Miami Beach linebacker’s huge game leads north team to Miami-Dade All Star Game win

All Edgar Harris wanted was a chance.

And when he got it on Saturday night, he took full advantage.

Harris, having basically wallowed in anonymity playing linebacker for a 2-8 Miami Beach team, turned out to be the big playmaker for his North all-star team. He won the game’s MVP honors, leading the north stars to a 29-24 victory over the south in the 23rd Annual North/South Dade All Star Game at Curtis Park.

Harris wasn’t on anybody’s list when it came to picking players but when former Champagnat coach Mike Tunsil, who works with different kids around South Florida to open doors and give them opportunities, made a few phone calls on Harris’ behalf, he was in the game.

Harris opened the game by sacking south quarterback Cairiq Rackley on the third play and then broke through clean and blocked the punt and fel on it in the end zone one play later to give his team an early 7-0 lead.

His big first half continued when he recorded a second sack and two tackles for loss as the north team blew out to a 22-0 lead after the first quarter and led 29-7 late in the second.

“The coaches said just get out there and start the game off hard and that’s what I did,” Harris said. “On the blocked punt, I saw it was open and the center was focused on the one technique and saw the hold and shot right through. It was a great way for us to start off the game.”

Harris was awarded a championship-style belt following the game but had to be held by a teammate because his ankle was taped heavily in ice. There’s no telling what he might have done had he not had to come out of the game early in the third quarter when he got chop blocked and injured the ankle.

“I thank God for this opportunity and am grateful to Coach Tunsil for getting me an opportunity to show off my talent,” Harris said. “When he messaged me with the news, I was really excited. It was a little frustrating (when he wasn’t selected) because I know what I can do on the field and I took advantage of that tonight.”

“Just really tremendous, that’s what a game like this is all about, to give a kid an opportunity that normally wouldn’t get one,” said Booker T. Washington head coach Tim “Ice” Harris (no relation), who coached the north all stars. “As a staff, we do everything we can when other coaches call to try and try to get kids in games that may have not been picked because they may not have had the numbers or whatever and we do a great job of opening up that door to get kids in and what that young man did is a good example of that.”

Harris watched as his team blew out to the big lead and then wound up having to hang on for dear life as the South all stars put on a furious rally.

Edgar Harris’ big play was followed by a fumble recovery by the defense on the very next play and a 13-yard touchdown pass from Northwestern teammates, quarterback Isaiah Velez and Ricky McKnight and it was 15-0 just 3:03 into the game.

Velez then fired a 39-yard scoring strike to Central wide receiver Anthony Frederick on fourth-and-18 late in the first quarter and the south had a huge hole to climb out of .

An 80-yard scoring pass from South Dade’s Demetrius Burns to Columbus wide receiver Kalani Norris made it 22-7 but a 1-yard scoring run by Booker T. running back Marcus Barthell 4:22 before halftime offset that.

Led by Burns, who completed 6-of-11 for 176 yards and two touchdowns before stepping aside for other quarterbacks midway through the third, the south stars clawed their way back.

A 1-yard plunge by Belen Jesuit running back Daniel Esteban just before the break made it 29-14 at the half. That was followed by a 7 yard Burns scoring strike to Palmetto’s Kane VanDemark and 22-yard field goal from Palmetto placekicker Tyler Larco to cut the deficit to five entering the fourth quarter.

But interceptions by Booker T. Washington’s Travis Pittman midway through the fourth and another by James Donaldson of Central with three minutes left sealed the win for the north.

“A great game and that’s what all-star games are all about,” said Ice Harris. “Maybe getting the big lead early by making a lot of big plays, we got into celebrating a little too much but we did a good job of making the plays down the stretch we needed to. It’s never an easy thing to coach all star games. Kids who are used to being starters who have to learn to come out of the game and give other kids opportunities, do things they normally don’t do from a special teams standpoint but that’s where our staff did a great job.”