.

“We played a lot of tough teams and my hat goes off to those teams that made us who we are even in the losses,” Rumph said. “We learned from those games.”

Heritage's domination during this two-year run was impressive. And all 10 of the Patriots' playoff wins over that stretch have come under Rumph. The Patriots have outscored their opponents 472-116 and tied a state record set by FAMU (1977-78) of 104 points scored by a back-to-back state champion.

The points mark was reached with Oren Milstein’s 42-yard field goal with 2:24 remaining in the game.

By then, with a running clock already enforced, the sideline celebration was fully underway.

Sophomore running back Kyshaun Bryan provided the game clincher early in the third quarter for Heritage (12-3), when he scored on a 93-yard touchdown run to make it 21-0.

“We ended coming out of the first half kind of bad, so coming out and scoring kind of set the tone,” Bryan said. “This is a great feeling, a great feeling.”

Bryan, who had rushed for 323 yards in two playoff games leading into Friday’s final, added another 156 yards and two TDs on 16 carries against Godby.

“Kyshaun is the future for us,” Rumph said. “He has waited his turn and we knew he would have a big game coming off an ankle injury.”

Bryan tweaked his ankle later in the third quarter after a 14-yard run and didn’t return.

Heritage senior quarterback Torrance Gibson, an Ohio State commitment, was his usual self in leading his Patriots team.

Though he only completed seven passes on 15 attempts for 138 yards, he was efficient. He also rushed for 48 yards and a third-quarter TD on eight carries.

Two of his completions resulted in touchdowns. The first went seven yards to junior receiver Brandon Johnson, which gave the Patriots a 14-0 lead with 8:53 to play in the first half.

Gibson’s second TD toss of went to junior RB Shad Lowery for six yards early in the final quarter. That score gave Heritage a 35-point lead, setting the running clock into motion

“This feels better than the first one,” Gibson said of winning this year’s state championship.

Defensively Heritage was solid, holding Godby’s run game in check while stuffing the Cougars’ passing attack to 17 yards. Heritage, though, finished with 443 yards of total offense.

Godby (12-3) was poised to score on the game-opening drive, but stalled inside the Heritage 40. The Patriots answered with a 92-yard drive on 13 plays with Bryan scoring on a 13-yard run.

Said Rumph, “This feels awesome and feels so good to win back-to-back championships. I couldn’t feel prouder of these boys.”




(sun-sentinel.com)