Nation's No. 1 team Booker T. Washington wins Florida 4A state title

The nation's No. 1 team in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 national rankings finished with a flurry on Saturday.

Booker T. Washington (Miami, Fla.) (14-0) piled up 511 yards while winning their 26th straight game and second consecutive Florida 4A state title with a 40-21 triumph over Bolles (Jacksonville) (10-4) at the Citrus Bowl.

Florida State-bound Treon Harris completed 15 of 27 passes for 226 yards and rushed for 86 more while accounting for three touchdowns. Sophomore running back Mark Walton, who has already committed to Miami, added 124 yards rushing and two more scores as the Tornadoes likely became the third team from South Florida since 2007 to win a mythical national title.

The others were by Northwestern in 2007 and St. Thomas Aquinas in 2008 and 2010.

"Nothing was going to take me out of this game," Harris told Miami Herald reporter Andrew Fernandez. Harris injured his knee and missed some time in the playoffs. "I wouldn't had to break something to get taken out of this game. Anything sprained or anything I was going to fight through."

Led defensively by senior defensive end Chad Thomas, Washington opened the season with a bang, a 55-0 win over then No. 3 Norcross on national television. That win caught everyone's attention and vaulted the Tornadoes to the top of most national rankings.

The team then solidified that spot with a 28-17 win over archrival and potential 6A state champion Central (Miami) the following week. Those teams were ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the country the time of that game.

Central (12-1) defeated Mainland Friday and moved into next week's 6A final against Armwood (Seffner).

The defense was superb all season, allowing just 138 points with three shutouts and eight times allowing 10 points or less.

"We made history for the first time and we'll always be remembered for that," Thomas told Fernandez of the team's potential national championship. We never lost a game this season but went through plenty of adversity and found a way to work our way through it."

Despite missing four games, Treon Harris passed for 1,892 yards and 26 touchdowns with just three interceptions heading into Saturday's game. He also rushed for eight touchdowns.

Linebacker Josh Johnson had 110 tackles heading into Saturday's game, Thomas had a team-high eight sacks and Brandon Boyd six interceptions.

Saturday's win also took the sting out of a 2011 loss to Bolles in the state playoffs.

Boles entered Saturday's game on a three-game win streak, taking down Keystone Heights 32-10, Raines 35-28 and Florida State University 44-27. On Saturday, Christian Bermudez led the way with 132 yards rushing and a touchdown while Dexter Carter rushed 13 times for 95 yards and another score.

"This is our third year together with this team and we watched the film of the (2011 game) as a unit," Washington head coach Tim "Ice" Harris. "We wanted to make sure we understood what that moment meant to us. We wanted to come back after winning last year and compete for a national title."