South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Wake played through pain to cement legacy
If there was a silver lining for Justin Wake after King’s Academy’s loss to Chaminade Madonna in the Class 3A state title game on Saturday, the senior quarterback couldn’t see it yet.
“I wouldn’t call it a moral victory,” he said. “I’m pissed off. We had it 10-nothing, I made bad plays, everyone made bad plays, and we kind of blew it. But they’re a great football team, way more athletic than us. We put up a fight, but I’m not happy with the outcome.”
But Wake will have a lot to be proud of. The four-year starting quarterback wrapped up a stellar season, in which he led the Lions to their first state title appearance.
Not only that, but Wake played the last few games of his high school career with a fractured bone in one of his feet, which hampered his ability to run the ball.
“The last couple weeks, it affected us, but today I felt pretty much fine,” he said.
Wake finished the championship game with 115 passing yards and a passing touchdown but had two interceptions.
The senior is looking to continue his football career in college but does not hold any scholarship offers.
“I’m just waiting on an offer right now,” Wake said. “I might go JUCO or try to walk on somewhere, but I have a visit coming up [at Indianapolis’] Marian University, so we’ll see how that goes.”
Wake wrapped up the season with 2,447 passing yards and 27 passing touchdowns. He also had
538 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns on the ground. In his career, he had 5,613 passing yards, 66 touchdowns and only 23 interceptions, with 1,637 rushing yards and
34 touchdowns.
“He’s the definition of a winner, perseverance and grit,” Lions coach Keith Allen said. “Some college is going to be right when they sign him.”