NOV. 27
THANKSGIVING
Prep Charter 24, Frankford 14
  On the game’s first three plays from scrimmage all the tackles were made by Frankford’s Devontae Lee, including one for a 9 yard loss. Unfortunately for the Pioneers, other than a botched handoff the tackle for a loss on the third play was the only time that Prep Charter recorded minus yards. It wasn’t that they didn’t have many chances either. They rushed the ball 45 times for 191 yards and 2 TD’s. They passed 6 times and completed 2, one for a TD while another 2 were intercepted. Lee did standout for Frankford from his corner position recording 10 tackles, 6 solo, 1 for a loss and had 2 Interceptions. One of the interceptions he returned 48 yards for a TD that trimmed the Huskies lead to 10-8 after the 2 point PAT early in the third quarter. Just for fun, Lee also caught a 28 yard TD pass from Naim Franklin for the Pioneers final TD. The Huskies played the game without their star quarterback Vion Dolo. Dolo suffered a broken hand in last week’s District 12 AA City Championship game that was won by Neumann-Goretti. So with Dolo out of action, Prep Charter coach David Hand decided that the best way to enjoy his turkey later in the day was to give the ball to Quadir Strothers. Gobble, gobble! Strothers did not disappoint. His numbers were 31-154- 2 TD’s. His first TD came at the 7:04 mark of the second quarter when he easily walked in from the one yard line. Brian Hernandez booted the PAT and it was 7-0 PC. Later in the stanza Hernandez kicked a 23 yard field goal which gave Prep Charter a 10-0 halftime advantage. Lee’s interception TD cut the deficit but Strothers answered right back with a 16 yard burst to pay dirt. The Huskies other score was a 48 yard TD pass from Joe Holmes to John Davis with just 23 seconds left in the third. While Franklin had some success passing 11-23-105-TD he was intercepted two times. Both of the picks came from Davantae Coney. Franklin also rushed 8-62 but was pressured and chased all day by Karamo Dioubate. The 6’4” 260 lb. DE forced 4 hurried passes and notched 9 tackles, 6 solo with 3 for losses. Helping out Dioubate was John Shantz 7-5-1, Coney 7-4 and Mike Brown 5-3-1. Shantz and Ronald Stokes recovered fumbles for the Huskies. Frankford accumulated just 77 rushing yards on 22 attempts. Lee ended the day catching 3 balls for 40 yards. Brandon DeJesus snatched 2 for 34. Helping Lee on defense for the Pioneers was Josh Mason 8-6, John Martinez 8-5, Jermar Allen 6-4 and Peterson Pierre 6-3. Pierre and Martinez both recovered fumbles.
Team Stats
First Downs: PC 12 Frankford 9
Rushes-yds.: PC 45-191 Frankford 22-77
Passing yds. PC 49 Frankford 105
Total Offense: PC 240 Frankford 182
Comp-Att-Int: PC 2-6-2 Frankford 11-23-2
Return Yards: PC 71 Frankford 113
Punts-Avg.:  PC 4-26.5 Frankford 5-26.8
Fumbles Lost: PC 2 Frankford 2
Penalties-yds.: PC 10-82 Frankford 5-26

NOV. 22
DISTRICT 1-12 SUBREGIONAL
Neumann- Goretti 32, Springfield Montco 7
  Midway through the first quarter the Spartans of Springfield Montgomery County stopped the Saints on downs at the Springfield 39 yard line. They then proceeded to move the ball all the way down to the NG two yard line. On fourth down the Spartans Brett Righter was thrown for a 2 yard loss after he was hit by Jack Taylor and Emil Moody. The Saints regained possession and were moving the ball on the strength of Khalil Roane’s running. Any hopes of getting into the end zone were halted when Ray Lenhart threw an interception that was picked off by Chris Stone at the Spartan 22 and returned 13 yards to the 35. Springfield gave the ball right back just two plays later when Takeem Ford answered with a pick of his own at the Saints 37. Lenhart would take a seat for a few plays as NG went to their Wildcat formation with Aamir Brown taking the snaps. Brown produced 23 rushing yards on 3 totes before Lenhart returned. Lenhart connected with Mike DiFrancesco for 10 yards and then, against a very strong wind, threw a perfect pass right into the hands of DiFrancesco for a 30 yard TD with just 6.8 seconds left before halftime. Roane ran for the PAT for the 8-0 intermission lead. The Spartans would penetrate Neumann-Goretti territory several times but the bend but don’t break defense came up big numerous times led by LB DiFrancesco who along with fellow linebacker Fabian Matthews and DE Rashid Saunders all totaled 8 tackles. Roane doubled the lead late in the third quarter scooting 13 yards to pay turf while again rushing for the 2 PAT points with just 1:57 left in the third quarter. Forty five seconds later it was 24-0 when Miles Brewer intercepted a Stone pass at the SM 25 and raced untouched into the end zone. Roane again ran for the conversion as the third stanza would end just 72 seconds later. The Pick Party continued early in the fourth when Brown snatched one and returned it 52 yards down to the Spartan 10. Brewer had the honor of scoring the next 6 when he scored on a run from the 6 while Matthews would provide the 2 point PAT and a 32-0 Neumann-Goretti lead. The Spartans would score their only TD late in the game when Stone connected with George Baughan on a 22 yard TD pass. Baughan also booted the PAT closing out the scoring for the afternoon. Roane led the Saints rushing attack with 17-146 while Brown registered 7-54. The Saints would rush the ball 30 times for 222 yards. Lenhart struggled all afternoon tossing 2-10-1-40-TD. DiFrancesco punted 3 times for a very good 41.7 average. Penalties hurt the Saints which allowed the Spartans to maintain possession of the pigskin for extended periods of time. Although they couldn’t get into the end zone via the ground Springfield did run the ball 46 times but only managed to gain 127 yards for a 2.8 average yard per carry. Stone passed 4-12-3-80-TD. The Spartans leading rusher was Martin Worgan with 12-36. Other’s putting up numbers on the tackle board for the Saints included Taylor with 7, Roane 6 and Brown with 5. Besides Taylor 2 and Moody; DiFrancesco, Matthews, Amire Tyler and Darren Holt made tackles behind the line of scrimmage.
Team Stats
First Downs: SM 15 NG 14
Rushes-yds. SM 46-127 NG 30-222
Passing yds. SM 80 NG 40
Total Offense SM 207 NG 262
Comp-Att-Int SM 4-12-3 NG 2-10-1
Return yds. SM 29 NG 94
Punts-Avg: SM 3-15 NG- 3-41.7
Fumbles Lost SM 0 NG 0
Penalties-yds.: SM 4-40 NG 8-72
Officials: Referee Al Lubas, Umpire Kevin Redcay, Linesman JR Saupee, Line Judge George Kurowski, Side Judge Joe Yetter, Back Judge Richard Robinson, Field Judge Beau Stockholm

NOV. 15
CLASS AA CITY TITLE
Neumann-Goretti 12 Prep Charter 6
(At South Philly Super Site)
  With the Saints mixing running and passing on every possession and the score tied at 6 this contest looked like it was headed for overtime. On fourth and 14 on the N-G 27 yard line, Prep Charter QB Vion Dolo was hurried into an incomplete pass by the oncoming Jack Taylor with just over 7 minutes left in the fourth quarter. The Saints took over from there and then their philosophy changed. Needing to navigate 73 yards Neumann-Goretti rushed the ball 13 times and QB Ray Lenhart threw 2 incomplete passes. One rush came from Aamir Brown for minus 1 yard while 74 came on 12 totes by Khalil Roane. That’s right baby! Good old fashion smash mouth run right at them football. Also to run at, you also must run behind, as in behind your lineman. The Saints O line featured center Mario Del Vecchio, guards Rashid Saunders and Naquise Childs, tackles Pat Banning and Joe D’Emilio along with rotating tight ends and wide outs including Jack Taylor, Emil Moody, Takeem Ford, Aamir Brown and Amir Gordon while Fullback Mike DiFrancesco led the interference for Roane. Roane’s final rush was from the 3 yard line for the final 6 points of the game with just 1:13 left on the clock. The Huskies had one last chance but on second down from their own 40, Dolo threw a pass that was picked off by Taylor at the Saints 48 to clinch the AA City Title for Neumann-Goretti. Roane rushed for 171 yards on 31 carries and scored the game’s first TD midway through the second quarter on a 4 yard run. Prep Charter tied the game with 1:24 left before halftime on a Dolo 5 yard keeper that was set up by a 35 yard run by Quadir Strothers who rushed 18-113. Lenhart passed 7-22-88, but was intercepted 4 times. The Saints were fortunate that only one of the interceptions led to a Huskies TD. Ronald Stokes had 2 of the interceptions while John Davis and John Shantz notched the others. Saunders paced the Saints on defense with 8 tackles including 6 solos. Strutting behind was, DiFrancesco 7-4-1, Moody 5-3-sack and Amire Tyler 4-3-sack-2 hurries. Other TFL’s were provided by Fabian Matthews and Joe Herrin. Aamir Brown, Tyler and Gordon recovered fumbles for the Saints and Moody forced one. Shantz headed the Huskies defense with 10-6-2 followed by Karamo Dioubate and Macquel Hardy both with 9-5-1 and duplicating 6-3 was Stokes and Davis. Mike Brown and Anthony Thomas both had TFL’s. Karen Shannon, PC's principal and AD, was a passionate/plugged-in observer. At one point she screamed from the sidelines, "Hey, ref, they are holding!!" Later, after she'd done her homework, she yelled toward head ref Chris Reynolds, "Hey, Reynolds, do your job!"
TEAM STATS:  
First Downs N-G 14, PC 11.
Rushes-yds. N-G 39-195, PC 30-163.
Passing yds. N-G 88, PC 64.
Total Offense: N-G 283, PC 227.
Comp-Att-Int: N-G 7-22-4, PC 5-13-1
Return yds. N-G 45, PC 72.
Punts-Avg. N-G 2-33.0 PC 3-30.1.
Fumbles lost N-G 0 PC 2.
Penalties-yds. N-G 4-27, PC 6-63
Officials:
  Referee: Chris Reynolds, Umpire: Elmer Kelly, Linesman: Frank Macanulty, Line Judge: Bob Zanneo, Field Judge: Andrew Duren, Side Judge: Darrell Guy, Back Judge: Joe Kelly.

