Amauro's Corner Football 2006 Return to TedSilary.com Home Page     Amauro "Amar" Austin is a headliner among our trusty observers. He is not to be confused with Ruben Amaro, the Phillies' assistant general manager. Like "Huck" Palmer, Amauro is a West Catholic graduate. He will make reports on games he sees.     You may e-mail him at Thurlbough@hotmail.com.

NOV. 23
THANKSGIVING RIVALRY
Overbrook 20, West 7
    Sorry folks, don't have my stats in front of me right now so this report will be of the short variety, but probably really don't need them as this game is always quite a war where the records go straight out of the window and this game was the same. The Panthers controlled their 3rd straight win over the Speedboys pretty much throughout, but it sure was not easy and they'll attest to that. 'Brook's three scores came by way of a 1-yard TD run by jr. RB Darius Johnson, a 14-yard INT return by sr. S Courtney Monroe & an 87-yard kickoff return by so. WR John Melvin to begin the second half. Otherwise, this one was pretty much even. Of course the atmosphere was great with a very spirited West Philly crowd. Special shots go to Overbrook sr. G-DT Charles Owens (6-1 255) for his hard work and dedication. He played majority of the year with a badly fractured wrist that needed a cast and never complained, always lead actually with his example. There's indeed a place for him at someone's college -- LINCOLN ALERT!.. West has a true player in so. WR-DB Dominic Peterson (6-1 185). This kid has stud potential on both sides of the ball. He's indeed one of the League's better sophs. Don't fret for the Speedboys as their best has yet to come. Most of their key personnel consists of sophs and jrs which means that much fun should be experienced over the next few years...
AA's Notes: Well the conditions here were probably the cause of the cold that I'm now battling, but I would not miss it for the world. There is no Turkey Day without football as far as I'm concerned... You had to love the teasing that Overbrook Basketball assistant Fred Stokes got from his West alumni. They called him every kind of traitor in the book (smile)... I know there have been some issues at the 'Brook as of late, but you can't convince me that the "Castle on the Hill" is still a school of greatness. They had one of the best bands/dance teams that you'll ever see at half time. I'd like to see that band during basketball season. They were that awesome... The Brook-West Hoops game is on Dec. 14, why so early?.. Finally, this might have been good-bye for Speedboy boss John Lay as he's retiring at the end of the year. We all hope that you fin peace in retirement coach...

NOV. 18
PUBLIC LEAGUE FINAL
Frankford 15, Washington 14
    Just some notes from this exciting title tilt... Boy does FKD know how to win the big ones, at least against their Public League peers. They do it in style too as last year they won three VERY close playoff games with the final being a 1-pointer over the favored Vikings of Northeast and again this year they did it once more as with :39 seconds remaining "Mr. Versatility" Ervin Goodson nailed an 18-yard field goal (probably the shortest FG that you could possibly kick) to give the Pioneers their first lead of the game for the win... This is a unique Frankford group. I've been watching the Pioneers for about 10 years now myself and by no means is this their most talented bunch or their fastest, strongest, ect. However, there is a VERY good camaraderie with this bunch. It seems that just about every piece is in working order and that the players off the bench are ready in more than a pinch to come in and make a difference... The Eagles were indeed game as I expected them to be. There was no doubt that this wouldn't be just like the last match up that the Pioneers dominated. In fact, the Eagles took it too them from the start with the hard run of sr. scat-backs Jay "He sure ain't" Sloh & Fateen Brown with early TDs. Good job young men and good luck in the future... As most of these games go, there's always much suspense saved for the 4th quarter and that was an understatement here, It was TO, TO, TO. No not that TO, but the turnover. Both teams seemed to lose control of the ball when things got tight. Again it was another great Pub Title game, the 7th in a row that I've covered at Charlie Martin. Special shout outs to the FKD small LB-core -- Spence, Lewis & Burnett. They held it down here. Also to the unsung Pioneer sr. special teams gunner/ LB/DE Steven Ortega. He's gotten it done all year long and should get college looks at the D-II level. Every FB team needs a guy like him. He's said to be the fastest kid on the team and he's more than willing to sacrifice his body. Lincoln University in Oxford, PA is going into their first year in some time having FB and will be going into the CIAA (D-II) next year. When I get a hold of who their coach will be Ortega's name will be at the top of the list that I give them... GW, on the other hand, owns 2 rather large Freshman DTs in Sharif "Shaq" Floyd (6-4 275) & Lawrence Williams (6-1 265). They've already shown much promise as regulars in the DT rotation and I'll be looking for even more from them as time goes on... Good luck FKD against Liberty/Easton on Dec. 2...

