DELRAY BEACH – For the first time this season, a lineman has won our top individual weekly honor.

This is a big deal, especially when the player who earned our MVP of Week 11 is American Heritage (Delray Beach) senior defensive end and South Dakota verbal commit Earl Miler.

In American Heritage’s 49-7 home win over Lemon Bay last week (Nov. 20), Miller had one of his best games on the high school level, as he posted six-and-a-half tackles, three tackles for loss, and a half sack.

Miller’s performance went beyond just the statistics. It spoke on his overall impact on the game, which immeasurably helped both side of the ball from start to finish.

Miller on his MVP performance:

“I think it was well deserved because o-lineman and d-linemen never get praised,” Miller said.

Though Miller had an outstanding individual effort, he wanted to focus on how well his entire team did in their Class 4A regional semifinal win over Lemon Bay.

“It was a great team win,” Miller said. “We came out and executed. Lemon Bay was a great team schematically, so we had to prepare mentally for them.”

American Heritage (4-3) will play its next game tonight (Nov. 27; 7:30 p.m. at home against Cardinal Gibbons (5-1) in the Class 4A-Region 4 championship game. It has not advanced past this round since 2015, when the Delray Beach-based program made its last state title game appearance in Class 3A.

“We have been preparing mentally and physically,” Miller said. “We must find the way to go 1-0 every rep and take no plays off. This game is huge to everyone in the program because we get a chance to win a regional title. Heritage hasn’t won since 2015, so this is a big deal to us.”