Booker T. Washington scores late touchdown to outlast Gulliver Prep in instant classic
Anybody who showed up at Tropical Park on Friday and plunked down their $8 to get in got every dime’s worth of their money. Booker T. Washington and Gulliver Prep put on a show of all shows.
When it was over, it was BTW that had one more big play than Gulliver. The Tornadoes, led by the smallest kid on the field in quarterback Torey Morrison, drove the length of the field in the final four minutes to score on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Morrison to Jacorey Brooks, a fade pass to the corner with 1:18 left to pull out a 34-31 thriller before a big crowd in a Region 4-4A semifinal.
“We practice that play everyday and we could probably do it in our sleep by now,” Brooks said. “Everybody did their job. Coaches called a great play. They believed in me, O-line blocked and Torrey laid it out there perfectly for me.”
The road won’t get any easier for the Tornadoes. The now-vaunted “Region of Death” has lived up to its reputation as No. 3 Cardinal Gibbons went on the road and knocked off No. 2-seed University in the other semifinal and will now host Booker T. (10-2) in a Region 4-4A final next Friday.
Morrison was the real hero on this night for the Tornadoes, as he came up with big play after big play for thanks to his elusive slippery ability to avoid Gulliver’s fierce pass rush, led by ex-Tornado Donnell Harris.
The last drive epitomized that. Facing a fourth-and-3 at his own 44 with two minutes left and the season down to one play, Morrison appeared to be sacked but once again, but he slipped outside the pocket and found Theodore Richardson for 10 yards and a fresh set of downs.
“I never get too excited or never too down all during the game,” said Morrison, who finished 16 of 24 with 259 yards and three touchdowns. “I just try and go out there and execute no matter what the situation is. I knew that last drive was huge, I knew our season was on the line and knew I just needed to be calm and lead my team down the field.”
Said Booker T. Washington associate head coach Ben Hanks: “We work on two-minute drill every day in practice, so even when we fell behind we knew what had to be done, and it was just a matter of finding a way to get down there and get the lead back. Torey is a remarkable young man. He’s been playing high school football since the eighth grade and he drew on his experience tonight, especially on that last drive.”
The loss was heartbreaking for Gulliver. Many doubted the Raiders, despite their perfect regular season and No. 1 seeed. They were a legitimate threat to Booker T.
That was put to rest very quickly as the Raiders (10-1) stunned their opponent by putting together an opening touchdown drive to take a 7-0 lead on a 15-yard touchdown pass from Carson Haggard to Amin Hassan. After the defense gave them a three-and-out, the Raiders offense came right back out and took it down the field again, going 74 yards in just seven plays. Haggard again found Hassan from 28 yards out.
The stunned Tornadoes were in a 14-0 hole and never were able to muster any more offense in the first half. They went to the halftime locker room down 14-0.
The biggest play of the night might have been the second play of the second half. Desperately needing something good to happen, Morrison dropped back and heaved a perfectly thrown bomb down the sideline and hit Brooks in stride for a 77-yard touchdown.
“That’s what we needed,” Brooks said. “I told them at halftime, ‘Just find a way to get me and ball and I’ll do the rest.’ That play really got us going.”
Booker T. turned into a downhill freight train for the rest of the quarter, scoring two more touchdowns on 39- and 34-yard touchdown runs by Shemar Paul to go up 19-14 going to the fourth. Paul finished with 134 yards on 16 carries.
After the Raiders answered with a short field goal by Will Bettridge, Morrison led the Tornadoes on their longest drive of the night — an 80-yard 14 play marathon that ate up nearly seven minutes of clock. When Morrison found Edward Arza Jr. in the back of the end zone for a nine yard score, BTW was up 26-17 with just 5:58 left.
But the Raiders weren’t going anywhere. Haggard, who finished 12 of 22 for 242 yards, dropped back on the second play after the ensuing kickoff and fired a perfect deep strike to Jalen Brown for a 64-yard score to cut the lead to 26-24.
Gulliver linebacker Travious Lathan then stepped up with a big play when he stripped Paul of the ball on the next drive and Eddie Jackson recovered at the BTW 40. It took all of one play for the Raiders to take the lead when running back Anton Hall Jr. bolted through a big hole and then broke outside for a 40-yard score. Just like that, Gulliver was up 31-26 with 4:22 left, setting the stage for Morrison’s heroic drive.
“I’m one of the leaders on this team, and just had to get with my team and tell them to fight, that there was no way we were going down like this,” said Brooks when asked about what was said at halftime. “They have their run, we have our run. That’s how football works sometimes. Tonight was a great game between two great teams and we just managed to make a few more big plays than them. It was a privilege to be a part of a great game like this.”
This story was originally published November 16, 2019 at 12:29 AM.