Booker T. Washington named HSFB100 National Champions

– Dallas Jackson, NationalHSFootball.com

Miami (Fla.) Booker T. Washington can now, officially, celebrate a high school football national championship.

The team had to wait out two weeks of football across the county as its closest competitors had to finish out in California and Texas. While both Allen (Texas) High and Bellflower (Cali.) St. John Bosco won their state championships neither made a jump over the Tornadoes.

Head coach Ice Harris said that being crowned a national champion was the completion of a mission that started at this time last season.

“We enjoyed the state championship last year but it didn’t last too long before we were on to setting goals for 2013,” he said. “I don’t know exactly when it was but I am pretty sure we were in the locker room still when we said that the national championship was something we wanted to accomplish, and now it is official.

“I am appreciative and honored and excited. This is something that is blessing for our kids, our staff, and our community.”

Washington started the season ranked No. 4 in the nation and after defeating preseason No. 5 Norcross (Ga.) High and No. 1 Miami (Fla.) Central the team moved to the top spot.

Washington added another out-of-state victory when it beat another Top 25 program, Las Vegas (Nev.) Bishop Gorman on the road.

All three of Bishop Gorman, Miami Central and Norcross went on to win a state championship as well as finish inside the final Top 20 of the HSFB100 which helped the Booker T. Washington strength of schedule.

Harris said that it was those first two victories changed the tone for his team.

“The reality was that our goal was right there, it was right in our face for us,” he said. “We got those games and it put it us on the right track. The Central game was what did it for me because we knew what they could do and what they had.

“Those guys were No. 1 when we got them and I knew whichever one of us won would come out of the game No. 1; we wanted it. From that point on I think the kids showed more focus and the coaches stepped up their game, too. We worked harder in practice, and we worked to keep getting better each day and I think that was important. There was still more to do after Central and if the kids would have stopped getting better I don’t think we would have finished like we did. That was important.”

Washington defeated HSFB100 Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) University and two relevant programs in Cocoa (Fla.) High and Jacksonville (Fla.) Bolles during the playoffs. It also beat Miami (Fla.) Northwestern in the regular season to add to its resume.

[SEE THE FINAL HSFB100: Click here for the final poll]

Adding the resume to the balance of talent on the team was impossible to deny its claim to the top spot.

The offense was paced by four-star quarterback and Florida State commitment, Treon Harris. The dual-threat prospect is also the son of the head coach and leader of the team.

Sophomore running back Mark Walton is already committed to the University of Miami and is a player that needed to be accounted for. He combined with Samford commit Krondis Larry and Harris to run the ball, making a tough trio.

Booker T. Washington featured West Virginia-bound Lamar Parker and Appalachian State commitment Deltron Hopkins as its receivers and while neither has exceptional size both were speedsters that took good routes and could run their way open.

The defensive line was one of the best in the nation and a major separation point between Washington and the next two teams in the discussion.

Having Chad Thomas and Demetrius Jackson made the defense very tough to contend with as the bookends can rush the passer as well as use their footwork and skill to drop back into coverage. Thomas is a five-star player with Jackson rated as four-star prospect. Both are Miami commitments and in the range of 6-foot-5, between 225-to-230 pounds.

Ice Harris said that he was a proud coach and father with his son quarterbacking the team to a title.

“It is awesome to have those extra emotions,” he said. “I got to watch Treon really improve his game and this year he took it to another level.

“His overall football IQ improved, he was named a high school football All-American, and he led this team to a national title, there is not much more I could have asked for as a parent or a coach.”

South Florida has had three high school football national championship teams since 1970 and all three have been since 2007 with Miami (Fla.) Northwestern and Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) St. Thomas Aquinas winning in 2007 and 2008.

Harris said that as the opportunity to represent his state on a list of champions that extends back to 1910 became more real he could see the impact that it had on everyone involved with the program.

“We had to get better because our fans were expecting more from us,” Harris said. “Our attendance kept going up because of all of the national attention and it was exciting.

“We have a great group of fans here but they started a trickle down because they would tell their friends to come with them. By the time we got into the last month of the season more and more people would come to see if we were for real. I think the kids fed off of it and really wanted to win this title for themselves and for the people that came out to support them.”

Despite the talent leaving the program, Harris said that the goal has not changed.

“We aren’t giving this title back without a fight,” he said. “We will have to figure out how to stay on top. This is too good of a feeling to just walk away from.

“Our expectations can’t drop now. We have worked to hard to get to the top of the mountain and someone is going to have to knock us off. We are the national champions.”