It was a tale of two halves, with South Dade ruling the one that decided the game on Friday night.

Behind sophomore Jean Calixte’s four touchdown passes, including three in the second half, South Dade rallied past West Broward 43-31 to advance in the 4M regional quarterfinals.

Calixte hooked up with Edward Farley-Kendrick twice on touchdown passes of 18 yards, while connecting with Sedric Melvin on a 30-yard TD pass and Tedrick Lee on a 1-yard scoring toss.

West Broward did its best to keep pace with South Dade in the second half. Walter Olden II caught a 14-yard touchdown pass from Jonathan Morillo to cut the Bucs lead to 29-24, but South Dade needed just seven plays to march down the field and score again.

After West Broward was forced to punt on its next possession, Melvin hauled in a 74-yard pass, taking it down to the 1, allowing South Dade to eventually score again.

“These guys four years ago were 1-9 when we started here and now they are back-to-back district champs before losing to two tough Dade County teams,” said West Broward coach Brian McCartney. “I’m proud of offense. We came out and played and left it all out on the field.”

West Broward (7-4) struck first, opening up a 14-0 lead after Jonathan Morillo scored from 6 yards out and then Zaheed Pierre returned an interception 35 yards for a score.

The Bobcats then came up with two more huge defensive plays to take a 17-14 halftime lead.

First, wide receiver Richard Leon recovered a fumble after West Broward threw an interception at the goal line. Farley-Kendrick picked off the pass, but fumbled it trying to return it out of the end zone. The Bobcats got a 25-yard field goal from Trace Poncev to take the lead.

Then as South Dade was driving to score a touchdown right before halftime, Kelvin Reyes recovered a fumble in the end zone.

“We knew those mistakes were self-inflicted and we had a better week of practice than what we showed in the first half,” said South Dade coach Chris Reid. “For a 10th grader [Calixte] he was very impressive. He gets better every single game and great offensive line play helps the quarterback. It was a collective effort.”

Melvin finished with seven catches for 163 yards, while Farley-Kendrick had four catches for 86 yards. Running back Demetrius Williams had 105 yards on 13 carries. West Broward was led by Joshua Moore, who finished with seven catches and 72 yards and a score.

“I’m proud of the West Broward Bobcats because we’ve never been on the map before and now people are talking about us,” added McCartney.