Posted on Tue, Mar. 14, 2006

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IN MY OPINION

Winning with home-grown talent

By MANNY NAVARRO

mnavarro@MiamiHerald.com

PHIL SEARS / SPECIAL TO THE MIAMI HERALD

CHAMPS: Norland won the 6A state title with local talent including star forward Zachery Peacock, left.

Spending three consecutive weeks on the road, living out of a hotel room in a small town like Lakeland isn't exactly paradise.

But getting a chance to see a guy like Lawton Williams III take Norland's boys' basketball team from nothing to state champions was well worth the travel and boredom and ranks among the highlights for me in the years I've been covering high school sports in Miami-Dade.

In an era when athletes switch high schools about as often as they change shoes and transfers are the easiest and most common way teams stack up talent for a title run, Norland's path to the Class 6A crown was a victory for all the coaches who pride themselves on working with what walks into their gym from Day One.

Most if not every player on the Vikings roster was a JV player at Norland when Williams arrived three years ago -- including Georgia Tech signee Zachery Peacock. Williams not only transformed Peacock from a 6-4 twig into a 6-8 star, he turned a group of mediocre basketball players into one of the best defensive units the state has ever seen.

In 27 games this season, Norland held opponents to fewer than 60 points. Norland limited its final two -- fifth-ranked Palm Beach Lakes and No. 1 Winter Park -- to fewer than 50. The Vikings did all that with arguably the team's best defender, 6-1 senior guard Denzel Rankin, suffering from chest pains and a heart murmur all season.

Nearly as impressive as the finish was Norland's three wins over the county's preseason No. 1 team and district rival Krop to get to Lakeland. Krop already was a dangerous team heading into the season. Then, two of the county's most talented newcomers -- 6-9 center Luis Colon (Montverde Academy) and ankle-breaking shooting guard Javi Gonzalez (New Jersey) -- transferred to Krop.

From the start of the season, Williams admitted the Lightning was more talented than his team. ''They're definitely cuter than us,'' he said. ``Heck, I'd pick them, too.''

But Williams never waivered, and he never let his players think they didn't stack up. He believed his team of ''journeymen'' would find a way to prevail in the end because ''it was [Norland's] time.'' He was right.

Williams took plenty of pride in beating the Lightning. So did the rest of Norland. When the Vikings beat Krop on the road in the regional final, Norland fans shouted ''neighborhood'' as they celebrated on their way out of the Lightning gym.

Norland's victory might have finally made it cool again for the next Zachery Peacock to stay in his neighborhood and put in four years worth of hard work into one coach and one school, instead of getting into the drive-thru lane for a championship.

MORE BASKETBALL

While officials usually get more grief over calls than praise, here's something for refs to smile about. On March 3, three GMAC officials -- Krop athletic director Lori Nelson, Mae Foley and Gale Peterson -- made history by becoming the first all-female crew to call a game at the boys' basketball state championships. The trio officiated the Class 5A title game between Tampa Chamberlain and Gainesville Eastside.

FOOTBALL

From the better-late-than-never department: Here's a shout-out to Columbus running back John Mosure for receiving the Nick Kotys Award.

Mosure, who ran for 1,534 yards and 22 TDs and was an first-team All-Dade and All-State selection this past season, received the award from the Kiwanis Club of Coral Gables during a special luncheon last month.

The award, given to Dade's top high school player as voted on by the coaches, has been handed out annually for the past 18 years. Mosure (5-10, 190) has signed with Colorado State.

• There have been a few coaching rumors circling the county of late. One involves former Sunset and Killian coach Christ Vagotis becoming the next coach at Coral Park and the other involves former UM running backs coach Don Soldinger ending up somewhere locally.

Vagotis, who has spent the past several seasons as an assistant under Howard Schnellenberger at Florida Atlantic, has been rumored to be the lead candidate for the job. Last year, Coral Park went 0-9 and became the first 6A team in Dade to finish a season without scoring a point.

Soldinger, who coached Southridge to two state titles in 1991 and 1993, was seen at Krop during the basketball playoffs speaking with AD Lori Nelson. But he has supposedly told others that Krop is too far of a drive for him. Krop has been looking for a football coach since December.

WRESTLING

Even though Dade failed to win a team title in wrestling for the third year in a row, the county was able to hang its hat on the fact 10 wrestlers grabbed individual titles.

Here's another fact that should generate some pride: Dade's not doing so bad at the next level, either. Earlier this month, 10 former Dade wrestlers qualified and competed for Waubonsee Community College at the NJCAA Division III championships. One, former Wrestler of the Year Raymond Stephens, a freshman from South Dade, won a national title.

Stephens pinned three of the five wrestlers he faced during the tournament including a first-period fall in the championship match. Waubonsee, located just outside Chicago, finished as the team runner-up at the tournament.

Other former Dade wrestlers and national qualifiers included Dennis Kakrah (South Miami), Tramaine Franklin (South Dade), Michael Alfonso (Hialeah), Denys Ribot (Southwest), Angel Sanchez (Braddock), Andy Perez (Braddock), David Anguiano (South Dade), Humberto de la Osa (Braddock) and Marino Eatman (Coral Gables).