Booker T. Washington gets revenge on Edison to start Tim ‘Ice’ Harris’ latest tenure 2-0
A year ago, the standard slipped at Booker T. Washington and its annual meeting with Edison was evidence. For the first time since 2000, the Tornadoes lost to the Red Raiders, upending some of the traditional high school football hierarchy in inner-city Miami.
A year later and with Tim “Ice” Harris back at the helm, Booker T. Washington believes it’s headed back to its rightful place, even if a nail-biting, 28-20 win against Edison on Thursday only meant so much.
“With Coach Ice, I knew he wasn’t going for it again,” Tornadoes quarterback Claudell Sherman said.
After a group of alumni spoke to the current team before kickoff, Booker T. Washington pulled off a goal-line stand in the final minute to thwart the Red Raiders’ comeback bid at Curtis Park. With Edison facing fourth-and-goal from the Tornadoes’ 6-yard line, Booker T. Washington edge rusher Jaquentin Ford sacked Red Raiders quarterback Michael Zephrin to seal the Tornadoes’ victory.
Although it didn’t score in the second half, Booker T. Washington (2-0) forced four turnovers inside its own 10 — two on downs and two via fumbles — to pull out the one-possession win in Miami.
“That’s why defense wins championships,” Harris said. “We turned the corner a little bit right there.”
First, the Tornadoes needed some offense, though, and Sherman provided most of it. On the second play from scrimmage, the junior kept the ball on a read option and dashed 25 yards into the end zone to put Booker T. Washington up 7-0. On the Tornadoes’ next offensive play, Sherman fired a 13-yard slant to Booker T. Washington wide receiver Xavier Irvin and the Tornadoes’ lead grew to 14-0 in less than two minutes.
The rest of the first half was a shootout. Edison (0-1) switched quarterbacks for its second possession and Zephrin led an eight-play, 71-yard drive, culminating with his 2-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 14-6.
With a chance to tie the game in the first quarter, the Red Raiders ran into their first red-zone mishap, though. They recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff and marched all the way down to the 9, only to turn the ball over on downs when star wide receiver Nathaniel Joseph, who’s orally committed to the Miami Hurricanes, threw an incomplete pass on fourth down.
Booker T. Washington answered with a 91-yard touchdown drive to stretch their lead to 21-6 and it was too much for Edison to overcome. The Red Raiders and Tornadoes traded touchdowns on the next two possessions — Sherman added another touchdown run with 8:47 left in the first half — and then the shootout stopped. Right before halftime, Zephrin fumbled at the goal line and Booker T. Washington went into the break with a 28-14 lead.
“They did a great job,” Harris said.
Zephrin cut the Tornadoes’ lead to 28-20 with another touchdown run on Edison’s first possession of the second half and then the Red Raiders stalled, too. Their next drive took them all the way into the red zone again, until Edison wide receiver Brandon Lowe fumbled after catching a pass inside the 5, letting Booker T. Washington again escape unscathed.
On a desperate final possession, the Red Raiders turned to Joseph as their primary quarterback and he nearly pulled off a one-man comeback, taking Edison from its own 39 all the way to the Tornadoes’ 19 with three carries for 42 yards.
Once more, the Red Raiders stalled and needed to throw on fourth down, and couldn’t come up with a final play.
Booker T. Washington celebrated. Edison — frustrated with a penalty-plagued, turnover-filled season-opening loss — skipped out on the postgame handshake line. The Tornadoes started to shift their attention to next week, when Harris will go for the biggest win yet in his latest tenure as Booker T. Washington’s coach.
Miami Central awaits.
“We definitely want to make sure that we’re an elite program and we’re coming here to win the state championship,” Harris said. “We’re in this league to be one of the top teams in the country and it’ll be a great test for us next week, and we’ve got to be perfect, perfect, perfect if we want to be able to be in the game with Central when it comes inside the fourth quarter.”
THURSDAY SCORES
No. 6 Columbus 44, Killian 13
No. 12 Booker T. 28, No. 17 Edison 20
No. 14 Norland 31, Carol City 12
No. 20 Plantation 29, Stranahan 13
Coral Reef 56, Varela 0
Delray Atlantic 28, Monarch 12
Fort Lauderdale 31, Hallandale 6
Hialeah 21, Miami Springs 10
Hialeah Gardens 14, Reagan 7
Marathon 35, Miami Country Day 13
Pompano Beach 21, Northeast 14
Pine Crest 30, University School 7
Pines Charter 40, Coral Springs Charter 35
This story was originally published September 1, 2022 at 11:32 PM.