Central quarterback Jeff Godfrey is a three-year starter.
File photo by Andres Bastidas
The spotlight has shifted 20 miles south, but Southern Florida is still burning with national high school football exposure. Six days after Broward County’s own St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale) edged Byrnes (S.C.) 42-34 in front of a national television audience, Dade County takes center stage tonight as Central (5-0) faces Miami district rival Northwestern (3-1) in a 7:30 p.m. showdown.
The game is part of the Nike 5 Days 2 Friday showcase and is scheduled to be broadcast live on ESPN2. It features two of the best and most talent-filled programs in the nation, as Central is No. 2 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 national rankings and Northwestern was ranked 14th before being upset by Miami rival Washington 35-28 on Saturday.
Even though that loss took some luster out of the matchup, the game promises to be star-studded and highly competitive. Central, coming off a 36-0 win over Carol City, hopes to avenge a 38-32 season-ending loss to the Bulls in the Class 6A playoffs last year.
“It’s a tremendous rivalry and it always has been,” Central coach Telly Lockette told MaxPreps reporter Adam Spencer this week. “This is always a clash of two schools with great athletes.”
The most coveted is Central quarterback and Max Preps Player of the Year candidate Jeff Godfrey.
The 5-foot-11, 175-pound senior leads an offense that is averaging 47 points per game, including wins over Miami Beach (63-0) and Miami Springs (70-24). Godfrey is on pace to better last year’s numbers, which included 2,126 yards passing, 26 touchdowns and 11 rushing scores.
This season, Godfrey has completed 64-of-98 passes for 1,157 yards and 18 touchdowns with only two interceptions. He’s on pace to challenge the county record of 49 set a couple years ago by Northwestern’s Jacory Harris, who is now leading a resurgence at the University of Miami.
If Central makes a deep run into the playoffs, Godfrey may even go after the state record of 51 by Plant’s Aaron Murray. He has 14 scholarship offers, including Oregon, Tennessee, Florida State, Arkansas and West Virginia.
“The whole town shuts down when Central and Northwestern tangle,” Godfrey told Spencer. “This is always the biggest game of the season. It’s like a fire when you’re out there on the field.”
Tonight, he just hopes to outduel one of the top junior quarterbacks in the state if not the country in Teddy Bridgewater. The 6-3, 170-pounder has completed 59-of-109 passes for 884 yards and 13 touchdowns.
He threw three interceptions on Saturday and fumbled twice. The previous week, he set a county record with seven touchdown passes.
Northwestern coach Billy Rolle told the Miami Herald the Bulls are much more focused after Saturday’s humbling defeat.
“When you come out and turn the ball over as many times as we did, you don’t deserve to win,” he said. “This week, everyone looked determined from the time we started our first practice Monday.”
They’ll need to show some grit to slow down the Rockets, who also feature running back Brandon Gainer, a 6-foot, 210-pounder who almost averages 10 yards per carry. He has piled up 504 yards and 11 touchdowns.
Tennessee commit Jose Jose (6-2, 335) and center Derrick Jean (6-3, 330), a pair of all-county linemen, will pave the way for Gainer.
The team’s defense has three shutouts already and has allowed just 27 points. Northwestern has piled up 151 yards in four games and should be hungry after losing for just the third time in its last 49 tries.
Bridgewater has some superb receivers to throw to in Eli Rogers (12 catches, 274 yards, four TDs) and Michaelee Harris (16-226-3). Senior running back Corvin Lamb (5-9, 185) has averaged 11.2 yards per carry while rushing for 326 yards, but is even more lethal as a kick returner, taking back five kicks for scores.
Northwestern’s defense is led by Miami-bound nose tackle Todd Chandler and defensive end Rashard Gaitor, a transfer from Hallandale.
The Bulls won two straight state titles and 37 consecutive games overall before losing a regular-season game to Central, 27-25 last year. They regrouped from the loss and almost won a third straight title, before losing in the state finals to Seminole, 28-21.
Having split the last two games with Central, something will have to give, Chandler told the Herald. His team hasn’t lost back-to-back games since 2004.
“I love playing in a game like this,” he said. “They've got a lot of talented players, but we are focused again. I can see it in the way everyone practiced this week.”
As far as a game prediction, Lockette would say only this: “We’ll show up,” he told Spencer. “We’ll show up.”
ALL THE VIDEOS LEADING UP TO THE BIG GAME
South Florida correspondent James Oyola contributed to this report and will file a game report from tonight's action.