NOV. 17
DISTRICT 1/12 SUB-REGIONAL SEMIFINAL
Garnet Valley 26, Bok Tech 8
    Some Notes from last night's big game... First off I'd like to congratulate Bok on the a great season. Not as much was expected from this crew, but they stood tall in the end and have continued the tradition as the now three-time District XII AAA Champion... They only returned 4 or 5 regulars from last season and still had a great year. Sr. S Maurice "Rookie" Goodwin deserves All-State consideration for his play in the secondary and jr. RB Luke Lassiter could really explode next year as could LARGE jr. OT Ryan Murray (6-6 320). Lassiter could indeed become a part of one of the city's elite clubs, the 3,000-yard rushers... As for the game, a few bounces here, a few bounces there and the score could have easily been Bok 26, GV 8. The Wildcats squandered a few opportunities to put the Garnets away early as they indeed controlled the entire 1st half and had a 8-6 halftime advantage that could have easily been 16-6. GV took advantage of the Wildcat mistakes thereafter. Their final 3 scores came on the heels of Wildcat turnovers...  This wasn't a bad loss at all as GV is an excellent team who does a great job in the execution department. Its great to now see our schools be competitive with these outsiders. A win is indeed forthcoming. I can taste it... Next year, the Pub's AAA Division will be even more competitive as Imhotep will be much improved as will Franklin, both Junior laden teams as is Bok. As enrollment becomes evaluated again next Fall, the Pub will probably unveil a 2A Division along with a 3A. 2A will probably look like this: Imhotep, Freire, Prep Charter, Fitzsimons & Comm. Tech. While 3A would then be: Bok, Franklin, Penn, Furness, West, Roxborough & Dobbins. West, Roxborough and Dobbins are actually 3A schools right now, but all play up to 4A for some strange reason? This alignment would make 3A much more competitive even if say a school like Dobbins stays up with the big boys. It should be interesting in the next few years as the Pub continues to change its face. Stay tuned... Finally, students, faculty and staff, Where are you hiding? Just before the game began there were 37 people in the Bok stands. That number swelled to just over 100 by halftime. Your kids are all doing great things so why not support them. Maybe that's the difference in winning one of these things, you the 12th man. That's the one thing that I hate about today's Pub, nobody cares. When I was coming up, everybody came out and there were no questions, its just what you did because it seemed like the right thing to do. Please folks support your friends, sons/daughters & students. Its the only way we can get to the next level...

