Football makes history at St. Brendan

By Lynn Ramsey - Florida Catholic

MIAMI | Alumni and community showed up in the thousands � 5,000 to be exact � to see what had never happened in St. Brendan High School’s 43 years: a varsity football game. While the plan was six years in the making, the path from first practice in June to 28-0 victory over Pinecrest Prep turned into a crash course for the Sabres.

St. Thomas University is hoping to follow the same path as St. Brendan, fielding a football team in the fall of 2019. (See accompanying story)

LIGHT SPEED TO THE FIELD

Coaches typically use an entire offseason to build a team, starting as soon as the previous season ends. Established programs even have junior varsities and freshman and middle-school teams to teach their offenses and defenses.

St. Brendan turned to Luis Rodriguez, who owns Red Zone Sports flag-football organization, to build the Sabres. He whistled in the team’s first practice in June for conditioning drills. These would be vital, because with a 47-man roster many players would be playing both offense and defense.

Conditioning wasn’t the biggest challenge, according to Rodriguez: “Teaching kids that never played football, starting from the bottom up, teaching the fundamentals, determining what positions they are, whether they play line or skill positions.”

They had to learn the Wing-T offense, built on timing and hiding the handoff to surprise the defense. Passing and run-pass options that are the current rage of high-school, college and NFL offenses are also in Rodriguez’s playbook. However, he’s had to simplify that offense to five run plays, five pass plays. He intends to add more as the athletes improve and understand the game.

Rodriguez did benefit from five transfers � sophomore slot receiver/defensive back Jose Magarin; freshman quarterback Khalil Anglin (“he’s a really good athlete; he could be our quarterback for the next four years,” Rodriguez said); freshman running back/linebacker Leonard Smith; freshman wide receiver Javaris Jones; and freshman running back/tight end Andres Santana.

Smith said that he and his fellow football veterans earned leadership skills that will serve them for life.

 

UNBELIEVABLE START

That team came to the field against Pinecrest Prep. Principal Jose Rodelgo-Bueno said he expected maybe 500 people in the stands of 7,000-seat Tropical Park. But St. Brendan’s students, families and alumni surpassed even the wildest estimates.

“There were alumni from all classes in school history,” Rodelgo-Bueno said. “They were saying it was the biggest event ever in the history of the school. It was beautiful that we were able to portray who we are.”

The night began with the 5,000 fans doing the sign of the cross. That carried on to the team winning big. Anglin carried the day, passing for 157 yards and running for 67 more and two touchdowns. Smith ran for 100 yards and a touchdown, while Magarin caught five passes for 71 yards. They also learned a lesson � the Sabres jumped out to a 22-0 halftime lead but ran out of gas. Conditioning matters.

Conditioning cost the Sabres the next week against Marathon, a 22-14 loss where St. Brendan lost two players to injuries. Rodriguez said they’d stopped Marathon in the second half, allowing only eight points. But they also wore down.

“We need to get everyone involved,” Rodriguez said. “I can’t depend on the same guys.”

That led him to alternate days practicing offense and defense.

 

LONG-TERM PLAN

Rodelgo-Bueno said the master plan of building St. Brendan football was 43 years in the making. The Archdiocese of Miami approved the plan for football in 2012 as part of expanding athletics facilities. It passed Miami-Dade County muster in 2014. Football actually was the second phase of the master plan; the first being an Innovation Center that houses classroom labs for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math studies.

Phase two includes a new football field with grandstands for 750 people and a track. Baseball and softball fields are all under construction. Tropical Park will be the Sabres’ temporary home until the fields are built, but St. Brendan will reserve the right to use Tropical Park for big games.

Rodelgo-Bueno said football isn’t just a sport, but a community-builder. “The entire family’s at the game, the student body is proud,” he said. “The cheerleaders are able to cheer at the game. The dancers perform at halftime. The choir sings the national anthem.

“Our philosophy is that we have an approach where all athletes grow. When they arrive at high school, they are children. We hope to give them back as true men and women.”