By Dave Brousseau
WESTON – Undefeated though five games into the 2026 high football season, there was uncertainty on how relevant the Cypress Bay team was.
The Lightning proved they are the real deal with a come from behind 21-18 overtime victory over Western in a District 15-6A game on Friday.
Senior kicker Nicolas Budejen who just narrowly missed a 58-yard field goal attempt at the end of regulation, successfully drilled a 32-yard game winning kick in the extra frame for the victory.
The win snapped an 11-game losing streak against Western. In addition, a 45-yard touchdown reception by Zachary McKenzie in the third quarter also ended a 16-quarter touchdown drought against Western.
“I know Cypress Bay and Western have a history,” said first year Cypress Bay coach Darrell Strong, who previously coach at Plantation High. “This is new to me, so this is a new team. I had to instill what I had coming over here. Everything starts with this game here.”
“I asked my kicker are you good, do you got this? and he said yeah. I knew I could put my trust in him for the game winning field goal,” he added.
The Lightning improved to 6-0 and 2-0 in district play. The six-game winning streak is the team’s longest since winning eight consecutive games in 2012. That season the team advanced to the Class 8A state championship game.
“First, my team is awesome,” said Budejen. “This is what practice is for. I love this sport but really love practicing. This is what I live for. I go over this every time in my head and every kick that I get.”
Dating back to Oct. 29, 2004, Western lead the series 13-10, having won 11 straight meetings by a combined score of 418-56, including four straight shutouts.
Cypress Bay looks to extend its winning streak next Friday against West Broward. Western will play Miami High next week.
“This game concluded with a win by Cypress Bay on a field goal,” said Western coach Adam Ratkevich. “We had three turnover you can’t have. We stopped ourselves several times on drives. You can’t have turnovers and penalties in key moments. There were a lot of opportunities to win this game, but my hat off to Cypress Bay, they played hard.”
Cypress Bay scored its first touchdown three plays into the second half when quarterback Eumarion Beal connected on a 45-yard pass to McKenzie on the third play of the second half, closing Western lead to 12-10.
The Wildcats answered on a nine-play 96-yard drive on a Jack Spaeder 13-yard pass to Eduard Shmandura with 7:55 left in the third quarter. The two-point conversion failed as the lead stood at 18-10.
Following a lost Western fumble, the Lightning capitalized as Beal 15-yard touchdown pass to Keyondre McClover and two-point conversion tied the score at 18 with 4:47 to play.
Neither team was particularly sharp offensively in the first half.
Western (3-2, 1-1 in district) was the benefactor on a pair of rushing touchdowns for a 12-3 lead at the break.
Spaeder had a 15-yard scamper for a 6-0 lead with 7:55 remaining in the first quarter. Spaeder had four consecutive carries on the Wildcats opening drive for 57 yards.
Following a Cypress Bay punt, Western struck again when senior running back Mason Mora broke free for a 62-yard run with 9:40 left in the second quarter for a 12-0 lead.
Mora finished with a game-high 144 rushing yards on 17 carries. Spaeder added 104 yards on the ground on eight carries.
Those two scoring drives offset both teams’ lack of consistency on offense.
Cypress Bay managed a 27-yard field goal by Budejen with 7:15 left in the half.
Dave Brousseau is a veteran journalist who worked at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and is a longtime BCAA Correspondent. Need to reach out to him? Contact him at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.