THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 12, 1994 TAG: 9411120376
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C01 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
Booker T. Washington erupted for 32 points in the first 18 minutes and overwhelmed Norview, 60-20, Friday night at Chittum Field to clinch a Division 5 playoff berth and the Bookers' first Eastern District title since 1984.
The Bookers, seeded third in Division 5, will face second-seeded Hampton in the first round of the Eastern Region tournament next Friday at 8 p.m.
The Bookers (6-4, 4-0 in the district) came in having lost three of their previous four games. Another loss Friday would have left Booker T. tied for the district title with Lake Taylor and out of the playoff picture.
But Booker T. Washington settled matters so quickly Friday night that the Lake Taylor coaching staff, hoping for a Norview win that would vault them into the playoffs, left Chittum Field midway through the second quarter.
``The guys dedicated themselves on Monday,'' Booker T. Washington coach Larry Stepney said. ``They said, `Coach, we're going to win it for you.' I said `Don't do it for me, do it for yourselves.' And they went out and did it.''
Quarterback Michael Beverly and running back Michael Basnight, Booker T. Washington's impact transfer students, led the way in the rout. Beverly, the senior from Norfolk Academy, threw for 201 yards and four touchdowns, ran for a two-point conversion and intercepted two passes.
Basnight, a senior who attended Columbia High School in North Carolina last year, ran for 154 yards and three touchdowns on just seven carries.
Jorice Mason threw a pair of touchdown passes to Frankie Knox for the Pilots (4-6, 1-3), who capitalized on back-to-back onside kicks at the beginning of the second half and briefly threatened to make a game of it by closing the deficit to 32-20.
But the Bookers responded with a four-touchdown blitz over the next 14 minutes to win going away.
The Pilots' efforts at playing spoiler were hampered by their seven turnovers, the ejection of head coach Will Robinson and a scary injury to quarterback Jorice Mason early in the fourth quarter.
Mason was leveled by Bookers defensive back John Leigh just as he threw a pass. The ball fluttered into the arms of Booker T. Washington linebacker Chester Jones, who returned it 37 yards for a touchdown.
Mason lay motionless for several minutes after the hit. But trainers said he regained his feeling and reflexes, and was taken by ambulance to a hospital as a precaution.
Robinson, the first-year Pilots coach who has become notorious for working the officials, was ejected midway through the second quarter for arguing an unsportsmanlike conduct call. His ejection prompted another unsportsmanlike conduct call, which moved the ball to the Norview 11. Three plays later, Beverly hit tight end Marlos Thomas in the back of the end zone with an 11-yard touchdown pass.
Thomas and receiver Paul Patterson each caught two touchdown passes. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by CHRISTOPHER REDDICK
Booker T. Washington defensive back Demetrius Vander, right, pulls
down Norview tailback Wayne Bacon during the Bookers' 60-20 win
Friday night at Chittum Field.
by CNB