Prediction: American Heritage (Fla.) falls short of 4A title

The 2025 high school football season will be getting underway in less than six weeks, which means it’s officially preview season. Rivals is breaking down the nation’s top teams from coast-to-coast, and today we make our way back down south to the Sunshine State to visit the American Heritage Patriots and examine their 2025 schedule. The Patriots are coming off winning it all in last year’s FHSAA Class 4A state championship game against Orlando Jones. A rematch against the Tigers seems imminent playing one of the tougher schedules in all of South Florida. Can American Heritage come out of the fall making another deep playoff run and winning a state crown?

Player Spotlight: QB Dia Bell

The 2025 Elite11 competition winner returns for his senior season, coming off a campaign in which he was injured for the latter stages of. Bell watched as Malachi Toney, now at the University of Miami (FL), took over at quarterback and led the Patriots to their sixth state title in program history. Now with Bell back under center, there is a surplus of talented wide receivers returning, including Jamar Denson, who was second on the team with 758 yards and 10 scores in 2024. With a slew of talent in the wide receiving corps, we see Bell putting up some strong numbers before he heads out to the University of Texas.

Others to watch: WR Jamar Denson, CB Amare Nugent, WR Brandon Bennett, WR Jeffar Jean-Noel, S Aldarius Johnson, LB Kymani Morales, EDGE Rodarion Tellez, CB Derrick Nichols, WR ZamariI Sanders

Season Prediction: 5-4

American Heritage’s 2025 schedule is not for the weak of heart as the Patriots play multiple nationally-ranked teams throughout the fall. Now any Patriots’ coach, player or fan is going to read our predictions and shake their head profusely, but this season isn’t last year, obviously. No Toney. No Bryon Louis. Yes, Dia Bell is back and healthy, but something tells us the offense will be fine through the air. It’s running the ball effectively and becoming one-dimensional that looks to be a potential problem. Against some of the Southeast’s top programs along with St. Joseph’s Prep at the very beginning, the Patriots stumble out of the gates. American Heritage cruises through the postseason and gets back to states where they face an undefeated Orlando Jones team and fall at Pitbull Stadium.

Game-By-Game Predictions

Aug. 22 – St. Joseph’s Prep (Penn.) Hawks – L
Playing on ESPN at St. Thomas Aquinas in front of a packed crowd. What better way to start the season? Except the Hawks hand the Patriots their first loss of the season in a 35-21 decision.

Sept. 5 – Chaminade-Madonna Prep (Fla.) Lions – L
Up against one of the top high school programs in the country, who are right down the road, Chaminade-Madonna hands American Heritage loss No. 2.

Sept. 12 – at Edna Karr (Louis.) Cougars – L
The Patriots head over to the Big Easy in hopes of notching their first win, but come up short and fall to 0-3.

Sept. 19 – Miami Central (Fla.) Rockets – W
Needing a win in the worst way, the Patriots pick themselves up and pull off a 1-point victory over the Rockets.

Sept. 26 – Plantation (Fla.) Colonels – W
For the first time this season, the Patriots notch consecutive victories.

Oct. 3 – Charles W. Flanagan (Fla.) Falcons – W
Now American Heritage is starting to get into a groove as they cruise to a blowout win over the Falcons.

Oct. 10 – Norland (Fla.) Vikings – W
This victory becomes arguably the most impressive for the Patriots thus far as they beat the Vikings, 35-20.

Oct. 17 – at Archbishop McCarthy (Fla.) Mavericks – W
A week before a highly anticipated tilt against St. Thomas Aquinas, American Heritage secures a fifth straight win.

Oct. 24 – at St. Thomas Aquinas (Fla.) Raiders – L
Final game of the regular season ends with a loss to the 16-time state champion Raiders on the road.