Booker T. Washington @ Ransom Everglades

WEEK 10 | 2024 SEASON

_{October 26, 2024}
by Josh Zedner
Miami, Fla. | “Tornadoes Blow Through Raiders”

Florida Man Sports is back with Week 10 coverage of the South Florida high school football campaign. The playoffs are around the corner and each game brings more importance. Tonight we had a district showdown between the Booker T. Washington Tornadoes and the Ransom Everglades Raiders. The Tornadoes, at 4-3, are coming off of an impressive road victory last week against Southridge. Ransom, standing at 5-1 and led by top tier 2028 QB Neimann Lawrence, had a blowout 34-point victory at home against Somerset Academy South Homestead last Friday.

After the Raiders went 3-and-out on their first drive, their defense appeared to be outmatched. 2025 DB and Florida commit Ben Hanks Jr. had a huge punt return to put the Tornadoes inside the redzone immediately. After that, 2025 QB Nylan Maine connected with 2027 WR Ja’Kauri Carter for a first down. 2026 RB Irwin James Jr. then got around the edge to give Booker T. the early lead.

But then came a quick response by Lawrence and the Raiders offense. Lawrence was throwing darts across the field, reminiscent of a young Cam Ward. He connected twice with 2026 WR Rauli Matos and hit 2028 RB Noah Alce on a screen pass. Finally, for the touchdown, Lawrence found two-sport athlete (baseball) 2026 ATH Juan Velazco in the endzone to tie that score right back up at 6 a piece. A beautiful drive by the freshman star.

The Tornadoes went right back to James, as he busted along the sideline for a huge gain, nearly scoring a touchdown in the process. Maine handed it right back to him and rewarded James with his second touchdown score of the game. Maine then found 2026 WR Anton Smith in the back of the endzone to get the lead out to 14-6 with the two-point conversion.

But Lawrence locked right back in. Getting 3 more first-down strikes to Velazco, Matos, and Alce, the
Raiders were right back in the redzone. After a nice PBU by 2025 DB Fabulis Scott, Lawrence once again found a receiver in the back of the endzone, this time being 2025 WR Reid Rosenberg, who is another dual-sport athlete (lacrosse). It appeared early that we were in for a shootout.

Right as Booker T was driving down the field once again, with first-down carries from Maine and James, 2025 DE/T Rudy Pagés delivered a big time sack on Maine. And on the following play, Maine rolled out, heaved it to the endzone and was picked off by 2025 DB Mason Lastra, who made a nice return to go along with it. Right as the Raiders were about to punt, a gutsy fake with a direct snap to Velazco and a loft to the long snapper 2027 ATH Hunter White gave Ransom life and the first down. Lawrence delivered another strike to Matos once again, but the drive was halted by a near interception from Hanks in the endzone. 2026 LB Mark Clarkson then blocked the field goal attempt.

Maine then settled in after the interception, completing a perfect dime down the sideline to Hanks (this guy can do it all). Maine ran for another first down of his own, and then delivered an easy touchdown pass to Smith to give Booker T. an 8-point lead going into the half.

The second half was much less competitive than the first. The Tornadoes really started to settle in. James got going again with another first down, then Maine got yet another first down scramble on a designed QB run. Maine then delivered yet another bomb of a touchdown, this time to 2025 WR Jordan Turner. When Lawrence tried to respond, the pressure of the Booker T. defensive line was just too much for Ransom to overcome. Lawrence overthrew his receiver, and Hanks finally came up with that coveted pick that he had been searching for.

Maine just diced up that defense yet again, with another touchdown strike to 2027 WR Jamal Robinson Jr. that essentially put this contest out of reach at 35-13. Lawrence did his best to get a drive going again for the Raiders, but was met with an interception by 2025 DB Darrien Mobley Jr. on the brink of reaching the endzone. Maine padded his stats with yet another bomb to Robinson and that put the final score of this matchup at 42-13.

A once competitive game, changed into a Booker T. domination in the second half. Booker T. looked extremely impressive tonight for the most part. The offense looked as good as it has all year. Maine, despite a first half interception, bounced back in a big way, throwing 4 touchdowns to a multitude of weapons. James was looking spry, breaking tackles, and rumbling his way to huge first-down gains time and time again. With guys like Smith, Turner, and Robinson at his disposal, Maine has endless weapons to go to when he needs a big play. And the leader of this defense, and quite frankly the entire roster, ballhawk Ben Hanks Jr. The kid is an absolute beast. He did his job on all 3 facets of the game tonight. The Tornadoes move to 5-3, and will have one final tune-up against Palmetto in 2 weeks.

Despite the final score of this game, you can see the potential of this Ransom team. That offense really does have some juice to them. Lawrence was ridiculous to watch, and it’s scary to think of how good he might become in the future. He really does have some good weapons in Matos and Velazco as well. Alce is another rising freshman who has an incredible amount of potential as well as a running back. If there is one thing I can critique though, it was the defense. To play against top-tier teams like a Booker T., you need to be able to tackle and make the necessary stops. They really couldn’t do much of it tonight, with Maine and James both having field days. Overall a good learning experience for the Raiders. They drop to 5-2 and will finish their regular season against La Salle.

FINAL SCORE:
Booker T. Washington beats Ransom Everglades 42-13


About Josh Zedner:
Joshua Zedner is a beat writer covering high school football for Florida Man Sports. A native of Miami Beach, he attended Florida International University before finishing his undergraduate Business Administration degree at the University of Florida. Josh is an avid Miami sports fan, and he also writes a music review blog as a passion project under the @AlbumAnalysisWithZ handle on Instagram.