American Heritage outlasts Jones in Florida 4A title game

Without its star junior quarterback, Plantation (Fla.) American Heritage faced tough odds heading into the Florida 4A state championship game against Orlando (Fla.) Jones.

It beat those odds, handing Jones its first loss of the 2024 season.

Miami wide receiver signee Malachi Toney filled in at quarterback for an injured five-star Texas commit Dia Bell, and American Heritage beat Jones 40-31 to win the Florida 4A title.

Toney was an efficient 15-of-17 passing for 188 yards and a touchdown while adding another score on the ground.

Perhaps eclipsing Toney’s impressive substitute quarterback showing was a whopper of a rushing performance from Florida running back signee Byron Louis. Louis ran for 221 yards and two touchdowns — including an 80-yard breakaway score to give the Patriots the lead in the fourth quarter.

This was American Heritage’s sixth state championship and its first since 2020.

The Patriots finished with a 12-2 record on the year — the highlight of the regular season being a 42-38 win over St. Thomas Aquinas, the No. 4 team in the Florida On3 Massey Ratings.

The On3 Massey Ratings — which were officially used during the BCS era and have generated college high school sports team rankings since 1995 — rank sports teams by analyzing game outcomes, strength of schedule and margin of victory.

American Heritage went into the 4A title game the No. 6 team in the state of Florida, while Jones ranked No. 8.

The senior class for the Patriots features five FBS signees: Florida RB signee Byron Louis, Florida State safety signee Gregory Thomas, Miami WR signee Malachi Toney, NC State DL signee Omarian Abraham and UAB tight end signee Gabriel Cline.

But the cupboard will be left far from bare for Mike Smith’s 2025 American Heritage squad. Notable underclassmen include Texas five-star QB commit Dia Bell, four-star WR Brandon Bennett, top-400 safety Aldarius Johnson and three-star receivers Zamarii Sanders and Jeffar Jean-Noel.