NOV. 11
PUBLIC LEAGUE SEMIFINAL
Frankford 32, Dobbins 6
    This was simply put another strong performance by the Pioneers, quite possibly their strongest to date. Why you ask? A - Dobbins was an emerging team coming in as they finally got the hang of Coach Lou Zambino's VERY fun, yet intricate offense so you could throw their 4-5 record coming in out the window. B - The Pioneers did it without their two leading rushers: seniors Calvin Spires (shoulder) & Nate Johnson (ankle). That was close to 1400 yards lost. C - Well it was only their biggest game to date this season. Yes, the more things change, the more they stay the same and the Pioneers are now poised to repeat a Public League/District XII Champs with the very formidable Eagles of George Washington standing in front of them this coming Saturday, Dec. 18 at 2pm. The Pioneers did it today through the air and that was mostly without sr. standout J.C. Montgomery who was held catch-less (did make some nice blocks). Three first half TD passes set the tone for the Pioneers by sr. QB Andreas "Dre" Hudson (6-for-11, 147) and gave FKD a comfortable halftime lead at 19-0. The recipient of two of them was jr. handyman Brian Westbrook -- I mean Ervin Goodson. (Smile!) "Erv's" name indeed says it all because he sure does have the goods and he wears Westbrook's digits. Hence the comparison. Today the speedy back went for 4 catches for 104 yards with scoring grabs of 42 & 43. His other 2 catches were for first downs as were two of his five rushes. #36 is quickly becoming a Pioneer headliner and should prove very valuable again during this stretch run. The other TD catch was a 29-yarder by sr. end Warren Tinsley. Tough-as-nails jr. RB-LB Chris Spence ran 15 times for 87 yards. He also again led the D with numerous (10 total) punishing stops and two INTs (the latter was returned 44 yards for the game's final score). The Pioneer in total made 5 picks (4 after halftime). The other 3 were by sr. DB Eugene Thomas, so. CB Khalif Walker & jr. DB Markel Jefferson. Srs DT Tyree Dudley (9T, 2Ls, .5S for -14) & DE Brandon Allen (6T, 2L, 1.5S for -23). FAST Sr. LB Steven Ortega (6T, 1L -4, 1S -3) caused his usual havoc at LB and then on special teams. Dobbins turly only made one big play and that was an in stride 34-yard TD toss from sr. QB Wesley Brown to sr. WR Darrell "Butta" Brown late in the 3rd quarter which kind of caused some Pioneer concern especially since the Pioneers went 4-and-out on their next series giving the Mustangs very good field position. After 3 straight incompletes, on forth "Butta" went back in Punt formation and passed to sr. RB Chris Roberson for 9-yards. Ah, but for a first down you need 10 and well Dobbins was shut down pretty much thereafter. The Mustang D was led by sr. DB Terron Martin (11 tackles). sr. DE Randall Wilson (6-4 250) put forth a fine going out performance as well.
AA's Notes: Boy what if all the Pub athletes that lived in Frankford went to Frankford? I mean that would be guys like Northeast's Sean Evans and Lincoln's Corey Burrell (two bona fide D-I types IMO) would then be Pioneers and just for good measure let's add North Catholic mega star Darryl Robinson and his trusty sidekick Terrell Oglesby (who attended FKD as a freshman). Add these 4 guys to an already formidable line-up and would these guys be playing deep into December. Wouldn't you like to be the QB with 4 receivers like Montgomery, Evans, Burrell & Robinson? Would that even be fair?.. I hope C. Spence is feeling better after taking a shot to the jewels. He was walking like someone extremely bow-legged and grimacing in pain. I bet he won't not wear a cup again (smile)... Stayed around and watched the nightcap between North and Judge. Folks, now that was a Football game!, from every possible standpoint. There was excitement, suspense, speed, power, bad blood, passion, atmosphere & not to mention a crowd that probably filled close to 90% of Charlie Martin Memorial Stadium. I hope & pray that one day a Pub game looks like that again and its going to take YOU, yes you to make that happen. There's nothing like going somewhere and being able to talk about it for the rest of the month. That's the kind if game North/Judge was. It took the entire school community's from both places to make that happen -- students, parents, family, supporters, staff, alumni, ect...

NOV. 10
NON LEAGUE
Bartram 8, Franklin 0
    Phew! This was better. It wasn't great, but it was much easier on the eyes than yesterday's debacle. Actually things were pretty much status quo until this happened: The 4th quarter began with both teams still sitting on a donut, but the Braves were driving deep (14-yard line to be exact) into Electron territory. The first play of the quarter jr. SB Mike Alexander was dropped for a loss of one yard by jr. DB Versean Dawkins. Meanwhile a Franklin player went down. Jr. LB Calvin Johnson had apparently been blocked in the back and went down screaming in agony. He did so for about 18-minutes until an ambulance had arrived to take him to the hospital. I hope and pray that he's ok. He said that he felt a tingling sensation in his spinal area. The play looked to be clean when he was blocked as the officials never blew the whistle. They were very slow blowing plays dead all game long so luckily there weren't more injuries. Two plays plus a penalty later, the Braves scored on a 24-yard rope from sr. QB Kris Brownlee to sr. WR Shanon Wilson (2/50), their 9th hook-up of the season. The Electrons drove hard on their next possession, making three first downs and reaching all the way to the Brave 5 before a penalty then surrendering on the 13. From there, the Braves ran out the clock (still don't get that -- clock was kept on the field and it was a speed clock to say the least). The Braves got a solid career ending performance from sr. RB John "Fudgie" Pratt (16-83). He's been game playing the entire second half of the season hurt. Sr. two-way tackle Maurice Jessup (6-3 300) also played well on the lines. Sr. DE Donte Harmon was again a beast and often times looked to be held. He really became a force this year and should be looking to continue his FB career be a JC or a 4-year school. Oh and can't forget tiny so. LB Sayon "Boots" Gbain (5-5 145). He was throwing his body into ball carriers like a rocket creating a loud smack. The Electron offense gets an incomplete for this game mostly because they weren't on the field much and that's mostly due to the officials desire to get home or wherever they had to go so I won't hold it against them. Sr. WR Harold Scott did catch 4/49. Jr. DB Tajidin McGough caught his 7th pick of the season. Doesn't Franklin always have some nice DBs? I also liked the game long energy that sr. DE Steven Brantley played with. He made it look as if this were his last game. Gotta love that! Great job young man.
