As spring practice began this week for players across the BCAA, last weekend watched a number of local athletes travel to Alabama for the Badger 7-on-7 Regional tournament at Samford University.
The South Florida Fire team, which is made up of players from all over Southern Florida, pulled the second surprise of the spring as they went undefeated (7-0) and captured the impressive event with 16 teams from throughout the southeast.
Two months ago, many of the players were just a number of individuals, who were cut from the defending national champion South Florida Express.
“We won it all,” said South Florida Fire head coach Dennis Marroquin. “We came up here to Alabama and beat some pretty good teams and went unbeaten. We are regional champs of the Badger 7-on-7 event”
A team that stunned the Express in the title game of the state tournament back in March at the University of South Florida, the Fire capped off a successful weekend, beating team Georgia, 35-0, to win.
The win, by the tournament’s No. 1 seed will now send this quality group of athletes to Dallas over the July Fourth holiday, to compete for the national title.
Among the BCAA prospects who made a statement against Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana and New Jersey included Plantation’s Deshawn Lindsey, Coral Springs speedster Dion Witty, Joshua Wright (Plantation), Adrian Burton (Blanche Ely), Zachary Daise (Dillard), Dionte Taylor (Stranahan) and Boyd Anderson speedster Bruce Natson.
"I am so proud of the players for coming up here and finishing off the job," said Marroquin. "I cannot say enough about the way our players performed."
TRACKING DOWN SUCCESS
Hallandale and Cardinal Gibbons attempted to take down some of the elite 2A track and field teams last weekend at Showalter Field in Winter Park, but in the end, the competition fierce and extremely impressive.
On the girls' side, Hallandale finished in a three-way tie for third, led by junior Kyri Tabor, who won the 400 in 55.96, finished second in the 100 and sixth in the 200.
Cardinal Gibbons was 8th, finishing fifth in the 3,200 meter event.
In the boys' state championships, Hallandale was 10th and Cardinal Gibbons finished 42nd. The Chargers picked up a state championship in the 400 with Dwight Davis running a 48:02. Davis also ran on the fourth-place 4x400 relay team, joining with Jaquez Wilson, Darnell Bloom and Antonio Duncan. The Chargers finished in a tie for 10th in the team standings.
You can reach Larry Blustein via e-mail at Floridakids1@hotmail.com. Blustein is the co-host of the High School Gridiron Show each Wednesday night from 9-10 on WQAM (560 AM) or www.wqam.com.
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