Telegraph Staff Writer
Sampson Jackson, who guided Bradford High School to its first-ever boys basketball state championship, was named the Florida Dairy Farmers Class 1A Coach of the Year on March 24.
That put Jackson in the running for the overall Coach of the Year award. It was announced on April 4 that Class 6A Martin County’s John Leon received the most votes.
Other finalists besides Leon and Jackson were Treig Burke of 2A Orlando Christian Prep, Charlie Ward of 3A Florida High, Cilk McSweeney of 4A Fort Lauderdale Calvary Christian, Edward Schuler of 5A Stranahan and Andrew Moran of 7A Miami Columbus.
Bradford capped a 16-10 season by defeating Paxton 64-44 for the state title. It was Bradford’s eighth straight win.
Bradford proved to be dominant once the regional playoffs began. After defeating Bell 55-49 to win the District 6 championship, the Tornadoes hosted Bell for a Region 3 semifinal game, defeating the Bulldogs 59-30.
In the Region 3 championship game, the Tornadoes hosted a Madison County team it had defeated by three points in the last game of the regular season. This time, Bradford won 64-54.
The Tornadoes defeated Hawthorne 53-35 in the state semifinals as part of their posteason run that saw them win each game by an average margin of 19 points. Bradford trailed in only two postseason games — early in the first quarter against Madison and 2-0 against Hawthorne.
This marked Jackson’s second year as Bradford head coach. He received 97 points in the Class 1A Coach of the Year voting, with Paxton’s Jeff Bradley finishing second with 83 points.
