PALM BEACH GARDENS – Your identity can carry you to victory in a big way.
Throughout the history of Palm Beach Gardens, its football program has been at its best when shining in these two areas: offensive rushing and overall defense.
This is what it took for the area’s No. 2-ranked team to topple a No. 1 in Atlantic (Delray Beach) on its home field. This is how the Gators chomped the Eagles on the way to the summit.
Palm Beach Gardens junior quarterback Brand Campbell managed an offense that relied on senior standout Vincent Dubose (three rushing scores) to carry them in a well-earned 20-17 win.
“We got the run game going,” Campbell said. “We can throw off it. Big time players make big plays, and we did that.”
Campbell spoke on Dubose’s three rushing touchdowns, including the game-sealing six-yarder to the end zone with less than one minute left in the fourth quarter.
“The thing with Vince, he doesn’t talk a lot, but he plays well,” Campbell said. “He put in all out there. You seen his runs. Not one man could take him down.”
Palm Beach Gardens senior wide receiver/tight end Naivyan Cargill shared some poignant thoughts on Dubose’s overall effort.
“He turned up when it mattered,” Cargill said. “He’s a man amongst boys.”
Dubose, who also had 10+ tackles on defense at his natural linebacker position, spoke on his overall execution in Week 1.
“Teammates lifted me up,” Dubose said. “They pushed me. They said I would be a dog…We just had to show people that we’re the No. 1 team now.”
Palm Beach Gardens head coach Tyrone Higgins added some commentary on Dubose and more.
“Vincent is a huge part of what we do,” Higgins said. “But we have a bunch of kids who participate. Vince is our leader. He proves it every Friday night. He’s just an amazing kid. As far as conditioning goes, he plays both ways…We lean on him a lot for leadership and production on both sides of the football.”
Higgins recapped last night’s (Aug. 27) win over Atlantic.
“What we generally do is try to come out and execute as much as possible,” Higgins said. “We try to develop both our defensive game and our offensive plans. There’s nothing we did that was super special. But every week, we just keep trying to get better. The kids have been responding well to that. They’re jelling as a team. I can’t say that enough.”
OTHER FRIDAY NIGHT SCORES
No. 3 Palm Beach Central 47, Forest Hill 19
No. 4 Glades Central 14, Palm Beach Lakes 7
No. 5 Dwyer 8, No. 7 Jupiter 7
No. 6 Benjamin 48, St. Andrews 12
No. 8 Pahokee 28, Wellington 21
Columbia (Lake City) 46, No. 9 American Heritage (Delray Beach) 23
No. 10 Cardinal Newman 55, King’s Academy 0
Seminole Ridge 51, Santaluces 12
Boca Raton 36, Boynton Beach 13
Martin County 51, Royal Palm Beach 0
John I. Leonard 35, Spanish River 7
Glades Day 42, Westminster Academy 7
Port St. Lucie 13, St. John Paul II 6
Boca Raton Christian vs. Palm Beach Christian Prep – Played each other at 4 p.m.; no final score at this time
SATURDAY SPECIAL
Berean Christian vs. Jupiter Christian – 7 p.m.
PHOTO CREDITS: Keith Forde
