Edison makes statement in win vs. Norland: Red Raiders are on ‘a mission’ for state title
It took less than two minutes for Edison to assert itself against Norland on Thursday afternoon at Traz Powell Stadium. The Vikings’ first drive ended after three plays and a sack by Leon Hart to force a punt and the Red Raiders responded by racing 87 yards in two plays, capped with a touchdown by Nathaniel Joseph.
The entire first quarter played out almost identically as the first few minutes. Norland went three-and-out again on each of its next two drives, each one aided by a Hart sack, and Edison answered twice. A 31-yard catch by Joseph set up one and a 49-yard touchdown capped the next. The Red Raiders were up 21 by the end of the first quarter and cruised to a 47-7 win on the backs of two of South Florida’s breakout stars.
“They control the whole team,” Edison coach Luther Campbell said, “and they control the destiny of where we’re going.”
This year, the destination could go as far as the Red Raiders (2-1) have gone so far this century.
Edison hasn’t been to the state semifinals since 2003. This season, the expectation is to threaten for a state title for the first time since then, and Joseph and Hart are two of the biggest reasons why. On Thursday, Joseph, a sophomore, finished with six catches for 214 yards and four touchdowns, and Hart, a junior, logged four sacks to blow out the Vikings (1-2) in Miami.
When Miami-Dade County Public Schools made the difficult decision whether to opt into or out of the Florida High School Athletic Association’s state series, most of the schools who decided to compete for a state title were obvious. Miami Central and Northwestern both decided to defend their championships, and Palmetto, among the preseason favorites in Class 8A, decided to go for their first title. The Red Raiders were something of an outlier.
In Campbell’s first season at Edison in 2018, the Red Raiders missed the postseason entirely. Last year, they made progress and reached the playoffs before bowing out in the second round against Calvary Christian Academy.
Still, he felt the indications were there to signal a looming breakthrough. Edison was already young and the addition of a handful of key transfers in the offseason, including Joseph, made Campbell feel like he had a legitimate contender in Class 3A, so he decided to opt in and go for the Red Raiders’ first state championship since 1970.
“Last year, we lost hard and I took it as a mission to make it to the state championship this year,” quarterback Keith Moore said. “I want to redeem myself and show that I can lead this team.”
On Edison’s second play from scrimmage, Joseph motioned from left to right, grabbed a touch pass from Moore and took it 60 yards into the end zone to give the Red Raiders a 7-0 lead in just 1:58. On Edison’s second position, he set up a short touchdown run with a 31-yard catch off a scramble by Moore.
For his second touchdown, he turned a short curl into a 49-yard explosion. The wide receiver hauled in an uncontested catch near the left sideline and turned to face the cornerback covering him. He hesitated and shuffled his feet, then took off through the rest of the secondary to put the Red Raiders ahead 21-0 with 1:08 left in the first quarter.
“I coached Amari Cooper,” Campbell said, “and I’ve never seen anything like him.”
He added a third touchdown in the second quarter, turning a reception in the flat into a 21-yard score, then put away Norland with a 43-yard catch-and-run touchdown to give Edison a 33-7 lead just 1:07 into the third quarter.
It was Moore’s final throw of the game as the Red Raiders emptied the bench, eventually forcing a running clock with a little more than a minute left in the third quarter.
“My quarterback and I just make it happen,” said Joseph, who has also had a four-touchdown game against Homestead last month. “Just making short yards into long yards and taking it to the house.”
Edison now heads into the postseason for the second straight year and will face either Westminster Christian or Benjamin on Nov. 13.
The Red Raiders are on a collision with Chaminade-Madonna, the reigning 3A champion, for Nov. 27. Edison is bubbling with promise in Campbell’s third year. The coming weeks, though, will be a test unlike any this young team has passed.
“I kind of have an idea as to how to build a program, building it with kids that want to be at Edison and not just kids who are leftovers at Northwestern and Central, so we build young and this is the third year with a lot of these kids who were in the ninth grade,” Campbell said. “I’m trying to build a program here, not just necessarily a quick fix.”
This story was originally published November 5, 2020 at 7:27 PM.
