The Bulls Run Wild In The #305
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MIAMI – An hour before Saturday night's 3A state football title game at Pitbull Stadium (FIU campus), first year head coach Teddy Bridgewater watched the team warm up and took in the atmosphere.
As a player, the Miami Northwestern graduate had plenty of big moments and success. But as a head football coach, this dream season was indeed one to remember.
When over 12,000 fans on hand for this “home” game, the away team on the scoreboard became the third south Florida team to upend an unbeaten program and fifth to capture one of the seven state titles over the four days.
The Bulls, who lost to rival Miami Central, but later awarded the forfeit win, rolled to a 41-0 win over Jacksonville Raines, and in the process posted third straight shutout and gave the starting defense a chance to shine, closing the door for the last 22 quarters of the season without yielding a score.
“From the day I arrived, every player and coach understood what the objective was,” Bridgewater said. “While the spotlight always fell on me, it was the long hours the coaches and players put in that made the difference.”
As they have said all along: “when 71st Street is doing well – the high school football universe is in a better place.”
In winning their ninth overall state title since the mid 1960's, the Bulls jumped out to a 7-0 lead when [player_tooltip player_id='1251765' first='Elijah' last='Hardy'] scored on a two-yard run with 5:23 left.
When junior [player_tooltip player_id='212281' first='Leon' last='Strawder'], the MVP of the game, found junior [player_tooltip player_id='1206215' first='Calvin' last='Russell'] Jr. with a short 6-yard pass gave Northwestern a 14-0 lead going into the half.
The Bulls came out in the second half and took the opening kickoff down the field – cashing in when Strawder fired his second touchdown pass 65 yards to Hardy and a 21-0 lead with 10:35 left.
The Bulls extended the lead to 28-0 with 7:20 left when Strawder tossed his third scoring pass to Russell.
Northwestern ended the 21-point third quarter with 2:20 remaining as sophomore Nicholas Lennear hauled in the fourth Strawder TD pass and a clock-running 35-0 lead.
With 4:10 left in the contest, Strawder capped off an amazing performance with his fifth score on a 1-yard run.
“From the start of the season, we all felt that is where we would end up,” Strawder explained. “The losses we had early only got us ready for this night.”
HOW ABOUT THOSE NUMBERS!
While we know that this was not a close game, the statistics certainly backed that up
The Bulls had 24 first downs to the Vikings 12. Raines won the rushing war, 151-70 – while the Bulls finished with 361 yards (431 total) to 45 (155 total).
Individually, Strawder was 19 of 27 for 361 yards and those four scores. Timothy Cole was six of 19 for 45 yards.
Syracuse-bound Darius “Boobie” Johnson had seven catches for 82 yards, Lennear had 4 catches for 121 yards and two scores. Russell (4-59) and Hardy (3-83).
Senior [player_tooltip player_id='827383' first='King' last='Davis'] had 12 carries for 47 yards for the Bulls. Cole led all runners with 135 yards on 16 carries.
On the defensive side of the ball, Tremaine Perriman (six tackles, 1 tackle for loss), [player_tooltip player_id='1575228' first='Desmond' last='Johnson'] (5 tackles), [player_tooltip player_id='749811' first='Deangelo' last='Thompson'] Jr. (4 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss) and Roderic McFadden (4 tackles).
The Vikings were led by [player_tooltip player_id='1229940' first='Jayshaun' last='Wanton'] (8 tackles), Jucoby Marion (7 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss) and Micah Merritt (6 tackles).
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