Winning a championship at any level of any sport requires the utmost dedication and brings the players and coaches unforgettable moments and possibly lifelong recognition. Repeating as champions makes for even more memorability, but winning multiple consecutive championships approaches – and may even surpass – legendary status. In the fall of 2016, one Florida high school football team joined four others from the past in approaching and possibly reaching that legendary status.
On December 10, 2016, Jacksonville’s Trinity Christian Academy Varsity Conquerors football team tied a Florida state record by winning its fourth consecutive Florida Class 3A state championship. Conquerors head coach Verlon Dorminey and his team defeated the Lions of Hollywood’s Chaminade-Madonna 24-13 to capture their record-tying fourth title in a row. It was also championship No. 7 overall for both Dorminey and the Conquerors.
In 2013, the Conquerors won the title game easily over Clearwater Central Catholic School 34-7 behind quarterback Jaquez Riles. Trinity defeated American Heritage Academy 27-7 in 2014’s championship game and then won the rematch with American Heritage 30-3 a year later. Billy Cobb was behind center for both wins. Championship No. 4 came in 2016 with Legend Brumbaugh and D.J. Matthews taking snaps most of the way to lead Trinity Christian once again.
In 2013 versus Clearwater, the Conquerors found themselves in a scoreless tie at the half. Shortly into the third quarter, NFL prospect Isaiah Ford broke loose for a 45-yard touchdown to give Trinity a 7-0 lead, and the Conquerors put the game away with a 27-7 run from that point on.
In their first win over American Heritage in 2014, the Conquerors again found themselves in a scoreless tie as the half began to wind down. Trinity punted with 1:43 left on the clock and recovered the American Heritage fumble on the 14-yard line. Kevin Toliver rushed for a touchdown on first down to put Trinity ahead 7-0 as the half ended. Trinity scored 20 points in the second half to seal the win.
Trinity earned the three-peat with its second consecutive win over American Heritage. Midway through the second quarter, Cobb hit then-receiver Matthews for 90 yards to complete the longest touchdown pass in state championship history. Linebacker Chamari Conner’s 51-yard interception return for a touchdown in the third quarter allowed the Conquerors to pull away for their third straight title.
In 2016, Chaminade-Madonna scored on an 80-yard touchdown run on the game’s first play from scrimmage. Later in the first quarter, quarterback Matthews found Isaiah Washington from 14 yards out to tie the score. Trinity pulled ahead 14-7, and kicker Frankie Onate connected on a third-quarter 52-yard field goal to help put the game out of reach.
The Conquerors became the fifth Florida team to win four consecutive championships. Live Oak’s Suwannee High School was the first team to accomplish the feat, doing so from 1987 to 1990. Tallahassee’s North Florida Christian won four straight titles between 1998 and 2001. Miami’s Central High School and Booker T. Washington both ran off four in a row from 2012 to 2015.
Including Trinity, however, only three of the five teams won all four titles under the same head coach. Dorminey joins Suwannee’s Mike Pittman and North Florida Christian’s Tim Cokely in leading his team to victory each year of the streak.
In addition to those players mentioned earlier who made big plays, Dorminey cited star cornerback Shaun Wade as one of the 2016 championship game and full season’s biggest impact players. Wade, who began his college career at Ohio State University in January 2017, was the No. 1 high school cornerback in the country during his senior season. Matthews also moved on to college in January, beginning his tenure at Florida State University. Ford will enter his junior year at Virginia Tech this coming fall – if not drafted into the NFL in April. Impact player Kevin Toliver will move into his sophomore year at Louisiana State University, and Cobb will begin his second season at Albany State this fall.
The Conquerors will move two levels higher this coming season, joining Class 5A, District 4, which will include powerful opponents such as Bishop Kenney, Bolles, Terry Parker, Ponte Vera, and Westide High Schools. Dorminey said this new district will be the toughest one he will have played in yet, and with a younger team in 2017, just making the playoffs is a difficult task. He prepared his young men in part by getting them repetitions in both regular-season and playoff games with a good number of those reps coming in crucial situations.
Reaching the playoffs, though, becomes easier as Dorminey sees the 2017 players to watch become the new leaders. The Conquerors lost many players to graduation this spring, but the team has a plethora of talent ready to take the helm either now or very soon. Rising senior Tyreke Johnson is among the top-rated cornerbacks in this coming year’s class, and rising seniors Conner (safety) and Eriq Gilyard (middle linebacker) will become defensive leaders as well.
Offensively, rising junior Austin Thomas is the front runner for the No. 1 quarterback job, and Marcus Crowley, a rising junior, and KyJuan Herndon, a rising sophomore, will garner the bulk of the rushing duties. Rising junior Washington and rising senior Calen Hazleton will likely become Dorminey’s main receivers.
The new season will prove tough, but Drominey is ready. He has 26 years of experience with Trinity and amassed a record of 255-74. He captured 16 district titles, 13 regional championships, two runner-up placements, and seven state championships.
Congratulations to coach Verlon Dorminey and the Trinity Christian Academy Conquerors on their record-tying run of state championships. No. 5 will prove difficult, but it can happen as the Conquerors have already scored four.
Source Credits: head coach Verlon Dorminey, team statistician Larry Withers
Four Score: Trinity Christian Academy Wins 4th Consecutive 3A Football Championship
Written by: Raymond Bureau
