Persevering through grueling stretch, Booker T. blanks Edison to secure district title
Booker T. Washington’s football team is facing all kinds of challenges lately.
Less than two weeks ago, the Tornadoes lost their starting quarterback Claudell Sherman to injury, potentially for the rest of the season, during a deflating loss to Miami Norland.
Now, they are in the midst of playing three games in a span of eight days.
For a team trying to prove it is still a serious contender for the Class 2M state championship, Booker T. is used to defying the odds.
Four days after holding off rival Miami Northwestern for a crucial win, the Tornadoes completed the task of winning the District 14-2M championship when their defense blanked Miami Edison 13-0 on Monday night at Traz Powell Stadium.
Booker T. (6-2, 3-0 in district) will again have very little time until facing their next opponent.
The Tornadoes play Homestead South Dade (5-2) on Thursday night at Harris Field as part of GMAC championship week.
“It’s been very challenging for us. We’ve just been trying to do what we have to do as coaches and make sure the kids don’t think about it too much,” Booker T. coach Tim “Ice Harris said. “This is a great story for a team to be able to do this. If we can win it on Thursday and say it’s something that’s never been done to win three physical games against three good opponents.”
Booker T., which entered last week’s games as the fifth seed in Region 4-2M, is likely to move up at least into the top four and perhaps as high as third after its two most recent wins. Edison (4-3, 2-1 in district), which takes on Homestead on Friday at Harris Field, was seeded sixth entering the week and needs to win as many of its final three games as possible to secure an at-large playoff berth.
The teams picked up where they left off over a month ago when the game was suspended due to inclement weather with 9:35 left in the first quarter.
Booker T.’s defense, which yielded 41 yards to Edison’s offense that day before the game was stopped, did not allow any positive yards or a first down until the second quarter on Monday.
Senior Terrance Chambers led the effort with two sacks while senior Leroy James and freshman Trezavant Boyd each had an interception.
“For the defense to be able to come in and shut these guys out especially since we haven’t even put on any gear since the Northwestern game last week was a great job,” Harris said. “We’ve just been working on mental reps and getting these kids prepared.”
The big concern for the Tornadoes, however, is how to ignite an offense that has gone mostly dormant since Sherman suffered a collarbone injury early in the fourth quarter against Norland on Oct. 5.
Booker T. struggled to move the football through most of Monday night’s game, but showed glimpses of progress.
Sophomore quarterback Anthony McQueen led two touchdown drives, including one that he capped with a 26-yard touchdown pass to Anton Smith, who finished with three catches for 30 yards. But McQueen completed only 4 of 17 passes for 37 yards and often overthrew open receivers downfield.
“On offense we just have to get that timing right,” Harris said. “Hopefully by Thursday, we can make that connection and get some of those deep passes going and get the offense to where we know it can play.”
Harris also said Booker T. has to regain its effectiveness running the football - something that was a major strength for the Tornadoes last season. Gerald Modest ran for 42 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries against Edison.
“We have to make sure McQueen continues to gain confidence and we have to get our running game going again,” Harris said. “We moved the ball and were able to do some things, but we have to finish. We had too many penalties on third downs and put our quarterback in a bad position.”
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