Booker T. Washington Wins Class 4A Title

    The Booker T. Washington Tornadoes had revenge on their minds as they entered the FHSAA Class 4A state final against the defending champion Jacksonville-The Bolles School Bulldogs at the Citrus Bowl on Saturday night. Washington showed their dominance with a 35-7 victory to capture the title. Both teams met in the Class 4A final last year as the Bulldogs took their 11th championship, which is a FHSAA record.
    Booker T. Washington(13-1), who finished the season winning their final 12 games, were able to get the early lead and held on to it for the rest of the game. In the first quarter, Nigel Patten intercepted a long pass by Colby Peters at the Tornadoes 13-yard line. On the next play, Treon Harris threw an 87-yard touchdown strike down the left side to Deltron Hopkins for a 7-0 Tornadoes lead at 7:13.
    The Tornadoes scored on their first possession of the second quarter with an 11-play, 63-yard drive. Harris ran the ball in up the middle from 12 yards out at 6:49, but they missed the extra point and increased the margin to 13-0.
    Bolles(12-2), who defeated the national high school all-time rushing leader Derrick Henry and Yulee last week, was able to break the shutout prior to halftime. Peters completed a four-yard pass to Arterrious Mitchell with 22 seconds left to cut down the deficit to 13-7. It would be the Bulldogs only points in the game.
    Washington would shut the door with a 22-point third quarter and put the game away. They scored on all of their three possessions in the quarter. Karim Bryant caught a 30-yard touchdown pass from Harris to cap a five-play, 66-yard drive at 7:34. The Tornadoes got a team safety on the Bulldogs second play of their next drive as Dexter Carter, Jr. fumbled the ball in his own end zone during a running play as it was recovered by Peters at 7:16.
    The Tornado offense capitalized from great field position on their next possession as Harris ended a four-play, 38-yard drive with a three-yard rushing touchdown with 6:30 left. Following a Bolles punt, Booker T. Washington extended their lead to 35-7 on the final play of the third quarter. Harris scored his third touchdown run of the game as he sprinted in from one yard away to finish the nine-play, 68-yard drive.