MIAMI — Amare Nugent’s first season at American Heritage ended in celebration.
The four-star 2027 cornerback, who transferred from Somerset Academy before the season, helped the Patriots win their second straight championship with a 33-28 victory over Orlando Jones High at Pitbull Stadium in Miami.
“It feels great,” Nugent said. “We’ve been through a whole bunch of adversity this year, so it feels great to win, finally.”
Now that the high school season is over, Nugent said he plans to focus more on his recruitment. He said he is looking for schools that can develop him as a player. Nugent had 25 tackles, one sack and two interceptions this season.
“Right now, I’m not really focused on recruitment. I just wanted to win the state championship, and I did what I had to do. So now I’m going to focus on it now, in between here and springtime.”
Nugent, a Navy All-American, has offers from more than two dozen teams, including Miami. He said he was impressed with the Hurricanes’ performance this season, and he “can’t wait to see them play” against Texas A&M next weekend.
Coleman nearly leads comeback
Orlando Jones High quarterback Dereon Coleman, a Miami signee, nearly led the Tigers to a comeback victory over American Heritage.
The four-star quarterback completed 13 of 19 passes for 163 yards and a pair of touchdowns with one interception. Coleman also ran in a fourth-quarter touchdown that kept the Tigers in the game. He rushed for 108 net yards in the loss. Coleman was sacked six times.
Coleman is listed as the No. 19 quarterback in the 2026 class.
Top UM targets fall in Friday night title bout
Two UM underclassmen targets at Miami Northwestern played key roles in the Bulls’ upset loss to Jacksonville Raines on Friday night.
Five-star 2027 wide receiver Nick Lennear racked up 135 yards and a touchdown on six catches. He also had an interception on defense. However, he failed to make a game-saving tackle near the goal line, and Raines took a last-minute lead to win the game.
Lennear is listed as the No. 4 wide receiver in the 2027 class.
Northwestern quarterback Neimann Lawrence racked up 381 passing yards and threw a touchdown pass in the loss, but also threw two interceptions.
Lawrence, a five-star prospect, is the No. 3 quarterback in the 2028 class.
