With his high school career winding down, it’s turned into quite a stretch run for Miami Northwestern senior quarterback Chatarius “Tutu” Atwell.
Just one week after leading the Bulls to a Class 6A state championship in Orlando, Atwell was at Warren Henry Jaguar on 441 and County Line Road on Friday morning for another big event.
Sponsored by Warren Henry, the fifth Annual South Florida High School Football Player of the Year Award was announced and Atwell was there to receive the hardware.
In addition, the Coach of the Year Award was given out as well and, Monsignor Pace coach Joe Zaccheo was named the recipient.
“This is great honor for me and it feels great to win this award knowing that I’m representing the entire Miami Northwestern community,” Atwell said. “Now I’m looking forward to the next challenge. I always wanted to play college football and now I’m going to have that opportunity to play.”
Atwell, who made a verbal commitment to Louisville, left to the airport from Friday morning’s event. He was doing his official visit scheduled with Cardinal coach Bobby Petrino. With his slight, 5-9, 160-pound frame, Atwell is not projected to play quarterback but possibly slot receiver. He was anxious to talk to the coaches about possibly keeping the quarterback window open.
“I’m taking my visit today and going to meet with coaches and I’m going to ask a lot of questions including what will my percentage be of playing quarterback,” Atwell said. “It’s been a great run, state championship last week, this award today, a trip to Louisville this weekend and now we have another national TV game next week.”
Atwell spoke of the fact that he still has one game left to play when the Bulls learned this week that they were selected to travel to Phoenix, Arizona next week to play national power Chandler (AZ) High School in the Geico State Champions Series at Grand Canyon University. (The game will be Dec. 23 at 9:30 p.m. on ESPNU).
After winning a state title in 2003 and stepping away from the game in 2006, Zaccheo returned to the sidelines two years ago to rescue a struggling program. Despite having nine starters transfer out last spring, Zaccheo didn’t blink, taking what he had and winning seven of eight games to get the Spartans back in the playoffs for the first time in seven years, advancing to the Class 4A regional finals.
“It’s a great honor to receive this, but I’m just the band director,” Zaccheo said. “The kids, my staff, my administration, they’re the ones that played the music. I’ve gotten something like this a few times before but this is the best feeling ever because it kind of vindicates what we were trying to do at this program. About not worrying about who ‘did not’ want to be here but who ‘did’ and was willing to buy in.”
MORE FOOTBALL
▪ Atwell was also recently named the Miami Dolphins’ High School Player of the Year. The Dolphins and the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality awarded a player and coach of the week every week during the season in addition to its end-of-the-season awards.
Plantation American Heritage coach Pat Surtain, who led the Patriots to a 13-0 record and their second consecutive state title was named the Dolphins’ Coach of the Year.
BOYS’ BASKETBALL
▪ Palmer Trinity 34, Westwood Christian 31: PT(5-1): Bess 15, Deribeaux 10. WC: Sebastian 14, Leal 11. HT: WC 19-17. Three-pointers: Leal 3, Deribeaux 2, Bess 2. Rebounds: Bess 9, Diaz 8. Steals: Bess 2.
GIRLS’ BASKETBALL
▪ Coral Gables 50, Coral Park 20 - CG(3-6) Billings 4, Luis 4, Mendez 9, Arguello 4, Pinera 4, Cohen 4, Walton 11, Lamadriz 10. CP: Martinez 7, Bravo 4, Quichimbo 2, Neto 1, Valle 6. Half: CG 28-8. Three-pointers: Walton 1, Martinez 1. Rebounds: Lamadriz 15. Steals: Luis, Walton 5. Assists: Walton 4.
▪ Killian 62, Homestead 10 - Kil (7-2): Cannon 18, Washington 12, Tamara Grant 11, Tamia Grant 6, Johnson 4, Kendricks 4, Schafer 4, Bell 3. Hom: Macedo 5, Coley 2, Molina 2, Smith 1. Rebounds: Cannon 10, Schafer 5, Major 5. Steals: Tamara Grant 6, Cannon 6. Assists: Bell 4. Blocks: Tamia Grant 2, Schafer 2. Three-pointers: Tamara Grant 3, Washington 2, Tamia Grant 1. Half: Kil 39-7.
▪ Miami 55, North Miami 20 - MHS: Rachel 8 ,Scott 7 ,Whitley 14 , J Rodriguez 4, Valdes 2 , Bucknor 12 , Wilson 4 , Ward 2 , Cabanzon 2. NM: Tervil 4 , Jones 2 , Francois 2 , Jean 6 , Seide 4 , Albert 1, Williams 1. Assists: Bucknor 4. Rebounds: Bucknor 10. Steals: Bucknor 7. Three-pointers: Scott. Half: MHS 25-7.
▪ Lourdes 51, Braddock 15: Madison Porras 18 points, 4 steals; Taylor Sproul 10 points, 5 rebounds; Brooke Merdjane 6 points, 3 assists.
▪ Kings Academy 39, Calvary Christian 27 - CC: Ryan Petschulat 6 points; Julia Sieradzan 6 points, 12 rebounds. KA: Haley Gantt 14 points.
