WELLINGTON – You couldn’t count all of Ahmad Haston’s touchdowns against Stoneman Douglas on one hand.
Unless, of course, you had an extra finger.
You read that right.
The Palm Beach Central quarterback accounted for six total touchdowns in the Broncos’ 55-23 victory over Stoneman Douglas in the FHSAA Class 4M-Region 3 semifinal.
“The guy just keeps getting better. He keeps growing,” Palm Beach Central head coach Kevin Thompson said about Haston. “I think I saw something from UMass saying they can’t wait to get him up there … but we just need to hold onto him a little bit longer.”
Early on, some doubt might have crept in if Palm Beach Central could hold onto Haston – who has been committed to UMass since May – for any longer.
On the Broncos’ first two offensive drives, they fumbled the football, and both times, Stoneman Douglas recovered in good field position.
However, the Palm Beach Central defensive line did what they do best, stifling Stoneman Douglas’ running game and forcing third-and-long situations.
“Agustus Mckoy, Aden Haston, Nick Toussaint, and Luis Saldano,” Thompson said, choosing to name his starting defensive line by name. “Those are guys for some reason, aren’t getting the attention that they need.”
Palm Beach Central’s defensive line continued their strong performance all night. Not only did they prevent explosive running plays, but they also finished the night with two turnovers.
“The turnover margin is always how you win games,” Thompson said. “We were teaching our guys the whole week, we gotta go for the ball because the [film] we saw was No. 1 turning the ball over, so we were going to go after him.”
Haston started Palm Beach Central’s scoring late in the first quarter when he threw the ball to one of his most reliable wide receivers, Luby Maurice, Jr. While the throw was in the perfect spot, Maurice still needed to tip the ball up before securing it with two feet down.
“In practice, we always work tip drills. When we go to offense and defense [or] by ourselves, our wide receiver coach always has us on goal line doing ‘Tony Toe Taps’ and all that,” Maurice said. “So, it was a natural instinct to me.”
Haston and Maurice would also connect for the Broncos’ second touchdown. Just 39 seconds after their first touchdown, Haston found Maurice deep down the field for a 70-yard catch-and-run touchdown, giving Palm Beach Central its first lead into halftime.
Although Haston and Maurice have always had trust in each other, the chemistry between the two seems to grow with every passing week.
“Every day in practice, we do good-on-good … and since we’re going good-on-good, I have no choice but to take risks because you see how our defense plays,” Haston said.
Maurice continued.
“We just have that chemistry,” Maurice said. “Ever since we were kids, we’ve been throwing the ball and playing around with the ball. It just clicks on the field.”
Two field goals by Palm Beach Central’s Ethan Dagostino and a Stoneman Douglas touchdown were the other action in the first half, as the Broncos entered halftime with just a three-point lead.
Something must have clicked at halftime because the Palm Beach Central that walked out of the locker room was different from the one that entered.
According to Thompson, the message in the locker room was centered around not wanting to end the season early.
“I told them, ‘Are you going to learn the lesson? Are you going to take advantage and learn the lesson that we had before?’ And they learned the lesson. They came out and understood that ‘Hey man, we don’t want to turn our bags in,’” Thompson said. “The verbiage our strength and conditioning coach [uses] is ‘Helmets to the right, shoulder pads to the left,’ and nobody wanted to hear that.”
Halfway through the third quarter, Haston scored his third touchdown on a designed quarterback run.
By the time the third quarter ended, Haston had accounted for three touchdowns – two passing, one rushing – and the Broncos blew the game wide open with 21 points unanswered.
Haston finished the game with four passing touchdowns to three wide receivers – Maurice, Javorian Wimberly, and Nedrick Boldin.
The last two touchdowns came in at different points in the second half.
Following the game, Thompson took the time to praise the wide receiver room, which ranks among the deepest in the state.
“The benefit of having good players is that no one can slack,” Thompson said. “At no point can a receiver hold me hostage and hold our team hostage, and they know it. So, they know that they have to compete for time.”
Haston mentioned that he “trusts all of his receivers.” He continued to say that he spends time making sure he knows what all of them excel at. That work is proving to be fruitful as Palm Beach Central enters the closing stretch of this season.
The win means that Palm Beach Central’s season will continue at home and, maybe more importantly to them, grant the Broncos a chance to practice on Thanksgiving Day.
“There’s always an excuse to practice on Thanksgiving,” Thompson said. “That’s the goal. Everybody’s goal is to practice on Thanksgiving.”
Palm Beach Central will host the winner of the Palm Beach Gardens-Monarch game that is scheduled to take place on Sat. Nov. 19.
The Class 4M-Region 3 final is scheduled for Black Friday (Nov. 25).
