Miami commits Brashard Smith, Leonard Taylor lead Palmetto into its first state semifinal

A historic season — the deepest playoff run in program history and hopes of a state title dangling in front of them — continues for Palmetto.

Dealing with a third straight week of traveling upstate and having won the previous two with razor-close finishes, the Panthers made it 3 for 3 on Friday as they survived a frantic final few minutes to hang on and knock off Vero Beach 10-7 in the Region 3-Class 8A championship before a big partisan home crowd at the Citrus Bowl.

After winning a grand total of five postseason games in the 60-year history of the program — and never twice in the same postseason — Palmetto (5-1) has now rolled to four straight playoff wins over the last three weeks and, as the only South Florida entry among all 8A teams in the state, is now one win away from a trip to the state final in Tallahassee.

Palmetto will play in its first-ever state semifinal next week and won’t have to travel nearly as far this time. The Panthers will host Kissimmee Osceola at Traz Powell Stadium on either Friday or Saturday

Vero Beach, which won its only state title in 1981, was looking to make its first state semifinal since 1998.

“What a great high school game and what a great win for our program,” coach Mike Manasco said. “To come up here and take on a great and well-coached Vero team in this kind of environment, and have the ability to find a way to come out on top, says everything you need to know about our group of kids. We’ve wanted to build Palmetto into this for years now and it’s just so exciting to finally see it all come to fruition.”

As he has throughout the postseason, Manasco watched his defense carry the team to victory as his offense struggled.

The Panthers, who have been playing without star quarterback Kevin Smith since he broke his leg against Orlando Dr. Phillips in their postseason opener last month, got all the points they would need in the first half, but then had to hang on for dear life as the final minutes were nervous ones for Manasco and his coaches.

The game appeared to be over with just more than five minutes left, when Vero, having been stymied all night by the Palmetto defense, faced a fourth-and-17 at its own 26-yard line. That’s when Vero coaches pulled one out of the playbook as a perfectly executed hook-and-ladder play turned into a 49-yard gain. Indians quarterback Jackson Nairn completed a pass to Wendell Bethel and Bethel lateraled the ball to Reggie Ferguson, who ran down to the Panthers’ 25. On the next play, Nairn found Ephraim Floyd for a touchdown to cut Palmetto’s lead to 10-7 with 4:41 to play.

On Palmetto’s second offensive play following the kickoff, things got even scarier for the Panthers. That’s when wildcat quarterback Brashard Smith, who carried the offense with 157 yards on 28 carries, appeared to fumble. When Vero linebacker Keyshawn Campbell scooped up the loose ball and rumbled into the end zone, the Vero crowd was in a frenzy, thinking the Indians had taken the lead.

Drowned out in the noise was an official’s whistle. Smith’s knee was down before the ball came out, giving Palmetto the ball back. After Palmetto punted one play later, Vero (8-3) took over at its own 42 with 2:37 left and had plenty of momentum.

“I knew I was down but you never know what the refs are going to call,” Smith said, “so when I heard the whistle blow, I was relieved because I knew that meant they had blown the play dead.”

The Panthers’ defense stepped up and made one more play. On third down, Nairn tried to scramble up the middle for a first down, but lost the ball as he fell to the ground. Palmetto linebacker Dwight Bootle beat Nairn to the loose ball and recovered at Vero’s 40 with 1:31 left. Smith ran twice — the second for 18 yards — and Palmetto took knees to induce a big celebration.

“Man, when I saw that ball fall on the ground, my eyes turned as big as saucers,” said Dassaw, an FAU commit. “All I could think of was that I had to get to that ball no matter what it took because if I get there, we win. What a great moment for us, I can’t believe we’re out here making history for this program.”

Things couldn’t have gotten off to a better start for Palmetto, as the Panthers took the opening kickoff and put together a methodical 13-play drive that included a fourth-down conversion and ate up the first seven minutes of the game. The drive stalled at the Vero 25, but Palmetto kicker Diego Navia was up to the task as he drilled a 42-yard field goal attempt right down the middle.

Just a minute later on Vero’s first offensive series, Palmetto five-star defensive lineman and Miami commit Leonard Taylor showed why the Canes are going to be getting a good one when he blew through the line and disrupted a pitchout. Taylor then fell on the loose ball giving his offense the ball at the Indians 14.

Seven plays later, on third-and-goal from the five, Smith, another Hurricanes commit, slivered his way through a narrow hole up the middle and sprinted into the end zone for the score and 10-0 Palmetto lead.

A third Panther possession early in the second quarter went from their own 12 all the way to the Vero Beach 34. Faced with a fourth-and-two, Smith knifed through the middle again, but came up just inches short of the line to gain.

After the two teams traded punts, Vero put together its best drive of the first half when the Indians took over at midfield and, thanks to a perfectly executed fake punt on fourth-and-8that got 10 yards, made it down to the Panther 15, but the Palmetto defense, as it usually does, stiffened and when Gabriel Espinosa’s 31-yard field goal went wide left with 39 seconds before halftime..

“We know its on us and we’re good with it,” said Taylor, who led a defense that gave up just 161 yards before the hook and ladder. “We make plays when we need to and we did it again tonight. This is really exciting stuff and now we’re on to the state semis. We can taste it now.”

Manasco could not gush about his defensive players enough.

“Absolutely incredible what we’ve had to put on them and we’re going to have to keep asking them to do it and they know it,” he said. “These guys are hungry dudes, they love playing football together, we put them in adverse situations all the time and they just respond time after time and it was more of the same tonight.”