WEST BOCA RATON, FLA. – Usually in the summer nights out in West Boca Raton, people find the vast land of swamp and cookie cutter neighborhoods to be calm, quiet, and have a sense of peacefulness to it.
Tonight that was not the case.
The campus of West Boca High was packed deep and it was loud, the much anticipated national matchup between the 1A State Champions and nationally ranked Chaminade-Madonna Lions found their way coming to the outskirts of Palm Beach County to take on the 6A State Champion and emerging powerhouse West Boca Bulls in a contest that would see two of the best running backs in the class of 2026 go head to head in a classic contest.
Chaminade struck first and early as Florida State commit Jasen Lopez took the ball on a jet sweep to get the Lions out front, but the West Boca special teams broke the line down and blocked the PAT, putting the Lions only up 6-0 to start.
Lopez would get himself another touchdown and give Chaminade another easy six as he connected with QB Malik Leonard on a slant route to put the Lions out front 12-3.
The lead would only grow further as Chaminade’s defense put on a clinic, including a forced fumble caused by Senior Safety Bryant Junius and recovered by Temorris Campbell who brought it all the way home for a touchdown, extending it all the way 18-3.
West Boca’s offense who had been sluggish for most of the game, finally showed some signs of life very late into the fourth quarter, putting together a nicely paced drive capped off with a Javian Mallory touchdown. Shrinking the lead 18-10.
After a onside kick attempt was called back, West Boca got a second chance and almost got a possible game tying position thanks to the Chaminade kick returner muffing the onside kick possession, however multiple Lions fell on the ball, signaling that the game had reached its conclusion with just a minute left as Chaminade would assume the victory formation.
“We keep it balanced, and modest”, said Jasen Lopez discussing how Chaminade prepared for the West Boca defense, when we caught up with him postgame.
“Work on the little things, watching film on our mistakes and when we come back on the field we execute what we learn”, Lopez stated when discussing next weekends matchup against St. Frances in the Broward National Showcase.
