Booker T. persevering without injured starting QB, advances to regional semifinals

Over one month ago, Booker T. Washington quarterback Claudell Sherman injured his collarbone in a loss to Miami Norland.

Sophomore Anthony McQueen has led the Tornadoes since — and while it hasn’t always been pretty — he did enough on Thursday night at Curtis Park for a convincing 34-8 win over North Miami Beach in the Region 4-2M quarterfinals.

McQueen threw for 141 yards and two passing touchdowns, and the Tornadoes’ defense picked off Chargers’ quarterback Chris Polanco twice in a near-shutout victory. It took North Miami Beach (4-7) until 1:08 in the fourth quarter before it found the end zone.

But despite the dominant win, Booker T. Washington head coach Tim “Ice” Harris knows the Tornadoes (9-2) must step up their game to compete for a state title.

“It feels good to get the win, but we made a lot of mistakes, especially on offense,” he said. “We did too much sputtering … we had two turnovers handed down in the red zone. We can not be in a situation to win games of this magnitude with creating turnovers. Our defense played well. We bent a little bit, but we didn’t break … We just got a lot of things we got to be able to work on to be ready for the next round.”

The Tornadoes started out slow with a short drive that ended in a punt. But McQueen completed a 25-yard pass to wide receiver Anton Smith on the next possession, and Smith completed the drive with a 5-yard touchdown catch to open the scoring.

Still, the Chargers only trailed by one possession early in the second quarter and quickly found themselves in the red zone. However, a short field goal was blocked and four-star cornerback Ben Hanks Jr. scooped up the ball and ran 94 yards down the right sideline for the score.

Booker T. Washington led 14-0 at halftime and used a dominant second half to put North Miami Beach away. The Chargers forced a fumble on the Tornadoes’ first drive of the third quarter, but Booker T. Washington responded with a three-and-out. A few plays later, McQueen scrambled to his right and found wide receiver Elijah Henton for his second touchdown of the night to put the game out of reach.

“We saw some good stuff,” Harris said of McQueen. “We want him to be able to make sure he just leads a little more, but he really did a good job in terms of making some big throws. He’s got to be able to run the ball a little more in situations trying to make sure — he gets the ball to the receivers, but he has to use his legs a little bit more, especially in the big games.”

The Tornadoes scored two more rushing touchdowns from Modest and Irwin James, who finished the scoring with a 49-yard rush.

Wide receiver Frank Montijo was the lone bright spot for North Miami Beach, finishing with 147 yards and a touchdown. He also forced two fumbles on defense.

Now, the Tornadoes face the winner of Friday night’s 4-2M quarterfinal between No. 2 Miami Central and No. 7 Miami Edison. The Rockets, winners of the past four 2M state titles, would give McQueen his toughest test to date.

However, Harris said there’s a chance Sherman could play next week.

“We’re just waiting on the doctor. He’s moving well … he had a checkup yesterday. Things look well. We feel good about where he can be. So any day now, any week, he’ll be back.”