NOV. 13
NON-LEAGUE
Frankford 24, Overbrook 14
  This was the first time in a long time that the Pioneers were playing a game in the middle of November that wasn’t a playoff game. You see Frankford usually is in post season play, but for the first time in god knows how long, the Pioneers were eliminated in the first round, a quarterfinal, and were resorted to what I call a Mix and Match contest. These are games whose schools either did not make the post season or who were knocked out early in the playoffs. I heard a few of the players and coaches say how different it was. One Frankford player on the sideline made a comment after one of his teammates put a real hard hit on a player. He said, “Man, this ain’t even a real game and now you decide to smack somebody." Well, it wasn’t a scrimmage and there was a clock and officials so the game was real, although it had no impact on anything whatsoever. Football is a physical game. If you half-step it, you will get stepped on. The very young Overbrook Panthers, a team that features 33 underclassman on a roster of 43, almost stepped away from Frankford Stadium with the W. Trailing 18-14 with just 14 seconds on the clock and the ball on their own 30, Panther QB Niykolis Rodriguez connected with Quincey Fairy for a 35-yard completion down to the Frankford 35. After the chains were moved the clock started and the ‘Brook spiked the ball to stop the clock with one second left and one last chance for the Panthers. After taking the snap on the final play Rodriguez was chased by the blitzing Pioneers. He keep retreating backwards and finally just threw the ball up for grabs along the left sideline where it was picked off. Frankford’s George Cooper intercepted the ball at the 18 and decided to run instead of falling down to seal the victory. I guess he knew what he was doing, because he returned the ball 82 yards for the final TD and a 24-14 Frankford victory. After a scoreless first quarter the Pioneers put together a 70-yard, 15-play drive that featured the running of Ralph Hyland with Nizir Graham rushing twice for 32 yards. Hyland, who rushed 16 times for 122 yards and 2 TDs, entered the end zone at the 10:08 mark of the second stanza with a 5 yard burst. The PAT kick failed and the home team led 6-0. The Panthers answered right back with a drive of their own going 67 yards on 11 plays topped off by a 1 yard prance to pay dirt by Joel Polk. Polk also ran for the conversion putting the Panthers ahead 8-6. Polk rushed 18-82-TD. Frankford would score with 28 seconds left before halftime when Naim Franklin ran for a 24 yard TD. The half ended with the Pioneers on top 12-6. Overbrook’s Gary Hawes recovered a fumble early in the third quarter at the Pioneer 20 yard line. Four plays after the recovery, Rodriguez scored from the 5, giving his squad a 14-12 lead. It was the last time Overbrook would be ahead in the arithmetic. Hyland made sure of that. He rushed for 48 of the 60 yards needed on the patrol with his big tote being a nifty 40 yard run for an 18-14 Pioneer lead that they would hold for good. It looked like the Panthers would answer right back, but a huge holding penalty at the Frankford 7 yard line eliminated any chances for a ‘Brook score. On fourth and goal from the 20 Rodriguez threw an interception that was caught on the one yard line by Franklin and returned 24 yards to the 25. Besides Franklin and Cooper’s picks, Devontae Lee and Tyair Jones also had one. The game got ugly a few times as both teams chatted or taunted back and forth at each other and referee Phil Harding wanted no part of it. There were ten 15-yard penalties with 6 being unsportsmanlike. Harding tossed Frankford assistant David Cebular, who was on the field arguing about keeping the game under control. When some of Frankford’s assistants attempted to talk to Harding about the ejection, Harding noted that Cebular was still on the Frankford sideline, although down near the 10 yard line and close to the Frankford locker room. Harding starting chopping his right hand counting down from 30. He said that Cebular had 30 seconds to get off the field completely or he would forfeit the game. When the count got below 10 it became somewhat interesting but like a magician at around the 5-second mark, Cebular disappeared into the Pioneer locker. If that wasn’t enough, Frankford’s Jameer Brooks and the Panthers' Clifford Brinkley were also ejected for fighting, thus assuring that they won't get to play on Thanksgiving. Just to add to more zaniness to the contest, former Frankford head coach Mike Capriotti was multi-tasking up in the press box. He was doing the Public Address announcing, operating the scoreboard clock -- not very well I may add -- and also was spotted talking on his cell phone at the same time. Are you kidding me? No wonder some of the players thought the game was more like a scrimmage. I know Mike is a good guy, but geez, show some respect. I guess the Pioneers should have just waited until Thanksgiving to play, because on that day to them it’s real football. Today they won the game that they and some of their coaches treated like it was gym class. Along with Cooper’s 82 yard return Lee scooted 79 yards with his pick. The Pioneers returned 5 balls for 200 yards. Danny Kornegay made 9 tackles for Frankford. He was trailed by Josh Mason with 8, Brooks and Jemire Solomon with 6 and Dante Howard notching 5. Jermar Allen recovered a fumble. For Overbrook Nathaniel Goines registered 8 tackles including 3 behind the line of scrimmage with one being a sack. Helping Goines was, Jonathan Gathers and Karim Dixon 6, and Christopher Hayles and Bassey Ukpong numbering 5. Ukpong was terrific against the pass pedaling stride for stride with the receivers and knocking, batting or disrupting several pass plays.                 

NOV. 8
PUBLIC AA FINAL
Prep Charter 14, Del Val Charter 12
  Del Val’s Nasir Bonner is a playmaker. Prior to this game he had carried the ball 92 times for 905 yards for an average of almost 10 yards carry. For Bonner to be successful he needs to touch the ball. The Warriors had the ball for 10 offensive series and never rushed more than 3 plays in succession before throwing a pass. A runner like Bonner needs a few touches before he kicks into his almost-unable-to-take-down mode. You could sense the frustration on Bonner’s face when he came to the sideline. With his team trailing 14-6 in the fourth quarter Bonner caught a pass in the right flat from Shayne Smith and then raced 60 yards for a touchdown. After he crossed the goal line Bonner spiked the ball. I believe he spiked it more in frustration than jubilation. As if he was saying, "Give me the damn ball and I will make something happen." Unfortunately the spike cost DV 15 yards and their PAT 2 point try came from the 18 rather than the 3 yard line. Smith’s pass for the deuce fell incomplete and was well short of the end zone. Earlier in the quarter Shaheed Brown caught a 14 yard heave from Smith for a TD. Smith’s pass for the two points at first was ruled complete to Desmont Pugh by the sideline official. However he was overruled by the back judge and the two points were taken away. The Warriors did have one last shot, but had to go 95 yards with 3:12 to play and no timeouts. On second down Smith completed a 13 yard pass to Jeffery Sampson which moved the pigskin to the 18 with 3:07 showing on the clock. On first down Smith threw an incomplete pass and on second down he rushed for 4 yards. On third down the Huskies went off sides and as a result the Warriors had the ball at the 27, needing one yard for the first down to continue the drive. Instead of sacrificing a run to get the one yard, the Warriors stuck to their plan to continue to pass the ball. Smith’s third down pass was incomplete and on fourth down he was sacked for a 9 yard loss by Karamo Dioubate. It was then take a knee and take home the Public League AA Championship Trophy time. Prep Charter scored both of their TD’s in the first stanza. John Davis caught a perfectly thrown pass from Vian Dolo for a 79 yard TD strike. Quadir Strothers scored the other TD on a 10 yard run. Andres Ospina kicked both PAT’s after the scores. Dolo passed 2-10- 85-TD. He rushed 19-57. Overall the Huskies rushed 31 times for 91 yards. For Del Val, Bonner ran 13-53, but as a team the numbers were ugly, 27 rushes for just 28 yards. Smith passed 6-16-148-2 TD. Bonner caught two passes for 67 yards and Sampson 3 for 56. Rand Williams led the Huskies tackle board with 7 tackles, 5 solo and 2 sacks. Helping him was Dioubate 6-4-2 sacks, Strothers 6-4-1 TFL and Ronald Stokes 5-3. Davonte Coney forced a fumble that was recovered by Romeo Outland. For Del Val Davik Miller 8-6, Kyree McCoy 6-4-1-Interception, Dwight Harris 6-5-2, Zamir Davis 6-4 and Amir Walker 6-5-4/ 2 sacks led the charge. Other sacks were notched by Elijah McCants, Tyler Perkins and Casper Seymore. A TFL was recorded by Dameus Nixlot. McCants also had an interception and Walker forced a fumble that was recovered by Zi’Tear Wilson.  Next up for the Huskies will be the Saints of Neumann Goretti who upset West Catholic in the Catholic League AA Championship game 32-14. The game billed as the “Battle of South Philly” will take place at the South Philadelphia Super Site this Saturday November 15th starting at 1 PM. Neumann Goretti relies on the rushing of Khalil Roane. Roane has carried the ball 252 times for 1,153 yards and 10 TD’s. Ray Lenhart is the Saints QB and shows numbers of 86 completions on 193 attempts for 1,418 yards and 12 TD’s. Prep Charter will go with their three-headed monster of Dolo, Strothers and Tarr Monway toting the football.