▪ Central 65, SLAM 45 - Cen: T. Cooper 3, Moore 7, K. Cooper 2, Thompson 2, Ashby 15, Dossous 13, Bain 2, Clark 8, Daniel 11, Altidort 2. Three-pointers: Moore, Daniel.
▪ Central 53, NMB 22 - Cen: T. Cooper 3, Moore 9, K. Cooper 3, Ashby 4, Dossous 12, Bain 4, Daniel 18. Three-pointers: Moore 2, K. Cooper, Daniel.
▪ Terra 40, iMater 17 - Terra (8-3): Rodriguez 3, R. Hernandez 18, Holthaus 5, Lopez 4, Aguila 8, Gutierrez 2. IM: Moreno 2, Oliva 2, Quintero 13. Three-pointers: Hernandez 4, Holthaus 1. Rebounds: Gutierrez 11. Assists: Lopes 3. Steals: Hernandez 5. Blocks: Gutierrez 3. Half: Terra 25-8.
▪ SLAM 50, Archbishop Carroll 8: Kalia Harrington 14 points; Yubelina Mendez 12 points 11 rebounds; Vyctoria Casaca 7 points.
▪ Mater Academy 51, Westland 5 - MA (4-3): Alexander 9, Llanos 5, Ramirez 6, Dalmau 3, Bradley 2, Evins 3, Aguilera 5, Vales 6, Morera 2, Bogle 10.
▪ Mater Academy 60, Reagan 5 - MA (5-3): Llanos 10, Ramirez 5, Dalmau 5, Bradley 10, Evins 9, Alicandu 6, Bowling 7, Bogle 8.
BOYS’ SOCCER
▪ Calvary Christian 2, FAU 0: Calbo Scott goal; Jackson 5 saves.
▪ University School 3, La Salle 2: Liam Borbely 2 goals; Sebastian “Nino” Smith 1 goal; US 8-0-1.
▪ MAST 2, Edison 1: Luc Fritzenwalder and Eli Knezevich 1 goal; Carlos Garcia 1 assist; MAST 6-1.
▪ Pines Charter 3, Pompano Beach 0: Mikey Reid and Ashton Cooper 1 goal and 1 assist; Yannick Blackman 1 goal; Mathew Levy 2 saves, fifth shutout; PPC 12-0.
▪ Coral Reef 3, Palmetto 0: Dom Baker, Jacob Shurik, Marcelo Gamoneda 1 goal each; Tomas Cora 1 assist.
▪ Miami Beach 8, South Miami 0: Julian Enriquez and Jose Almanza 2 goals; William Garzon 1 goal, 1 assist; Josue Aguilar, Ethan Segocio and Franklin Rivero 1 goal each; Leonardo Acosta 2 assists; Lucas Arellano 1 assist; Jose Escobar 11th shutout; MB 11-0-1.
▪ Coral Gables 1, Miami High 0: Martin Castro goal, Diego Acosta shutout, CG 6-2-1.
▪ Coral Park 2, Columbus 2: Allen Lores and Marcel Diaz 1 goal each; Juan Sarabia 1 assist; Oswar Gonzalez 9 saves; Jourdan Zojaji and Maurice Dussaq 1 goal each; Nicolas Dopazo 1 assist.
▪ Varela 3, South Dade 2: Alejandro Olivares, Christian Acevedo, Santiago Valiente 1 goal each; Luis Alvarez, Jhensel Garcia, Christian Viera 1 assist each.
▪ Killian 4, Southridge 0: Diego Hernandez 2 goals; Paulo Rios shutout.
▪ Doral 1, Sunset 0; Doral 3, NMB 0; Doral 3, Mater 1: Andoni Garro 18, Christopher Rodriguez 7, Alejandro Shulz 4.
▪ North Broward Prep 4, Cardinal Gibbons 0
GIRLS’ SOCCER
▪ Southwest 4, Braddock 0: Kristi Suarez 2 goals, 1 assist; Melissa Toscano 1 goal, 1 assist; Madison Gonzalez great defense; Faith Avila eighth shutout; SW 10-3.
▪ Miami Beach 7, South Miami 0: Maite Sanchez 3 goals; Julia Silva and Luana Silva 2 goals; MB 4-7-1.
▪ Gulliver 8, Keys Gate 0: Morgan Busain and Daniela Correa 3 goals; Sophia Castellanos 1 goal, 1 assist; Mekayla Frazier 1 goal; GP 7-2.
▪ Cardinal Gibbons 3, North Broward Prep 0: Grace Motta 2 goals; Madison Tidwell 2 assists; Brandi Orlando 1 goal; CG 6-4-1.
▪ Coral Gables 8, Miami High 0: Amanda-Rose Cabrera 3 goals; Julia Lancaster and Hannah Evans goal; Karina Leon goal, assist; Ingrid Matteini goal, assist; Jimena Sanchez goal, shutout; Jade Mallea assist; CG 11-2.
▪ Carrollton 3, Ransom Everglades 1: Sydney Sariol 2 goals; Marian Alcántara 1 goal, 2 assists; Alexa Huerta 1 assist.