Running back Sedrick Irvin Jr. powers Gulliver Prep to high school football victory

It’s been 11 months and Earl Sims says it still haunts him.

The Gulliver coach speaks of his football team’s regional semifinal showdown last November against Booker T. Washington.

In what might have been the best high school game of the year in Miami-Dade County, Gulliver and BTW put on a show of all shows, a back-and-forth shootout not decided until there were less than 30 seconds left.

That’s when Sims and his Raider players, after a dream season that saw them go a perfect 10-0 and earn a No. 1 seed in the region, got their hearts broken.

That when the Tornadoes, trailing 31-26 scored on a 12-yard touchdown pass with 25 seconds left to pull out a 34-31 thriller at Tropical Park.

What made things even tougher was that 30 seconds earlier, with the Tornadoes facing a fourth-and-10 at midfield, Gulliver defensive end Donnell Harris had a piece of quarterback Torey Morrison’s jersey ready to bring him down and send the Raiders off to the next round. But the 5-8 Morrison managed to get out of his grasp and get the pass off for a 15-yard gain to keep the drive alive.

The loss was devastating for the Raiders, especially since they then had to watch BTW roll through the next three rounds and go on to win the Class 4A state title in Daytona Beach.

“I don’t think I had a good night’s sleep for the next week after that,” admitted Sims, who has been at the helm of the Gulliver program since 2006 and led the Raiders to a state final appearance in 2008. “We worked so hard all season to see everything come together and then to come so close and have it ripped away was tough on everybody, especially for our seniors who weren’t going to get another chance. One of the toughest losses I’ve ever had.”

Fortunately for Sims, the core of that talented roster were underclassmen. Flash forward 11 months and the Raiders, with 14 starters returning, are back on the field and ready to roll.

Despite the disruption of the start of the 2020 season because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gulliver, when the Sept. 18 deadline arrived to either opt-in or opt-out of the FHSAA state series, chose to opt in.

The Raiders finally got their 2020 campaign under way last week and did it in style with a 42-7 rout of Belen Jesuit. On Friday afternoon, they took on upstart Somerset Homestead Academy in their home opener.

In a game the Raiders were supposed to score very early and very often, the Raiders did exactly that as Jalen Brown took the opening kickoff 88 yards for a score and Gulliver never slowed down, routing an outmanned and outgunned Somerset team 78-0.

Gulliver was led by sophomore running back Sedrick Irvin Jr. who, in just barely over one quarter of work, rang up 124 yards on six carries and two scores before taking the last two-and-a-half quarters off as the Raiders led 51-0 just four minutes into the second quarter.

Also with an abbreviated day was junior quarterback Carson Haggard. Thanks to the kickoff return, Irvin’s scores and three defensive touchdowns, Haggard hardly threw the ball, completing three of his four throws for 102 yards and a pair of 45 yard scores to Brown. Once it got to 51-0 with 8:08 left in the second, Sims emptied his bench.

“That Booker T. game was such a tough loss because we came in there with such high hopes,” said Haggard who has offers on the table from Southern Miss, William & Mary and UConn but plans on waiting to see what else comes in before making a decision. “But that game served as a reminder that as close as we came, it showed that we were going to have to work just that much harder to get where we want to be. That game really lit a fire under our rear ends and we’re coming into this season with the mindset that we have to do everything we can do to be great.”

Gulliver will now enjoy a run of four more consecutive homes games with an Oct. 30 matchup against reigning 2A state champion Champagnat highlighting the list of opponents.

Then comes Nov. 13 and the start of the postseason and what the Raiders hope will be the start of a run that will bring the program its second-ever state championship and first since the late Sean Taylor led them to the title 20 years ago.

“That Booker T. game? It’s haunted me all the way into this year,” said Irvin Jr., who is listed No. 91 nationally in 24/7Sports’ Class of 2023 and already has multiple FBS offers on the table including Florida State and Florida. “What made it sting even more was then we had to watch them go all the way and win the title which kind of made us feel like ... how close that was to being our title. All we can do now is just to focus everyday we have our own high expectations for ourselves and being the best team we can be. If we can do that, we’ll get where we want to be.”

The one thing Haggard, Irvin and their teammates will not have to deal with this time is Booker T.

Despite being the defending 4A state champs, the Tornadoes, unlike their neighbors, Northwestern and Central, defending 5A and 6A champions, respectively, decided to opt out of the FHSAA state series and will not be eligible for postseason play.

But if anybody thinks it will now be smooth sailing to the state finals with BTW out of the way, guess again.

In another strange quirk because of the unbalanced nature of this year’s state series participation, the FHSAA, by blind draw, has already announced its pairings for each classification.

Gulliver will travel to Monsignor Pace on Nov. 13 and with a win there, would likely host Cardinal Gibbons the following week. That’s a Gibbons program just two years removed from a 5A state title and currently ranked No. 2 in the state right behind the Raiders.

After that would be a possible matchup with Delray American Heritage in the regional finals and, should the Raiders advance, the state semi’s would provide a huge road block.

That in the form of a loaded Cocoa team, which was originally supposed to be in the north bracket and would’ve squared off with Jacksonville Bolles in a north semi but instead got moved into the south bracket. To boot, the game would be in Cocoa.

Should Gulliver make it all the way to the state final, then Bolles would likely be the final road block to a title. Quite a gauntlet, Booker T. or no Booker T.

“There are no free meals around here and to be honest, the food tastes a lot better when you work for it,” said Sims. “Even though we won’t face Booker T. which would’ve been another huge challenge for us again, we understand that we’re going to have major hurdles to clear down the road.”

Sims also indicated that there was a silver lining in that devastating loss last season.

“The one thing we got that night that our returners will benefit from is going through what we went through,” said Sims. “It was a tough night that night but when you’re trying to become an elite program, you have to beat elite programs on your way there and sometimes suffering tough and difficult losses is a part of that process.”

▪ Palmer Trinity 49, Palm Glades Prep 7: In the season opener, the host Falcons were led by senior Kyndal Royal, who had seven carries for 86 yards and also had a 55-yard interception return for a touchdown. Sophomore Santana Wooten had six carries for 49 yards along with eight total tackles, 2 tackles for loss and 1 fumble recovery. Senior J.C. Corbo reeled in a 75-yard touchdown pass.

▪ St. Brendan 20, La Salle 16: The fourth-quarter comeback victory was led by Isaac Brown, who had 12 carries for 128 yards 2 TDs, 1 reception for 21 yards. Josh Reyes returned a kickoff for a 75-yard touchdown. Micheal Caldwell had 5 tackles, 1 Sack. Christian Lowry had 5 tackles, 1 forced fumble. Jose Magarin had 4 tackles, 1interception.

Cross Country

Undefeated Belen won its sixth consecutive major meet at the Viking Invite held at Bishop Verot High School in Fort Myers on Saturday morning. The team held out its top 5 runners to give them rest for the postseason.

The team scored 51 points in the varsity division in a field that included 34 teams, one of the largest meets to date. The team was led by Christian Fernandez, who finished sixth with a time of 15:21. Belen’s Julian Rodriguez, eighth with a time of 16:37. The team makes a trip to Stuart next Saturday to compete in their final meet of the regular season at the Pine Invitational.

Golf

▪ Ransom Everglades 324, Westminster Christian 386 (Crandon Park Golf Course, Par 72): Nick Viana (RE) 76, Jackson Langer (RE) 79, Kobe Lopez (RE) 82.

This story was originally published October 9, 2020 at 7:55 PM.