NOV. 6
NON-LEAGUE
Boys' Latin 24, Southern 20
  They say, "Close is only good in the game of Horseshoes” or “Sometimes it’s just not meant to be” or “Close but no Cigar." If that latter statement were true, the Southern High School Football team would have to travel to Cuba for their cigars. Here’s why. On September 19th after recovering a fumble against Central at the Lancers 28 yard line the Rams appeared to be headed to the win column. Killing the clock with just under 4 minutes to go and holding a 29-24 lead The Rams were hit with a huge unsportsmanlike penalty and instead of a first down were forced to punt the ball. Central took possession at their own 12 yard line with just over one minute to play. On second down Central’s Tymair Bennett ran right up the middle for an 88 yard Touchdown run giving the Lancers a 30-29 victory over the Rams. The following week against Fels the Rams trailed 14-8 after Fels scored with 8:10 left in the contest. Southern then proceeded to drive the ball from their own 35 down to their opponents 4 with a little over 2 minutes to play. After four rushing attempts Southern could not punch the ball in and lost the contest. On October 24th against Frankford the Rams were burnt 3 times all for TD’s by the Pioneers Nazir Graham. Graham ran for TD’s of 6, 76 and 26 yards. He touched the ball one other time for a 2 yard gain. Take away Graham’s rushing and Southern held Frankford to just 14 yards on 20 attempts. Now we fast-forward to November 6th against Boys' Latin. With the score tied at 12 Southern’s Qazi Jones scored right before halftime and Casey Williams ran for the PAT giving the Rams a 20-12 advantage at intermission. Let the craziness begin! With 6 minutes and forty seconds left in the third quarter Jones blocked a Warriors punt and Williams recovered it at the Boys' Latin 3 yard line. On first down Martell Marshall ran into a wall of tacklers but was able to push his way to the one yard line and the play appeared to be over when Marshall hit the ground. Everyone stopped or froze, including the referees. One guy who did not stop was Clarence Rowland, who just picked up the ball and starting running 99 yards towards the other end zone while others played the role of spectators. After a long discussion the officials ruled that Marshall had lost control of the ball before his knee hit the ground and the Warriors were awarded the TD. The PAT pass was unsuccessful and the Rams still led 20-18 with just over 6 minutes left in the third period. On the ensuing kickoff Jones hauled in the pigskin at the 24 yard line. He then made a shifty move at the 30 before he was brought down at the Warriors 48. On first down QB Kahssian Kay was sacked by Javon Rice back at the Rams 44. It was now time for the Rams to do, what they do the best and that was to run the football. With Marshall, Jones, Kay and Qashah Carter running the ball SP found themselves at the Warriors 22. On first down Marshall ran for 2 yards on second down, well let me try to explain. Williams took a Kay handoff and after being hit around the 15 yard line he broke free and was headed to pay turf, when suddenly without being touched he lost control of the ball around the two yard line. The ball squirted around the end zone as players from both teams attempted to grab or fall on it. The ball wanted no parts of the players and ended up out of and through the end zone for a touchback and a Boys Latin first down at their own 20. After the squads exchanged punts Latin had maneuvered the ball to their own 46, but on third and fourteen QB Troy Hester threw a pass that was intercepted by Nicholas “Cup Of” Coffie. The Rams, who ran 49 times for 273 yards, couldn’t get going after the interception and punted the ball back to the Warriors who took control of the ball at their own 35 with 3:14 play in the contest. Hester, who threw for 250 yards and 2 TDs, completed 12 passes on 29 tosses. Four of the receptions came on this their final drive with the longest being a 41 yard grab by Damere Gilbert putting the ball at the South Philly 14. Trailing by 2 with just one timeout left the Warriors called time after Hester ran for 11 yards down to the 3 yard line with 40.7 seconds to go. A pass interference call against the Rams moved the ball to the one and a half yard line. The next play Hester ran into the end zone for the TD with just 28 seconds left to give the Warriors a 24-20 come from behind victory. The Warriors other TDs were of the long-toss variety. Hester threw a 64 yard TD to Gilbert and a 70 yard one to Rice. The Rams scored on a Carter 5 yard run and a Kay 2 yard sneak. Southern again was a force against the run holding the Warriors to just 27 yards on 15 tries. Gilbert had 3 catches for 115-TD while Michael Hammock numbered 4-42. Marquise Johnson was the Warrior tackle leader with 9-6-2. Others included Keith Brown 8-5, Gilbert 6-4-2 pass defend, Rowland 6-3-1 and Rice along with Stanley Moore tacked 5-3. For Southern Carter ran 10-84-TD and Marshall 3-83. Samid Williams paced the defense with 8-6-2/sack, Jones helped with 6-4-1-pass defend and Carter 5-3-PD. Carter also had an interception. Rashaun Carter notched a sack. Khalil Griffin recovered a fumble.

NOV. 1
PUBLIC AA SEMIFINAL
Prep Charter 62, Palumbo 0
  A first year football program going up against an opponent that is bigger, faster and stronger (plus, with twice as many players) usually results in a disaster. This Saturday evening contest mixed all of those ingredients and the result was easily predictable. The score was 42-0 at the half and with the clock running in the second half it was 56-0 after 3 quarters before the time mercifully ran out with the Huskies hammering Palumbo, 62-0, and moving on to a highly anticipated Pub AA final against the Delaware Valley Charter Warriors this Saturday. For Prep Charter Tarr Monway ran 5-126-2TD. Quadir Strothers 8-140-2TD. QB Vion Dolo ran 5-45-2TD and backup QB Peter Gaye numbered 2-27-TD. Dolo passed just 2-8-23-TD. The recipient of an 11 yard TD toss was Davante Coney. Anthony Thomas caught the other pass for 12 yards. Thomas also returned a fumble 31 yards for a TD. The Griffins could do absolutely nothing on offense and were held to minus 49 yards rushing on 29 tries. QB Dontez Jolly was chased around the most, toting 17 for minus 54 yards. Jolly passed 1-6-1 yd. His short toss was to 5’5” 115 lb. freshman wide receiver Fajon Mobley. Jolly had 3 returns for 63 yards. Deon Slocum, Tavion Mack, and Marshall Drummond all registered 5-3 on the tackle chart for Palumbo. Jolly added 4-2. Slocum and Tahir Cruse recovered fumbles. Ibrahim Tounkara was credited with a forced fumble. Prep Charter was paced by Jabril Little 7-4-sack. Helping Little was Karamo Dioubate 6-4-1, Rand Williams 5-3-sack and Marcus Bryant 5-3-1. TFL’s were made by Coney, Justin Johnson 2, John Shantz, Gaye and Macquel Hardy. Kareem Dennis had an interception for the Huskies.

OCT. 31
PUBLIC AAAA QUARTERFINAL
George Washington 21, John Bartram 8
  After a short opening kickoff the Eagles only needed to negotiate 51 yards with the final 17 coming as a result of a Qadir Cobbs run to the end zone. Chris Schlegel booted the PAT and it was 7-0 with 7:36 showing on the first stanza time piece. An interception by Washington’s Bruce Smalley on the first play of the second quarter gave the Eagles nice field position on the Braves 32. However 3 procedure penalties against GW and some excellent tackling by Bartram’s Justin Freeman with his third of the drive coming on third and long forced the Eagles into a fourth and nineteen which resulted into an incomplete pass. The momentum then switched to the Braves and they would finally light the South Philly scoreboard when QB Ernest Mulbah hit Gary Grisson-Johnson for a 7 yard TD toss. Makai Sheed ran for the conversion as the half ended 8-7 in favor of John Bartram. The punting game of the Braves made a huge negative impact that basically gave the game to the Eagles. Early in the third quarter Bartram’s Freeman, who also served as the punter decided on his own to either run or pass on fourth down from his own 20 yard line. His creative play was an underhanded pass of two hands to Traekwon Young for a 1 yard loss. The Eagles took advantage and went ahead for good on a Nigel Sealey 1 yard TD run. Schlegel again added the PAT kick and it was 14-8 in favor of the gang from Northeast Philly. After the score the Braves went backwards on their next possession and again were forced to punt. This time a strong rush forced Freeman to step to his left and his kick was badly shanked. The botched kick set up the next GW score when Jeffrey Davis caught an 8 yard TD pass from Damir Mitchell. Schlegel booted the PAT again and the scoring was done for the evening. Cobbs was the game’s leading rusher with 21-135-TD. Sheed led the Braves with 19-95. Mulbah passed 6-17-1-105-TD. Grisson-Johnson snagged 3 balls for 59 yards. Freeman led in tackles with 10-6-1. Helping Freeman was James Uyanna 8-5-1, Blessing Kahn 7-4, Hanson Teah 5-3 and Marquis Broxton 4-3-sack. Additional TFL’s were made by Shaquan Goodwin, Young and Quenzel Members. Members also recovered a fumble. Shawn Henderson 9-6-3/sack, Smalley 7-5-Int, Sharif Adams 6-4-1, George Hubbard 6-3, Jeffery Davis 5-3-sack-PD and Terry Hall 5-3-PD were the George Washington tackle leaders. TFL’s were also made by Tim Bradley, Shariff Miller 2 and Kevin Abrokwah.

OCT. 30
NON-LEAGUE
Boys' Latin 38 Central 14
  Stanley Moore forced an early first quarter fumble that was recovered by his teammate David Williams which gave Boys Latin excellent field position on the Central 20. On first down QB Troy Hester raced in to the end zone and then tossed a conversion pass to Michael Hammock for a the quick 8-0 advantage. It was soon 16-0 when Hester connected with Damere Gilbert for a 21 yard TD pass and after Williams ran for the PAT is was 2 times 8 for the Warriors and zero for the Lancers with just under 6 minutes to go in the first period. A bad snap from center in a punt formation gave the Warriors great field position again and soon it was 22-0 when Hester heaved a 36 yard TD pass to Gilbert which closed out the first half scoring. Jaron Waring got the Lancers on the board when he scooted 6 yards to pay dirt and after a Blake Schwartz PAT run it was 22-8. That was as close as Central would get as the Warriors added two more scores before Central would score again with just 33 seconds left in the contest. Gilbert caught another TD of 52 yards and Hammock snagged a short 3 yards toss which gave Hester 4 TD passes on the afternoon. He finished the day 12-18-2-226-4TD. Gilbert caught 6 balls for 139 yards and Hammock caught the other 6 for 87 yards. Waring would also score the Lancers other TD when he wrapped in an 11 yard reception from Jeffrey Coplin. Coplin threw 7-16-0-77-TD. Waring caught 5 passes for 63 yards and rushed 11 times for 42 yards. Kei Shawn Graham and Ryan McGonigal both had interceptions for Central. Schwartz who is just a sophomore continued to make noise at his linebacker position numbered 10 tackles, 7 solo and 1 TFL. Jones Mensah 9-5-1, Olajide Soyinka 6-3, Gerit Roscioli 5-3 and Matt Bender 5-3 also contributed on defense. Waathig Hall had a TFL. While the passing game did most of the damage for the Warriors Central limited Latin to just 60 yards of rushing on 23 attempts. Pacing the Warriors defense was Kevin King 11-7-sack, Javon Rice 9-5-2/sack, Clarence Rowland 8-6-1,Moore 7-4-sack and Marquise Johnson 5-3. Jihad Phillips had an interception for BL.

