Booker T. Washington capitalizes on key Lakewood miscue to reach Class 4A state title game

As they prepared for Friday night’s Class 4A state semifinal against Lakewood, Booker T. Washington coaches noticed something on film. The Spartans were a bit slow on their snap from center to punter.

If the Tornadoes had a chance, they would set up a punt block when the time was right.

That time was late in the second quarter.

Booker T. Washington, ahead by a touchdown, forced the Spartans to punt on their own 24-yard line. The snap was indeed slow, the punt was blocked and the ball rolled into and out of the end zone for a safety.

That gave Booker T. Washington a 9-0 lead, which would turn out to be just enough in a 9-7 win over the Spartans. The Tornadoes will play Jacksonville Bolles on Dec. 11 for the Class 4A state championship.

“We saw on film that we could block a punt,’’ associate head coach Ben Hanks said. “We finally got them back up and we went for it. We were able to get to it. It made a difference.’’

Both offenses mostly sputtered in the first half. Lakewood punted on all six of its possessions. Booker T. Washington punted four times in the half, but one of them turned into a touchdown.

Early in the second, the Spartans muffed a punt and Booker T. Washington recovered on the Lakewood 14. Three plays later, Torey Morrison hit Jacorey Brooks on a five yard pass to make it 7-0. That would be the only touchdown of the game for the Tornadoes and the only offensive touchdown of the game.

After the safety, neither team could do anything and it was 9-0 at the break. The Spartans were held to just 62 yards of offense in the first half.

Lakewood (12-1) came out fired up in the third quarter. Quarterback Greg Spann made several long runs on the first drive to take the ball down to the 9.

But two penalties and an intentional grounding moved the ball back to the 30. The Spartans then missed a 46-yard field goal.

The Tornadoes (12-2) fumbled on their first play of the half and the Spartans were set up at the 30 yard line. But Washington’s defense only allowed one yard and the Spartans were forced to try a 45 yard field goal. Lakewood missed that also.

Booker T. Washington fumbled yet again on its next possession. This time, Samari Smith picked up it up and scored from 20 yards to make it 9-7 early in the third.

“From the environment that our kids come from, they always seem to handle adversity,’’ Hanks said. “We understand that the pendulum will swing. We understand that and we did a good job of preparing for that moment.’’

Things did indeed settle down after that. Morrison was able to keep drives alive with his legs. But Lakewood’s defense did not allow another point.

Neither did that Tornadoes.

The Spartans couldn’t get anything going on offense. Two drives in the last three minutes ended in a punt and on downs respectively.

“We had some opportunities,” Lakewood coach Cory Moore said. “The defense gave us those opportunities. We just couldn’t complete the things we should have. When you play good teams like Booker T. you have to do that.”

The Tornadoes have now won eight straight. Lakewood was hoping to play for the school’s first ever state championship. No Pinellas County school has ever won a football state title.

“That’s one of the things about football,’’ Hanks said. “There’s offense, defense and special teams. We won in two phases. Special teams got us two points and the defense played well enough to keep us victorious.’’

This story was originally published November 29, 2019 at 11:47 PM.