Booker T. Takes Battle Back Tournament Title

Posted on April 14, 2019 by Marcus Benjamin

When it comes to events, Battle has proven time and time again that they know how to get it done. Saturday Battle held their Battle Back tournament held on the field of St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale. The tournament was invitation only and Battle donated $2,000 to the charity or foundation of the winner’s choice.

“The Battle Back event is an event for us to give back,” said Dave Menard founder of the event. “Every other seven on seven is a money generator.  There’s nothing being sold here. Every team’s for free. They get laced up with gloves mouth guards and uniforms. The team picks their foundation or charity and we cut the check in their name to the winner.”  

Miami Booker T. Washington earned their donation by defeating Miami Southridge in all-Dade County championship game.  Southridge defeated Deerfield Beach in the semis while Booker T. defeated St. Thomas to get to the final. The funds received went to Overtown Optimist.

“When I first got the email, I jumped on it right away,” said Head Coach Tim “Ice” Harris.  “I appreciate them really giving the high school kids the understanding of serving in the community.  We appreciate Battle and we look forward to working with them in the future.”

The Tornadoes claimed the title in dominating fashion with a high tempo offense run by Torey Morrison. The dual-threat 2021 quarterback was efficient distributing the ball to his playmakers.

Coach Tim Harris and I agreed that quarterback Torey Morrison was the MVP of the tournament.  

“He started out being a little too competitive,” said Coach Harris.  “Once he started sticking to his reads and being a leader and running the offense it showed that he was our MVP.”    

Those standout playmakers included 2021 receiver Jacorey Brooks, 2020 TJ Summerall, and 2020 receiver/tight end Macho Arza.  Arza, originally from Miami transferred from Godby (Tallahassee) and wants to finish his high school career where he started.

“I wanted to come back home and play with everyone I grew up with,” said Macho.  “It was more than a football decision for me.”

The 6’2” 188-pound Arza currently has offers from Army, Liberty, Coastal Carolina and FAMU among others.  He’s also receiving interest from most notably Kentucky, Louisville, FIU and FAU.

Jacorey Brooks was not coverable and mostly ran as a decoy for his teammates to get open.  Often it was TJ Summerall streaking open and opposing defenders could not seem to keep up with Summerall’s speed.

Also uncoverable was four-star Marcus Rosemy of St. Thomas Aquinas.  Rosemy has the frame and athletism to be one of the top receivers to ever come out of South Florida.  

The rest of the participants of the tournament were from Broward Palm Beach and Dade Counties. Atlantic (Delray), Cardinal Gibbons (Fort Lauderdale), South Dade (Homestead) and Western (Davie) were invited based on their recent success.

Transfer Xavier Restrepo looked particularly comfortable with his new squad with Deerfield Beach.  The 2020 receiver recently transferred from St. Thomas Aquinas and boosts an already uber-talented WR corps.  Restrepo transferred because he is looking to graduate early and earn college credits while in high school. Restrepo did not have that ability while at Aquinas.

Menard teamed up with Battle much like he did to found The Freedom Bowl.  The Freedom Bowl is an annual event that kicked off last season that is a series of games played in one of the first weekends of the football season.  Last year it was held in Milton Georgia and is designed to honor the military.

“We’ve been doing seven on seven for a long time.  I started with Arrow eight years ago. We’ve gone around the country running seven on seven state championships.  We polyed that into the Freedom Bowl which is the first tackle military based bowl championship. Running the first-class organization is number one for us.”

Menard is looking to take this same tournament to Los Angeles in a couple of months.

“We want to get top teams, scholastic based high school coaches with their players,” said Menard.  “We can engage with them and not have it on the all-star model. We got cabanas couches and Gatorade bars. It’s a VIP section and that’s the kind of thing we wanted to do and cater to really elite teams that we chose.”

Coach Harris explained how tournaments such as these are exactly what teams need going into Spring football.

“We got some young guys that are learning how to lead,” said Coach Harris.  “St. Thomas really dominated us in the first game. To be able to come back with some nice poise, I’m really happy how we are going into the Spring.”  

Spring Practice starts for most teams within the month.

About Marcus Benjamin

Marcus Benjamin works as the senior writer and editor for FootballHotbed.com. He attended Florida A&M and Florida Memorial University completing a bachelors degree in communications in 2010. He's covered high school football in the South Florida area since 2010 for the Miami Herald, Miami Sports Tribune and ShawSports.net. He is married and lives in Fort, Lauderdale, FL.
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