OCT. 24
PUBLIC AAAA LIBERTY
Frankford 18, Southern 8 
  They say the average play in football takes between 6 and 7 seconds. For Southern I guess you can say it was 21 seconds of frustration or thereabout, but the other 47 minutes and 40 seconds were just fine. The Rams led at halftime 8-0 courtesy of a Qazi Jones 1 yard TD run and Jones’ 2 point conversion catch of a Kahssian Kay pass just before halftime. The second half featured the brief running of Frankford’s Nizir Graham. At the 4:13 mark of the third quarter Graham ran 6 yards for a TD. After the Pioneers stopped the Rams early in the fourth period, Graham ran 76 yards for another score. On Southern’s next possession Kay fumbled and Frankford recovered on the Rams 26. BINGO !! Graham again took the handoff and raced to the end zone for the score. That my friends is three consecutive touches all for TD’s as well as three straight offensive plays run for TD’s. The total number of yards calculates to 108. Graham had run one other time for 3 yards. Take away Graham’s scampers and you would have to say the Rams did an incredible job on defense. With Graham the Frankford rushing stats were 24 rushes for 125. Without Graham they were 20 for just 14 yards. The Pioneers' combined passing of Mikey Morell and Naim Franklin numbered 4-6-25. Frankford also was impressive on defense limiting the South Philadelphia squad to just 111 rushing yards on 43 attempts. Kay passed 5-8-55. Jones was the leader for Southern rushing 19-65-TD. The Pioneers defense was led by defensive back Devontae Lee who was able to cheat up near the line of scrimmage knowing the offensive limitations of the Rams. Lee made 12 tackles, 6 solo with 2 for losses and one sack. Jose Reyes 9-4-sack, John Martinez 8-5-2/sack, Jameer Brooks 8-4 and Jemire Solomon 5-3-1 pitched in. Josh Mason had a TFL. Jakaii Love and Solomon forced fumbles while Khai Parnell and Martinez recovered fumbles. For the Rams Rashaun Carter 8-7-2, Casey Williams 6-4-sack, Walter Tweed 5-3-1 and Jones 4-2 were the South Philly tackle leaders. Martel Marshall had a TFL. Carter and Samid Williams forced fumbles while Marshall and Walter King had fumble recoveries.

OCT. 23
NON-LEAGUE
Del Val Charter 36, Central 0
  The Lancers' best chance to score happened on the game's first play from scrimmage. A premature snap from center saw the pigskin sail over the head of Del Val’s QB Shayne Smith. Smith recovered the ball 26 yards behind the line of scrimmage and real close to the goal line. The Central sideline was screaming safety, but the officials ruled that Smith was down at about the 1 inch line. On first down Nasir Bonner ran for 3 yards and on second down Smith completed a 26 yard pass to Dwine Walls. Eventually the Warriors were forced to punt but the early missed opportunity by Central was the closest the home team ever came to lighting up the scoreboard on North Broad Street. Four penalties against Del Val and some sloppy handling of the ball by Central saw the first period end 0-0. The Warriors put together an impressive 12 play 75 yard drive with alternating QB Andrew Thomas-Sumpter completing 2 passes for 45 yards. Both were thrown to Jeffrey Sampson covering 29 and 16 yards. Nasir Bonner would complete the drive with a 1 yard run into the end zone. Bonner also ran for the PAT and the Warriors led 8-0. Central fumbled on their next possession giving the Warriors the ball on the Lancer 40. Three plays later Thomas-Sumpter found Kyeef Williams open for a 15 yard TD strike and the half ended 14-0. It was soon 20-0 when Bonner scored on a 9 yard run that was set up by a 31 yard run by fullback Jahmir Nuble. Nuble’s day was very economical. He rushed just 4 times but gained a total of 69 yards capped off by his 23 yard run for 6 points late in the fourth quarter. The Warriors other TD came via the air when Smith completed a 33 yard pass to Shaheed Brown in the third stanza. Dwine Walls would score on a 2 point conversion run and a conversion pass from Thomas-Sumpter. Del Val coach Troy Gore uses his QB’s rather uniquely. He plays Smith in the first and third quarters and Thomas-Sumpter in the second and fourth. Bonner ran 15 times for 74 yards-2TD’s. Smith passed 4-5-86-TD while Thomas-Sumpter went 4-9-80-TD. Besides Sampson, Williams and Brown, Walls caught 2 balls for 43 yards and Bonner 1 for 10. The leading rusher for Central was Jerimiah Watson 11-57. The Lancers had a tough time all day with the Warriors defense. They rushed 51 times but gained just 137 yards for a 2.7 average yard per carry. Freshman QB Michael Williams tossed 2-7-14. Blake Schwartz 6 and Skylar Jahn 8 were the recipients. Schwartz also led the Lancer tackle board with 8-5-1. Others helping out included Michael Hunt 7-3, Jones Mensah 6-4-1, Bashir Steed 5-3 and Soosung Whang 4-2. Na’eem Allen had a TFL. Davik Miller was the man for the Warriors on defense accumulating 11 tackles 7 solo and 2 TFL’s. Miller also recovered 2 fumbles. Casper Seymore 9-5-2, Kyree McCoy 8-7, Amir Walker 8-6-3, Dwight Williams 6-3-1, Zi’Tear Wilson 5-4-1 and Quasir Hayes 5-4- fumble recovery closed the tackle board.

OCT. 18
PUBLIC AA
Prep Charter 13, Del-Val 6 
  Two teams undefeated, two teams with spread and high powered offenses. One averaging 38 points a game [Prep Charter] the other an astounding 49.7 and both putting up ridiculous offensive stats. So what happens? The Huskies and Warriors leave the playing field with a combined 248 total offensive yards. Each numbering exactly 124. The Warriors would rush 35 times for 71 yards and pass 4-17-53. Prep Charter ran 26-33 and heaved 4-12-91. With the wind blowing mostly sideways it was tough for either team to get anything going. However the biggest obstacle for both teams was the defense. A Vian Dolo 2 yard run and a Dolo pass of 16 yards to Quadir Strothers along with an Andres Ospina PAT kick gave the Huskies a 13-0 lead at the half. The Warriors Shaheed Brown would return a punt 43 yards for a fourth quarter TD with 8:16 left in the contest. Earlier a controversial inadvertent whistle may have cost DV a TD that could have tied the game, but after a long discussion the officials decided to just replay the down and give the ball back to PC after the Warriors had thought they had at least recovered a fumble that perhaps was also a TD after it was scooped up and taken to the end zone. However Saturday was not the Warriors lucky day. No doubt these two teams will meet again for the Public League AA final in a few weeks with the winner most likely playing West Catholic Prep for the AA City Championship. The only impressive offensive number was the rushing of DV’s Nasir Bonner. Bonner ran 18 times for 64 tough yards while Brown had 3 returns for 79 yards. Jeffrey Sampson caught 3 balls for 47 Del Val yards. The Prep defense was led by Karamo Dioubate with 8 tackles, 7 solo, 5 behind the line of scrimmage including 4.5 sacks totaling a loss of 33 yards. John Shantz 7-5-1, Jabril Little 7-5-2/sack and John Davis numbered 5-3-1. Marcus Bryant had 2 TFL’s and Rand Williams had a sack. Anthony Thomas had an interception. For Del Val, Elijah McCants 7-4-1, Zamir Davis 6-4-2, Devon Humphrey 5-4-2-sack and ZiTear Wilson 5-3-1 led the tackle chart. TFL’s were notched by Sampson, Nixlot Dameus and Hugh Conway. Davis also recovered a fumble for the Warriors.

OCT. 17
PUBLIC AA
Strawberry Mansion 30, Palumbo 14
  Strawberry Mansion came to the South Philly Super Site looking for its first varsity win in school history. Jayquan Owens made sure that before they headed back North the zero in the left column would change. Oh, he really made sure. He ran 17 times at the QB position for 161 yards and 3 TD’s and passed 8-12-170-TD. He also excelled on defense with 9 tackles, 6 solo with 2 TFL’s as a middle linebacker. Dontez Jolly provided the Palumbo excitement returning 2 kickoffs for TD’s. The first spanning 77 yards and the second 84. The Jolly Dodger returned 5 balls for 218 yards. He also handled the quarterback duties but had a rough time running, gaining just 46 yards on 22 totes. He passed 1-6-7 yards. The Knights Basil Wilson ran for an 83 yard score and also had a catch and run for an 81 yard TD. The actual tackle leader was Mansions Jonathan Hargrove 11-7. Helping out along with Owens was Yamir Sterling 7-5-2, Jerrick Fripps 6-4-3, Justin Hunter 5-2-1 and Jason Johnson 5-2. The Griffins defense was paced by Ernest Holland 9-6-1, Jarod Hughes 7-5, Ian Barrett 6-4-1, Jason Ly 5-3, Deon Slocum 5-3-sack and Chris Kent 4-2-1. Jolly and Tavion Mack recovered Griffin fumbles.

