Posted on Sun, Dec. 16, 2007

ORLANDO -- South Florida sports fans might have forgotten what this feels like.

Perhaps only water has been in greater need locally than the type of wins two of Miami's high school football teams experienced Saturday night in the Citrus Bowl, when two schools situated within 10 minutes of each other secured state championships.

The Northwestern Bulls, the best show South Florida sports has going, won its 30th consecutive game, a Miami-Dade record, and secured its No. 1 overall national ranking.

The Booker T. Washington Tornadoes, the No. 4-ranked team in the country, claimed the Class 4A championship.

So if South Florida sports fans needed a reminder of what it feels like to celebrate, to dominate or to be crowned a champion, they received a pair of reminders Saturday.

Combine that with St. Thomas Aquinas winning the Class 5A title Friday night, and it's the first time in the Florida High School Athletic Association's history that three state titles have come from the same major metropolitan area in the same year.

Today, South Florida is sprinkled with champions.

If you think about why we needed this shot of excellence right now, consider this:

• The Dolphins are not only excruciatingly bad, but on the verge of being historically so, with a winless season all but expected at this point.

• The Heat has spent the past two seasons wounded and uninspired to the point that memories of a 2006 NBA championship have been replaced by frustrated boos at home games.

• The Marlins have once again reminded fans that they're only worth watching once a decade, as they've traded away their two most recognizable players and secured a few more years of insignificance.

• The Panthers have developed some sort of resistance to winning for more than half a decade.

• And the Hurricanes football team, the one sports program that can normally be counted on, is undergoing its own version of rebuilding.

With a list like that, you can see why Saturday's victories shine all the more.

The best part about it: A handful of them are staying put, trying to maintain that winning feeling past this weekend.

Consider:

Six of the national champion Bulls are planning on staying home, taking their talents to the University of Miami, the program in need of exactly that kind of talent infusion.

Quarterback Jacory Harris, receivers Kendall Thompkins and Aldarius Johnson, defensive lineman Marcus Fortson, linebacker Sean Spence and offensive lineman Brandon Washington -- all champions, all probable Hurricanes. They'll join Tornadoes receivers Davon Johnson and Thearon Collier to create the core of a Hurricanes recruiting class that should be ranked among the best in the nation.

If being a winner can be considered a tangible quality in a player, then Miami has secured almost an entire team of them. And it shouldn't be long before this winning feeling returns with Hurricane force.

For the Bulls, these state and national titles place this group among the best the state has ever seen. On a night the FHSAA announced its best team of the century, the 1968 Coral Gables team, the 41-0 drubbing the Bulls handed Orlando Boone served notice that Northwestern would have been in the running for that distinction had the organization waited a few years to make the decision. Even a fourth-quarter injury to Harris, the class senior quarterback that has flawlessly directed the Bulls offense for the past two seasons, couldn't suppress these champs.

The very next play, backup quarterback Wayne Times threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to further demoralize Boone.

And this celebration wouldn't be shrouded in controversy like season's. It was during last year's postgame mayhem that Northwestern school officials were dodging questions about allowing running back Antwain Easterling to play, despite to being part of a sexual scandal.

At the time, the decision tempered the excitement. Something about celebrating the accomplishment felt a bit inappropriate.

This title wasn't polluted. The coaching staff was new after the administration cleaned house before the season began. But the talent endured. And the Bulls are champions once again.

''Right now, they've got us as the face of Miami,'' Harris said after the game. ``We were trying to keep that going, and we did what we had to do.''

These teens do what the pros and collegians of South Florida can't at the moment.

If you'd forgotten the feeling, hang onto this one for a while. It's the best kind of reminder.