BOCA RATON – West Boca Raton football coach Dylan Potts seemed a little more animated than usual as he addressed the Bulls in the postgame huddle.

“I don’t care who we play,” Potts said. “We’re the best team in 6A. We’re going out in the next two weeks and proving it.”

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The defending state champions looked the part again Friday, disposing of Mitchell 41-3 in their FHSSA Class 6A Playoffs regional championship game. The Bulls (11-2) rolled to a 35-3 halftime lead basically with their best offensive player, Miami-bound running back Javian Mallory, taking the night off.

Mallory (6-foot, 200 pounds) came in with 1,098 yards and 14 touchdowns, but carried only three times for 27 yards and rested for next week’s semifinals.

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“We wanted to give our other backs some reps and things of that nature,” said Potts, referring to Mallory’s brief appearance. “Javian get some work early and then work on some other things.

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“We played our best game at quarterback tonight with both of them. Those other running backs ran really well. Our O-line played great tonight, it was just an overall team game. I was pleased with the effort and energy coming out and getting off to a fast start.”

West Boca uses both Trey Moran and Omari McNeal at quarterback, often alternating series. Moran ran for a 29-yard score on the Bulls’ first touchdown and McNeal fired a 54-yard scoring strike to Calerbe Hermane on their next play from scrimmage.

Mitchell (10-3) scored first with Regan Phillips’ 30-yard field goal, but the Bulls scored three touchdowns in less than 2:00 on the clock, the third coming when Damari Jerry scooped up a fumbled lateral on a trick play and returned it 20 yards for a touchdown.

“The whole offense is amazing. It’s good to have Javian around, but if he’s not there we have good running backs,” Moran said. ”Our quarterbacks, me and Omari, can run the ball, we have a good O-line, we have a good offense in general.

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“It was a great win tonight. We came out and executed how we did all week in practice. Now it’s on to the next game and practice hard again next week and do what we have to do.”

The Bulls’ defense allowed a 62-yard pass on the first series, but gave up only 108 total yards for the game.

“I say we’re the best team in the state. If we could go back and play the teams we lost to, I think we’d beat them by at least 14 points,” offensive lineman DeCarlo Alvarez said.

“We have a really strong run game, that’s what we’re going to do every game. And our defense is maybe one of the best in the country.”

Defensive back Jaydin Broadnax, a Louisville commit, picked off a pass and returned it 37 yards for the only score in the second half.

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“This is a testament to what we put in every day, what coach Potts gives to us,” Broadnax said. “We know that, no matter who we play, we can just be ourselves. The defense played exceptionally well tonight. The D-line played amazing. (Freshman) Gavin Edmond got a pick. Larry Morgan, Delorean Airall, Tray MItchell, everybody did their part.”

Moran finished with a team-high 70 rushing yards, while McNeal threw for 93 yards. The defense produced four turnovers, with two interceptions and two recovered fumbles.

On Jerry’s fumble return touchdown, Mitchell tried to throw a lateral to quarterback Cayden Thomas, but it hit the ground. Thomas, a 2,200-yard passer and the Mustangs’ top rusher, was injured on the game and did not return. Mitchell coach Andrew Schmitz said Thomas had concussion-like symptoms and did not want to risk further injury.

“Our entire offense goes through him,” Schmitz said. “When he went down it really limited us. We have a lot of kids who worked their butts off, but he’s the engine that makes us go. When he went down, our offense was going to struggle. There was no way around that.

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“We were going to struggle with everybody full go. We needed things to go exactly right toinight and they just didn’t.”

Schmitz was pleased that the Mustangs made a regional final for the second time in school history.

“I’m so proud of these kids,” Schmitz said. “This is very special. We got to practice on Thanksgiving yesterday. That was the goal back in January. I’m really proud of the season that we had.”

The Bulls will find out their semifinal opponent from other regional winners Armwood, Buchholz and Southridge on Sunday morning.

“We proved it last year and went undefeated,” Moran said. “It’s harder this year because we have a target on our backs, but we’re going to show them what we can do.”

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Potts is confident in the way his team is playing.

“When you get to the Final Four everyone’s good,” he said. “We’ll make the corrections and we’ll find out on Sunday where we’re going. We have two more we have to get done.

“(Our schedule) got us prepared. We knew playing a really tough regular-season schedule would prepare us for the playoffs. That’s what you want to do. It’s about playing your best football on Dec. 15, that’s been the message all year. We wanted to get hot at the right time and we feel like we’re playing our best football right now.”

West Boca Raton 41, Mitchell 3

Mitchell 3 0 0 0 – 3

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West Boca 21 14 6 0 – 41

First quarter

• M–FG Phillips 30, 10:34.

• WB–Moran 29 run (Lamb kick), 7:32.

• WB–Hermane 54 pass from McNeal (Lamb kick), 6:41.

• WB–Jerry 20 fumble return (Lamb kick), 5:39.

Second quarter

• WB–Gracilien 11 pass from Moran (Lamb kick), 8:55.

• WB–Moran 4 run (Lamb kick), 0:34.

Third quarter

• WB–Broadnax 37 interception return (kick failed), 5:18.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–Mitchell: Long 10-10, Backus 1-2, DiPaola 5-minus 10. Totals: 16-6. West Boca: T. Moran 10-70, Miller 10-49, Mallory 3-27, Gracilien 9-27, A. Moran 1-9, McNeal 2-minus 7. Totals: 35-176.

PASSING–Mitchell: Thomas 2-9-0-67, DiPaola 3-10-2-35. West Boca: McNeal 4-7-0-93, T. Moran 6-9-0-50, A. Moran 1-3-0-minus 6.

RECEIVING–Mitchell: Fairbanks 3-86, Connor 2-16. West Boca: Briskey 3-40, Gracilien 3-6, Hermane 2-59, Clancy 2-19, Joseph 1-13.

TOTAL TEAM YARDS–West Boca 313, Mitchell 108.

West Boca Raton 41, Mitchell 3

Cardinal Newman 42, St. Petersburg Catholic 13

Blountstown 30, Pahokee 3

Dr. Joaquin Garcia 40, Fort Pierce Westwood 0

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: How West Boca Raton football is confidently defending its state title