OCT. 16
PUBLIC AAAA LIBERTY
Southern 16, Bartram 14
  Southern lit up the scoreboard just 44 seconds into the game when Qashah Carter intercepted an Ernest Mulbah pass on the Bartram 19 and returned it easily to the end zone for a quick six. Qazi Jones ran for the 2 point conversion and it was 8-0 before the Action News lead story was complete. Stingy defense, turnovers, penalties and just some plain old poor football by both squads created a very uneventful first half as neither team would add another point before intermission. The Braves put it into another gear in the third quarter when Mulbah connected with Ta-shawn Stringfield for a 56 yard TD strike with 6:08 to play in the period. Makai Sheed failed on the conversion run leaving the Rams with a slim 8-6 advantage. When the Southern took over possession after the score it wasn’t long before the Braves got the ball back as DE/TE Quenzel Members smacked Jones at the Rams 39 causing the ball to squirt loose and it was recovered by the Braves Justin Freeman. Two plays later it was TD pass time again for Mulbah as he rewarded Members for his defense by tossing him a 38 yard pass to pay turf. After Sheed ran for the conversion the Southwest Philly squad took the lead 14-8 at the 2:44 mark at the three quarter pole. Mulbah finished the night throwing 12-21 for a school record 220 yards, two TDs and the one pick. Unfortunately the pass to Members would be the Braves last TD. The Rams next possession featured a first down on a nice 13 yard run by Justin Bell, but the Braves defense tightened up forcing Southern to punt the ball back to Bartram. The Braves practically duplicated the Rams possession when Answered Gleplay ran for 10 yards and a first down, but again the defense held and the Braves gave the ball back to Southern on downs at the Rams 43. Now with just over 9 minutes to play the Rams Casey Williams 18-92, bulldozed through Bartram territory on several carries as the boys from Bigler would move the ball down to the Bartram 13 with just over 4 minutes to play. Facing a fourth and two Williams was stopped behind the line of scrimmage by Tyron Brown and it appeared that all hopes were lost for Southern. Taking over at their own 17, the Braves Gleplay ran towards the right sideline when Qazi Jones in one motion swiped down on the ball and when his body landed the pigskin was in his possession at the Bartram 19. A 10 yard penalty against Southern moved the ball back to the 29 but that didn’t hinder QB Kahssian Kay from hitting Nicholas Coffie for a 23 yard strike to the 6 yard line. Williams then ran for 3 yards on first down and 1 on second before Kay sneaked in from the 2 yard line with 1:18 to play in the game and the score knotted at 14. The conversion featured Kay rolling out to his right and then hitting a diving Jones for the 2 point margin of victory grab. Members led the Braves defense with 9-6-3 and a forced fumble. Sheed booked 8-5-3/sack, Blessing Kahn 7-4-2, Cortez English 6-4 and Brown 5-3-1 closed the book. Freeman had a TFL. Williams was the Southern Man on defense with 9-6-3-FF. Trailing were Walter Tweed 7-4-1-FF, Carter 6-3-1 and Martel Marshall 6-4. Sacks were recorded by Khalil Griffin and Nazir Jordan while Wayne Christian and Samid Williams had TFL’s.

OCT. 10
PUBLIC AA
Prep Charter 48 Palumbo 6
  A strange occurrence 5 minutes before game time and another one just 14 seconds into the game. After that it was back to normal. I would bet you didn’t know that the head coach has to be present when the toss of the coin is taking place. I didn’t, and neither did Prep Charter head man David Hand as he was penalized 15 yards by head referee Art Chapman prior to the start of the game for not being at midfield for the flipping of the coin. So with Prep Charter kicker Andres Ospina kicking off at the 25 instead of the 40 the talented young man kicked the ball to the 18 yard line right into the hands of Dontez Jolly. Hello and goodbye Jolly as he raced 82 yards to the end zone for the Griffins' only score of the game. The overmatched Palumbo squad, in both size and numbers, gave their best effort against one of the city’s top ranked schools. The star of the game was PC’s QB Vian Dolo who rushed 7 times for 159 yards and 2 TD’s. He also passed 4-7- 47-TD. His scoring toss was a 21 yard heave to John Davis. Davis also ran a punt return 46 yards for a TD. Quadir Strothers had two interceptions for PC and returned one 34 yards for a TD. He also had a 39 yard rushing TD. Yaseen Shands also scored a TD on a 27 yard trample. Ospina was successful on 6 of 7 PAT kicks. In addition to his 82 yard return Jolly added 101 more yards for an impressive 183 on 7 chances. The Huskies defense was paced by Marcus Bryant 7-5-3, Jaleel Benton 6-4, Strothers 6-3 and Joe Holmes 5-3-1. TFL’s were made by Mahmud Dioubate, Davante’ Coney and Tony Nguyen. The Huskies were penalized 9 times for 110 yards and had 4 TD’s called back. Jarod Hughes 7-4-1, Charles Spencer 6-4-2 and Tahir Cruise 6-4-1 were the lead Palumbo pounders.

OCT. 10
PUBLIC AAAA LIBERTY
Bartram 50 Frankford 21
  How can a team lose a game by such a wide margin after winning the All Purpose Yard contest 321 to 293? Easy, by turning the ball over 8 times and allowing two TD’s by basically handing the ball to the other team with a clear path to the end zone. Bartram scored the game’s first TD, when Justin Freeman just took the ball out of the hands of QB Mikey Morrell and scooted 60 yards to pay turf. Early in the second quarter Makai Sheed grabbed a ball out of midair after a bad exchange between Morell and Ralph Hyland and a strolled 36 yards for six points. Sheed would score a few minutes later on and 8 yard run and also add the 2 point PAT to give the Braves a 20-7 advantage with 8:28 to go in the second quarter. The Braves would add 10 more points before the half on a Gary Grissom-Johnson 26 yard TD reception from Ernest Mulbah. Answered Gleplay ran for the conversion and a safety before halftime closed the scoring. Frankford’s most exciting play was a 95 yard kickoff return for a TD by Naim Franklin early in the third. Franklin’s score came after Bartram had scored right after the second half kickoff was muffed by the Pioneer’s and recovered by Traekwon Young at the Frankford 2. Mulbah would sneak in the end zone on the next play. The Braves came right back after Franklin’s long run when Gleplay pranced for a 2 yard score. Grissom-Johnson would catch a TD pass from Mulbah in the fourth quarter to finish the Brave TD scoring while a number 13, who I was told was scratched scored on a 16 yard run for Frankford. Number 13 crossed off the Frankford roster is Nazir Graham. The Pioneers also scored on a Morrell 3 yard pass to Danny Kornegay Frankford was penalized 12 times for 110 yards and the Braves were flagged 11 for 85. Hanson Teah paced the Braves defense with 10 tackles, 6 solo and 3 for a loss including a sack. Sheed and Freeman both added 7-5. Marquis Broxton 6-4, Blessing Kahn 6-3-sack, Quinzel Members 6-4 and Quincy Crawford 5-3 finalized the take down board. Kabir Drummond had two Braves interceptions and Broxton had one while Cortez English added a TFL. Khai Powell 9-6-4, John Martinez 8-6-1, Devontae Lee 7-5-2/sack, Franklin 7-4 and Derrick Robinson 6-3 were the Pioneer defense leaders. Byshawn Jenkins had an interception.

OCT. 9
PUBLIC AAAA LIBERTY
Southern 50 Mastbaum 0
  What I thought would be a highly competitive game, especially noting that Mastbaum had defeated Central and Central had knocked off the Rams in the last few seconds of a game played a couple weeks ago certainly didn’t transpire.  Well, like Ted Silary always told me, “Never do that comparative scoring stuff Frog because you never know what can happen." Also a good friend of mine, Joe McFadden, who helps me out quite a bit with the stats, was always told by his father, “The ball is not round in the game of football so funny bounces and funny things usually happen." Well, I guess they both were right? Right to the tune of 50-0 in favor of Southern. The Rams featured their two headed monster for only the fourth time as Casey Williams returned to action in the backfield after being out with a hand injury. Williams took some of the running load off of Qazi Jones and the two had very productive evenings . Williams ran 11 times for 101 yards and 2 TD's while Jones numbered 17-109-1. After Williams ran for a 40 yard TD in the second quarter I heard the numbers 72, 22 and 52 called out by trainer Fred Reynolds. What was he doing, giving me lottery numbers? No, he was telling me to look back up field around the line of scrimmage because they were the numbers of the players who the high stepping Williams knocked over on his way to the end zone and the players were still on the ground. It was a highlight reel run by Williams, the best I’ve seen in South Philadelphia since a guy by the name of Ramon Mills. Mills was a wide receiver for Bok who after he caught the ball was almost impossible to take down. Former Bok head coach Tom DeFelice was on the sideline and said Williams runs like Eric Dickerson and a former West Catholic star and All Catholic teammate of DeFelice in the sixties by the name of Bob Mahon. In addition to the scoring of Williams and Jones, QB Kahssian Kay ran and passed for a TD. He connected on a 15 yarder to Nicholas Coffie. Martell Marshall also ran for a TD and Ace Walker returned an interception 27 yards for a score. The Panthers hurt themselves with turnovers giving the pigskin up 5 times to the Rams. Walker added another interception while Nazir Jordan recovered 2 fumbles and Shawn White recovered one. The South Philly defense gave the Panthers headaches all evening limiting them to 20 yards of rushing and 38 passing yards. Samid Williams along with Casey Williams both notched 8 tackles with Samid Williams making one behind the line of scrimmage. Walter Tweed numbered 7-4-1, Sekwon White 6-4 and Qazi Jones 5-3-1 rounded out the leader board. Others with TFL’s included; Jordan, Raushan Carter and Sekou Sanoe. Mastbaum’s biggest play of the contest was a 24 yard pass completion from Prince Moore to Saleem Thompson. The Panther defense was led by Dajoure Hallman 10-7-2, William Walker 8-5 and Thompson 7-5. A TFL was made by -- no, this is not a misspelling of a last name; at least I don’t think so after looking at two Panther rosters -- Tahir Achmanddijjian, who grabbed a Ram behind the line of scrimmage.

OCT. 7
BILL CAMPBELL'S LETTER IN SUPPORT OF THE BID
TO PUT DICK ALLEN IN THE BASEBALL HALL OF FAME
  Bill Campbell wrote this letter in June 2014 . . .
June 18, 2014
To the Nominating and Voting Committees of the MLB 2014 Golden Era Ballot.
       I have been in the Sports Broadcasting business for close to 70 years. In 1963 I became the play-by-play voice for the Philadelphia Phillies until 1969. During that time I had the pleasure to meet Dick Allen, who still today will go out of his way to come and say hello to me some 45 years later. Mr. Allen was and still is a true gentleman who treated me with nothing but respect. When I think of Dick Allen, the first thing that comes to my mind was his tremendous power. I could honestly say he was the most powerful hitter I ever saw. Unfortunately people overlooked his overall baseball skills. Whether it was a fan, ballplayer or member of the media they always wanted to talk about his power. I clearly understand why that would be the primary conversation piece since most of my highlight reel radio calls are of Dick Allen’s majestic blasts. Getting back to his ability, Allen was a well tooled player. He could run, hit for average, hit with power, field and could also throw until an injury to his right shoulder hindered his ability to do so at an above average rate.
    During my broadcasting days I saw all the great players; including Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Willie Stargell , Willie McCovey and Stan Musial. Believe me when I tell you that I have no problem putting Dick Allen right up against all of them. There are not many players in the game of baseball, that when they walked up to home plate the people in the stands would stop what they were doing to just focus in on the batter. They stopped because they never knew what they may witness. It was that mystique of the potential of Allen to hit the ball 500 ft. It is that mystique and his overall baseball talents that give him the credentials to be enshrined in Cooperstown. Yes, Richard Anthony “Dick” Allen should definitely be in The Hall Of Fame.    
  Sincerely,
  Bill Campbell

OCT. 3
PUBLIC AA
KIPP DuBois 16 Palumbo 0
  On first and ten from the Palumbo 9 yard line late in the third quarter, KDB's Brian Jones was stopped in the backfield by the Griffins' Benjamin Sinaka for a 6 yard loss. While the officials were looking to spot the ball on the proper stripe, some pushing, shoving and jawing began in another area. It was too late for recovery for the men in the pinstripes. A major fight broke out with coaches actually on the ground attempting to pull some of their players from the scattered confrontations. It got completely out of control and unfortunately the only person who appeared injured after the incident and termination of the game at the 2:13 mark of the third quarter was South Philly Super Site trainer Fred Reynolds. Fred said he was on the sideline when someone came flying by him and bruised his right calf. Granted it was not a serious injury, but an athletic trainer should never be subject to such nonsense. Head referee Danny Williams got together with his fellow officials and decided to eject three players from each team for fighting and one from each for leaving the bench. The two coaches, Palumbo’s Scott Pitzner and Kipp’s Keary Diaz both agreed along with the officials to stop the game at that point with KDB coming out the winner by the score of 16-0. The Lions' two scores both came by way of the run. Tiny Andre Kelly scored the first TD on a 5 yard scoot early in the second quarter. Brian Jones ran for the PAT and that was all the arithmetic for the first half. QB Domair Harris rushed 2 yards for a TD at the 6:06 mark of the third quarter. Kelly would add the PAT run and the scoring was done for the evening. Neither team showed much on offense as Palumbo would rush 16 times for just 21 yards and pass 2 for 6 for 25 yards. Charles Spencer caught both of Derrick Brown’s passes. Brown passed 2-6-1-25. KDB would rush 19 times for 56 yards and pass 3-5-0-45. Kyree Ruffin caught all three balls for the Lions. Haley Wilson led the Lions in tackles with 6-4. Trailing behind was Harris 5-3, Eric Boatwright 5-3-1 and Ta’Hir Boone-Branch 4-3-sack. Brian Jones had an interception for KDB. Sinaka was the front runner on the tackle board numbering 8-5-2/sack. Others included; Tyreese Clark 6-4, Spencer 5-3-1, Dontez Jolly 5-3 and Nigel McKnight 4-3. TFL’s were awarded to Deon Slocum and Ernest Holland.

OCT. 3
PUBLIC AAAA LIBERTY
Bartram 39, Mastbaum 0
  It doesn’t matter who you play when you turn the ball over 7 times and accumulate just 47 yards of offense . . . The end result obviously will not look too  pretty. That’s what transpired at the South Philly Super Site as the Braves of Bartram High School ran all over the Mastbaum Panthers. Midway through the first quarter a bad snap from center rolled past QB Derrick McLean and was recovered by Bartram’s Tyron Brown at the Panther 18. Two plays later Bartram QB Ernest Mulbah ran in the end zone for a 5 yard TD. It was soon 14-0 when Marquis Broxton recovered a muffed punt in the end zone and Mulbah completed the conversion pass to Ta-shawn Stringfield at the 11:47 mark of the second stanza. Following a nice punt return of 26 yards by Stringfield the Braves found themselves in Mastbaum territory at the 34 yard line. At 7:25 Makai Sheed [6-56- 2TD], scooted 12 yards for a TD. Less than three minutes later it was 27-0 when Answered Gleplay [ 6-56- TD] -- don’t you just love that name -- burst 23 yards for another score and also added the PAT kick. The shifty Sheed would close the first half scoring with a nifty 26 yard ramp to pay turf. The Braves final TD registered with 9:21 left on the third quarter timepiece when Mulbah connected with Gary Grissom-Johnson on a 16 yard TD strike. In addition to Broxton’s fumble recovery three others were recovered by Traekwon Young, Tyron Brown and Justin Freeman. Freeman also had an interception as did Sheed and Daniel Kpyou. The Braves biggest number was 172. That was the total number of return yards on just 5 touches. Stringfield led with 2-83 while Freeman returned his interception 67 yards. Hanson Teah led the tackle board with 8-6-4. He was joined by Freeman 8-5-2, Quenzel Members 6-4-2/sack and Tyron Brown 6-3-2. Other TFL’s came from Joel Gland, James Uyanna, Kadafi Yallah and Kpyou. The Panthers defense was paced by Kevin Langford 8-6, Armstrong Philippe 7-5, Dajoure Hallman 6-4-1 and Joe Jones 5-3-1. Marquis Ross and McLean made stops behind the line of scrimmage and Joshua Zayas recovered a fumble.

SEPT. 26
PUBLIC AA
Del-Val 48, Strawberry Mansion 0
  The Warriors garnered 6 TD’s for 36 points and 6 two-point conversions for 12 points. I guess you can say they had a perfect game. With athletes the caliber of Nasir Bonner and duel QB threats Shayne Smith and Andrew Thomas-Sumpter, nothing but perfection is expected from the Del Val Coaching staff. Bonner ran 7 times for 87 yards and 3 TD’s. Thomas- Sumpter passed 3-6-0-79-TD while Smith threw 4-5-1- 79- 2 TD’s. The receiving core consisted of Jeffrey Sampson 2-41-TD, Shaheed Brown 2-72-TD, Dwine Walls 2-36 and Kyeef Williams 1-9-TD. Walls ran for one 2 point conversion and caught two PAT’s. Bonner ran for one as did Smith and Davik Miller. Mansion could only muster 47 yards of total offense, but credit must be given to Jyquan Owens who gives 110 percent on every play for the undersized Knights. Owens takes a pounding almost every time he touches the ball. [This is the second time I have seen him play] and is relentless on defense. He led Mansion in tackles with 7-5-2/sack. Jonathan Hargrove numbered 5-4. Basil Wilson had a Knight interception. For the DV Elijah McCants, Jacquez Nuble and Amir Walker each had 6 tackles. Tavis Franks and Miller both had 5. Roger Reid, Tyler Perkins, Zamir Davis and Jeffrey Gourdine all recovered fumbles and Miller forced one.

SEPT. 26
NON-LEAGUE
Palumbo 14, Kensington 8 (3 OTs)
  The Griffins of Palumbo High School waited until late in the fourth quarter to light the scoreboard and had to also hang around a little longer before they recorded the first victory in school history. Trailing 8-0 with 4 minutes on the clock the home team needed a huge defensive pass break up from Paul Johnson. Johnson just tipped the ball as it was headed towards the hands of the Tigers William Thompson who would have easily scored for a 43 yard TD pass from Imere Lubin. The fourth down knockdown gave the Griffins the ball 57 yards from pay turf. After Charles Spencer ran for 15 yards on first down, QB Derek Brown was sacked on the next play. On second down from the Tigers 46, Brown threw a pass in the flat to Dontez Jolly who danced, zigged and zagged down the right sideline for a TD with 2:58 to play in regulation. Spencer then ran for the game tying conversion. The Tigers got the ball one final time for a few plays before time ran out sending the game into overtime. In the first OT the Tigers got the ball first and advanced to the 3 yard line after two downs. On third down Benjamin Sinaka stopped Lubin for no gain and on fourth down Jolly knocked down a pass. With the help of two penalties the Griffins moved the ball to the 2 yard line. On fourth down Sinaka was tackled by a host of Tigers at the one yard line. The second overtime was uneventful for both squads as they both ended their possessions outside of the 10 yard line. The third OT put the ball in the Tigers hands first. A five yard penalty and a rush of minus 5 yards forced them to pass. A completion of 12 yards from Lubin to Hakeem Thompson moved the pigskin to the 8, but another penalty and a combo sack by Sinaka and Tyreese Clark ended the threat. It was now time for jubilation. On first down Jolly went off tackle for the 10 yard game winning and historic TD. Kensington rushed for just 36 yards on 34 attempts but had some success passing the ball. Lubin lobbed 8-19-1-92. Luis Graciani caught three for 45 yards. Clark was phenomenal on defense with 10 tackles 7 solo and 5 behind the line of scrimmage including 3.5 sacks. Spencer aided with 8-5-1, Sinaka 6-4-2/sack, Johnson 6-4, and Jolly 5-4-2 pass def. Others with TFL’s were Tyree Singleton and Michael White. Jolly also had an interception. For Kensington Quadir Brown registered 7-5-1, Jacob Rodriquez and Carlos Guerrios each had 6-4-2-sack, Julius Santos 6-4-2 and Lorenzo Banks 5-3-1 were the headliners. Graciani had an interception.

SEPT. 25
PUBLIC AAAA LIBERTY
Fels 14 Southern 8
  Another tough loss for the men from South Philadelphia. After losing in the last minute a week ago against Central, the Rams looked like it was their turn for last minute heroics. The Panthers scored their final TD with 8:10 left in the fourth quarter on a 9 yard run by Wesley White. White also registered the Panthers other TD early in the first quarter on a 3 yard plunge. After White’s second score Southern’s Nicholas Coffie returned the kickoff 29 yards to the Rams 47. From there, the Rams did what they do best and that is run the football. Qazi Jones 29-120 and Martell Marshall 12-35, did most of the scooting and QB Kasshian Kay put the Rams in excellent position when he ran a bootleg for 11 yards down to the Panthers 4 yard line with just 3 minutes to play. On first down Jones gained 2 but on second and third down he could only make it back to the line of scrimmage. On fourth down Coach Frank “Roscoe” Natale’ decided to give Marshall a shot, but Marshall was met in the backfield by Dejohn Green who stopped him at the 3 with 58 seconds left. White ran 12 times for 113 and Panther QB Aasim Campbell passed 8-16-1-96. White caught two balls for 28 yards, Green two for 26, Christian Woods 3 for 28 and Devin Baker 1 for 14. Southern scored late in the third quarter when Coffie caught a 35 yard TD heave from Kay. Coffie also returned 4 balls for 78 yards and also had an interception for the Rams. Quentin Busch topped the tackle list for the Panthers with 13-8. Others lending a hand included Darrell Robinson 10-6-1, Green 8-5-1, Woods 7-5, Alvin Johnson 6-4 and David Smith 6-4-1. White had a sack while Woods and Busch both recovered fumbles. Walter Tweed made the most wraps for the Rams with numbers of 12-7-1. Coffie 9-5- forced fumble, Jones 7-5-2-sack, Khalil Griffin 7-5-1, Ace Walker 5-3, Justin Bell 5-3-1 and Samid Williams 5-4-2-fumble recovery pitched in. Rashaun Carter had a TFL. Christian DaSilva attempted a 55 yard field goal for the Panthers that fell way short of the goal post.

SEPT. 25
NON-LEAGUE
Bartram 43 Edison 0
  Maybe this is a new way to revamp a program. Never punt the football regardless of where the ball is. You see, Edison opted to play football in 2014 after the schedule was released and as a result they are playing a non-league schedule. It seems like head coach Joe Gifford wanted his team to practice offense. So despite fourth down and long from their own 20, 36, 14 and 17 yard line the Owls never punted the ball. As a result Bartram always had outstanding field position and would score almost immediately and Edison would get the ball back and again run their offense. The Braves led 35-0 at halftime with their first two scores coming on runs of 20 and 12 yards by Answered Gleplay. Gleplay only ran the ball one other time and finished 3-36. Makai Sheed was the game’s leading rusher with 6-84 including a 36 yard TD run. Sheed did not run the ball in the second half. Hanson Teah rushed for a 4 yard TD while two Braves TD’s came via the air. Gary Grissom grabbed a 14 yard toss from Ernest Mulbah and Justin Freeman snatched one for 21 yards from Mamahdi Barry. The Braves defense was way too strong for Edison allowing the Owls just 10 yards rushing and 36 yards passing. The Owls did however have 5 returns for 90 yards. Shymid Aquil-Baines returned two for 66 yards. Tahmir Banks caught one ball for 30 yards while Ernest Beidman one for 6. Banks was the Owls tackle leader with 7 and Nyssir Terrell chipped in with 5. Matthew Varella made a tackle for a loss. Quenzel Members paced the Bartram defense with 7-6-4-sack. George Quiyea and Blessing Kahn each had 6 tackles. Many others had TFL’s while Deshane Hylton recovered a fumble.

SEPT. 20
PUBLIC AAAA INDEPENDENCE
Ben Franklin 60, Olney 0
  Do you want me to be truthful? It was basically a glorified touch football game between men amongst boys which by no means belittles the effort by the Olney squad. Especially the defense, whose members competed their butts off. Too much smack talking for me by a team who keeps their first team QB in the game just to run up stats. Yes, the last TD was short 7-yard toss in the fourth quarter. That being said, if it’s the coach’s decision to leave star QB Kevin Caldwell in the game and he does what he is told, so be it. Caldwell is an outstanding QB and prolific passer who completed 15 passes in 23 tries for 313 yards and 5 TD’s. Javier Buffalo caught 5 for 163 and 2 TD’s. Ed Dennis snatched 4-34-TD, Rasheem James 2-49-TD, Rafael Rodriquez 2-41-TD and Jymere Toney 2-26. Caldwell also ran for a TD as did Chad Grinnage and Rodriquez. James returned a punt for another TD. Olney’s Kadir Chisholm tossed 6-15-59. Sultan Johns caught three balls for 41 yards. Erik Andrews returned 4 for 52. Chisholm led the Trojans in tackles with 6. Kevin Prosper and Johns both had 5. Prosper had a sack. TFL’s went to Kevin Cato and Justin Williams. The Electrons defensive leader was Keyon McLoud-Holman 8-5-sack-ff, Dennis 7-5-2 sacks, Brian Harvey 6-4 and Nyfeece Ewell 5-3-fumble recovery. Daysean Poulson also recovered a fumble. Other TFL’s went to Dayshaun Williams-sack, Taj Clea 2, Jeremiah Steiniger, Hamir Brown and Dimair Jones-sack.

SEPT. 20
PUBLIC AA
Kipp DuBois 20 Strawberry Mansion 12 
  Two new football programs, lots of sloppy play but good theater at the end. With Kipp leading 12-0 as a result of a 51 yard TD pass from Domair Harris to Kyree Ruffin and a 7 yard run by Andre Kelly, the Mansion squad looked like they were ready to go out to the parking lot and join the rest of the very proud SM contingent who did an excellent job of making this an historic day in Strawberry Mansion History by celebrating the school’s first official Public League Division game in the institution’s 50 years of existence. That all changed with just 1:22 to go in the contest when the Knights Marvin Dozier blocked a punt then scooped it up and ran 45 yards to the end zone. After an unsuccessful on sides kick and no time outs remaining for the Knights the contest seemed over. With the ball at the Mansion 45 Kipp Head Coach Kerry Dias called timeout with 1:19 left to bring in his subs. Especially little # 23 Brian Jones who he wanted to give the ball to for just one rushing attempt. The Lions sideline cheered loudly when Jones ran 4 yards to the 41. Coach Dias then told Harris, his QB, to take a knee. The officials told Mansion to back off since the Lions were not going to roar any more. Among some confusion Harris instead handed the ball to Jones who ran 41 yards for a TD with 33 seconds left. The SM sideline was not too happy and understandably so. Mansion got the ball back and incredibly completed a 76 yard TD pass from Dozier to Basil Wilson with just 2 seconds left. The miracles of all miracles would now have to transpire for the Knights to tie the game. They would have to recover the kickoff and then return it to the end zone. Needless to say that didn’t happen since the Lions Zhymir Ball recovered the kick as the SM players were fighting to steal the ball. Naturally upset as a result of the no-kneel TD some Mansion players got involved with some pushing and shoving and maybe a few swings with their opponent as the clock showed 0:00. Quick reaction by the Philadelphia Police Department stopped all the nonsense and the two teams finally agreed to shake hands at the end. Mansion's offense officially rushed 29 times for just 11 yards. Their leading runner was Anthony Sloan 3-19. Kipp’s offense rushed 30-100 with the leader being, Brian Jones on the squads last two carries totaling 45 yards. That my friends has to be a first. On a team’s last two touches of the game by the same runner who ends up as the game leader. Harris threw 4-8-99-TD. Ruffin caught 3 for 97. Daiyann Waller led in tackles with 8-5-2 TFL. Other headliners included; Eric Boatwright 7-5-2-sack- Fumble Rec., Ruffin 7-5-2 sacks, and Haley Wilson 5-3-1. Romaine Palmer also had a TFL. Blaine Pearson and Sequya Roper also recovered fumbles. Boatwright had a forced fumble too. Mansion leaders on defense included; Jacquan Owens 10-7-4-sack-fumble recovery, Josh Hunter 7-5-2, Jonathan Hargrove 6-4- fumble recovery, Niyair McKnight 6-4 and Rasheed Schenk 6-4-1. Other TFL’s were notched by Wilson and Dozier. Will White and McKnight had interceptions for the Knights.

SEPT. 19
PUBLIC AAA LIBERTY
Central 30 Southern 29
  It was the Lancers' Tymair Bennett show. Bennett ran 15 times for 232 yards and three TD’s. His last one with 1:37 left in the game was the back breaker for the Rams when he went straight up the middle for an 88 yard pay turf TD. Bennett also had a 67 yard burst to the end zone early in the third quarter and also notched a short 3 yard plunge just before halftime that closed Southern’s lead to 15-12. Following Bennett’s early third period score that which gave Central their first lead, QB Jerimiah Wilson increased the advantage to 24-15 on a 2 yard sneak. The Rams answered with back to back scores on short runs by Qazi Jones of 5 and 2 yards and a 2 point conversion run by Justin Bell which put the South Philly men on top 29-24. It seemed that the last score by the Rams would seal the deal, especially after they recovered a fumble with 4:28 left in the game in great field position at the Lancer 28. However a huge unsportsmanlike penalty brought the ball back to the 42 and forced the Rams to punt with 2:16 remaining. Thirty nine seconds later Bennett did his thing to close the scoring. With 1:22 left on the clock the Rams QB Kahssian Kay saw his last pass intercepted at the Central 38 by Soosung Whang and returned 22 yards to the South Philly 40 yard line. One more play from scrimmage and then one kneel down concluded the contest. For Southern Jones ran 30 times for 143-2 TDS. Kay also broke the century mark with 7-101-TD. Kay also threw a 30 yard TD pass to Nicholas Coffie. Penalties hurt the Rams significantly, with numbers of 13-112. Colin Washington scored Central first TD on a 6 yard tote. Bennett also blocked a punt that set up Wilson’s TD. Blake Schwartz led the Lancer tackle board with 9-6-3 TFL. Trailing were, Whang 7-4, Omar Jamaladdin 6-4, Jones Mensah 6-4-sack and Na’eem Allen-Stills with 6-4-2-sack. Samid Williams paced the Rams defense with 11-7-3-sack. Helping Williams were; Jones 7-5, Martell Marshall 6-4-1, Bell 6-3-forced fumble, Torrance Moore 5-3-fumble recovery, Sekwon White 5-4 and Walter Tweed 5-3-1.

SEPT. 5
NON-LEAGUE
Glen Mills 20 Southern 6
  The Bulls of Glen Mills came parading into the South Philly Super Site with a 75-man roster. After getting the starting lineup from one of the Glen Mills assistants I noticed that not one player went both ways. The Delco squad jump out to a quick 6-0 lead on a 37 yard TD run by Jaquel Rhodes who carried 24 times for 111 yards. Southern would knot the score at the 7:26 mark of the second quarter, when QB Kahssian Kay connected with Sekwon White on a 34 yard TD strike. Both teams failed on their PAT’s as the scoreboard read 6-6. The Bulls came right back with a TD pass of their own when Anthony Johnson, who was covered like a blanket by Nicholas Coffie made a spectacular one handed pull in catch near the 2 yard line then stumbled in the end zone with the ball, tossed by QB Jose’ Santiago-Curet. Glen Mills ran for the PAT and led 14-6 going into the locker room. A blocked punt by the Bulls late in the third quarter gave them great field positon at the Rams 18. On third down Anthony Johnson caught a 16 yard TD again from Santiago-Curet. Southern caught a break when a GM snap on a punt went over the head of the kicker giving the Rams excellent field position at the Glen Mills 23. Justin Bell would run twice and Qazi Jones once getting the pigskin to the GM 10. However that was as far as the Rams would advance after a sack and a few runs of zero or negative yards. On fourth down Kay scrambled for his life but came up 3 yards short of a first down with just under 5 minutes of play. Glen Mills then ran out the clock to record their first victory of the season. The Rams had a tough day running the ball against the Big Bad Bulls calculating 81 yards on 36 tramps. The leader was Jones with 14-40. Kay passed 2-4-47-TD. Unknown senior Nasir Bailey, who I was told was playing for the first time, was lightening quick on the defensive line for Southern making 10 tackles, 7 solo and a TFL. Walter Tweed numbered 8-5-2 sacks, Samid Williams notched 7-6-4. I still can’t figure out how the 5’6’’ Jr. DB ended up in the GM backfield so many times. Also helping on defense was Terrance Summers 5-3-2 sacks. Justin Bell also recorded a sack.
  NOTE: Did you know that Southern kicker Moed Gerveni is from Albania. I wonder if any other city player came from there ?

SEPT. 4
NON-LEAGUE
Lincoln 20, Dobbins 7
  Dobbins' Divine Epps rushed 23 times for 162 yards and a TD but was only able enter the end zone one time in the Mustangs' defeat. Thirteen penalties totaling 104 yards really hindered any Dobbins chance of a victory. Lincoln scored first early in the second quarter on a Hosea McClam 33-yard pass to Aaron Johnson. McClam was the man, passing 7-12-100 and rushing 24-62. He had an impact on 36 of the Railsplitters 50 offensive plays. The Mustangs took a 7-6 lead when Epps ran 16 yards to pay dirt and after Andre Witherspoon kicked the PAT Dobbins was on top with 6:25 to go before halftime. It didn’t take the ‘Splitters too long to take the lead for good after a nice kick return by Barry White following the Mustangs' score. Twenty three yards of penalties and the rushing and passing by McClam capped a short drive as the savvy junior sneaked in from the three for a 12-7 lead at intermission. The start of the second half had the Mustangs receiving the kickoff. Once again, penalties totaling 26 yards after Epps tried to help running two times for 16 yards and a first down forced Dobbins to punt. The Railsplitters basically put the nail in the coffin driving 70 yards on 17 plays as Barry White 10-57, ran for a 5 yard TD. Nassir Coleman caught the conversion pass from McClam ending the afternoon’s scoring. The Mustangs, who recovered two fumbles in the fourth quarter, appeared to score a late TD when Brandon Smith connected with Wonsale Dahkwe for what would have been a 30 yard scoring strike, but again the play was negated as a result of a penalty. The defensive star of the game was Lincoln Jr free safety Isaiah Thomas who registered 13 tackles with 10 being of the solo variety. Helping Thomas out was Gianno Longo 10-6, Justin Griffin 8-5-2.5 sacks, Theodore Tootle 7-6-2 sacks and Allston Augustin 5-3-TFL. Other TFL’s were recorded by Tim Moore and Chris Dominique. Davone Glover paced the Mustangs defense numbering 8-6-2. Others putting up respectable numbers included Shymeir Brown 7-5-1, Epps 7-5, Marcus Wright 6-5-2, Diamir Copes 5-3, Eshwan Anderson 5-3 and Joseph Butler 4-3-1. Recovering fumbles for Dobbins were, Glover, Brown and Duan Byers.

AUG. 30
NON-LEAGUE
Delco Christian 18, Future 16
  Let’s call it the “Early and Easy Eighteen” for the Delco Christian Knights. The Boys from the Burbs scored their first TD with 2:14 left in the first quarter. After recovering a fumble they scored again at the 1:28 mark and then scored with 11:07 left in the second quarter for an 18-0 lead. If my math is correct that 3 TD’s in 3 minutes and 7 seconds. Future would get on the board when Chris Bangura capped an 81 yard 8 play scoring drive with a 9 yard TD run. Tysheem Anderson ran for the conversion which completed the first half scoring showing the Knights ahead 18-8. Bangura rushed 18-109-TD. The Firebirds who would recover 4 fumbles but could only capitalize on one which ended on a 13 yard TD scamper by, I love this name, Supreme Kemp. Anderson again ran for the PAT cutting the deficit to two with 9:06 showing on the 4th quarter board. The ‘Birds would recover two fumbles inside DC’s territory under the 5 minute mark, but could only advance the pigskin no farther than their opponents 41. Future QB Jalil Neal-Savage passed 4-7-44. Bangura caught one ball for 9 yards and Markel McCoy one for 35. Kemp ran 15-43. Tackles leaders included; Tymir Scott with 8, followed by Bangura with 7, Shawn Upson and Tyhir Mines with 6 and Kemp with 5. TFL’s went to Robert Nobles and Shyfiq Brooks. Nobles, Kahled Wright Jr. and a # 61 recovered fumbles for the Firebirds.

AUG. 29
NON-LEAGUE
West Philadelphia 19, Harriton 14
  Those darn Suburban Officials. Shame on them. Why? They tried to throw me out of the facility. First off the sideline, then to the end zone and finally out of the stadium. Where did I end up? On the sideline of course, but stood behind, well almost behind, the designated line where the players must stand. I was doing my usual thing, which of course is following the football when I was told to move from the painted white area. I said don’t worry, I’ll be fine and then I threw in that at times in Philadelphia the officials often defer to Ted’s people (sorry Ace) when they are unsure where a ball was spotted a few plays earlier or where was the original line of scrimmage. Wouldn’t you know it, on Saturday I was asked by the Referee where was the ball spotted prior to a certain penalty being called.  Anyway those questions are easy to answer when you go to the Silary School of Football Charting. The reason they said I had to move was; let me try and put this in the exact words of the gentleman holding one of the chains. Out in the burbs they use officials to hold them. He said to me; “You guys are all alike, you stand on the sideline hoping to get knocked over so that you can sue the officials!" WHAT???!!! Oh yeah, I sure as hell would like to have a 300-pound lineman run me over. Are you kidding me? Anyway, they did throw a flag as a sideline warning against West Philly because of me. Sorry fellas, but the staff of the Speedboys knew I was only trying to do my job. Well, the officials didn’t do theirs. They tried to give the game to the home team. There were two real late flags against West, one after a TD and one after a long run from scrimmage. They also awarded on onside kick that was clearly recovered by West Philly to hometown Rams. As for the game, how about if I told you that Harriton QB Patrick Stewart completed all of his 10 first quarter passes for 83 yards. He completed his first pass in the second quarter before misfiring on his 12th attempt. He finished the first half 16 of 24 for 162 yards but when the half ended West Philly was leading 7-0. The only TD was a 13 yard run by Tarell McLeod with 3 minutes left on the second quarter clock. Zion Vaughn booted the PAT. McLeod finished the evening running 14 times for 175 yards and 2 TD’s. Justin Hamilton ran 13-82. The Rams took a 14 -13 lead with 8:03 remaining in the contest, but a 56 yard TD strike from Lavelle Harper to Devante Larsen with just 1:15 on the clock gave the Speedboys the final margin of victory. After returning the kickoff to their own 37 the Rams would close out the game with 3 incomplete passes and on fourth down Mustafa Owens sacked Stewart for an 11 yard loss. The Speedboys took a knee for one play before the clock showed 0:00. Stewart finished 24-38-225. Douglas Chapell 10-7, Owens 7-5-2TFL-sack, Devante Stuckey 7-5-sack, Donte Lewin 6-4 and Jarvis Cooper 6-3 paced West Philly’s defense. Amir McNair forced a fumble that was recovered by Rahkeen Rowe.

AUG. 29
NON-LEAGUE
Boys' Latin 44 Palumbo 0
  Boys' Latin’s Damere Gilbert was the game's early star as he rushed for a 6 yard TD at the 10:55 mark of the first quarter, caught a 23 yard scoring pass from Troy Hester early in the second stanza and then scampered 67 yards midway through the quarter. Michael Hammock grabbed 2 PAT passes from Hester after two of those scores, giving the Warriors a quick 22-0 lead. Hammock would end the first half scoring when he snared a Hester heave for a 9 Yard TD. Latin headed to the locker room with a 28-0 advantage. Tony Henderson increased the lead to 34-0 on a 30 yard burst to payturf and Tyler Cooper closed out the morning scoring catching and 8 yard TD pass from Keith Brown. Gilbert ended his day with just 4 rushing attempts but accumulated 110 yards. Hester passed 5-7-86. The Warriors had no problem moving the ball against the Griffins, who were making their football debut. BL rushed 30 times for 339 yards for an 11.3 average yards per carry. Hester ran 9-75, Henderson 6-42 and David Williams 5-26. (I was told he's the brother of former West Catholic/Imhotep star David Williams. Yes, the sophomore has the same first name as his brother.) Da’Rae Ross ran 3-68 while Rasheed Wilson posted 2-18. Hammock caught 4 passes for 63 yards. Jibreel Hughes was the leading tackler with 7 and a TFL. Devon Jones notched 6 and 2 TFL’s. Brown, Javon Rice and Hammock all had 5. Rice had a sack as did Marquise Johnson while Brown also had a TFL as did Corey Little. Devin Jones had an interception. The Griffins leading ground gainer was Tyreese Clark 15-37. Ian Barrett rushed 5-32. Paul Johnson caught 2 passes from Dontez Jolly for 36 yards. They were Jolly’s only two completions in 9 attempts. The defensive leaders included; Johnson 7-5-2, Jarod Hughes 7-5-1, Tahir Cruse 6-4-1, Tavion Mack 5-3, Clark 5-3-1, while Nigel McKnight had a TFL.