AA's Notes: Grades went in for Public schools in the city last week and my grade for the officials this FB season is a C- (Today's crew gets an F -- especially the referee and the two line judges). If the Pub is ever going to make it to the prime time, the officials have to sharpen up their act as well. They must start enforcing the delay of games, blowing their whistles on time and stop cheating on time just to name a few things. I see all these coaches around the league working harder and getting better and these guys are still stuck in the old days. That's not directed at everyone because there are some very good ones, but for every very good one there's well you know what I'm getting at... Funny of the day went to the Bartram coaches after the young (looked all of 16-years old in face and body) looking referee (white hat) made a questionable call. One assistant yelled, "Is he even old enough to drink?" Another chimed in with, "Or Vote?"   

NOV. 9
NON LEAGUE
Roxborough 7, Imhotep 0
    Folks remember last Thursday when I shouted out how much I love covering these types of games as the teams more often than not let loose and have fun playing FB. Well here is the flip-side of that. Today was the not than more often if you get my drift. This one was indeed a '69 Pinto aka a clunker. These two teams are basically shells of the teams that I've covered in previous weeks and many of both teams players almost looked as if they didn't even know the meaning of the word Football let alone playing in their 11th game of the season. It was absolutely amazing. Not being sarcastic, but this tape could easily have be sent to one of those blooper shows. Let's take a look inside the numbers. The two teams leading rushers were: Rox - sr. RB Ramon Odom (25-55, just over 2-yards per carry) & IC - jr. SB Gerald Bowman (20-37, just under 2-yards per carry). The largest Panther jr. QB Julius Legg (listed 6-4 1/2 274) went for possibly a city record, 0-for-17! He was indeed victimized by what I count as 8 drops, but in truth wasn't very good today. I won't hold that against him as he is a junior with much FB ahead of him. Odom had yet another return for a score, a 14-yard INT return in the 1st quarter which was the game's lone score. Sr. DB Bruce Ford, jr. also made a pick, but he also dropped 3 others. Phew! There is more. Both teams alternated losing fumbles in the first :45 of the game. Ah and the cake-taker, IC had its chance to tie the game late in the 1st half. Legg has just finished an 0-for-4 drive and the ball rested at midfield with the Indians taking over. Indian QB jr. Stephen Tucker threw a backwards hitch towards the Imhotep sideline. No one picked it up for about 15-seconds. Then finally Panther sr. DB Jamaal Stone picked it up and attempted to toss the ball to the line judge as if the play was over. The line judge didn't bite and the ball went out of bounds at the Indian 37. Folks the whistles never blew meaning that the ball was live and well it should have been. There was no one around Stone for at least 10-yards. He could have walked into the end zone. The Panthers had to settle for taking over on downs where they went 4-and-out once again. Believe me, I could go on with more nuttiness, but I'll pass. Pause... You just had to be there.
AA's Notes: One thing that is for sire is that those Evans twins are for real. They made several hard stops apiece and surely made their presence felt amidst all the other crazy things that were going on... A great gesture was made before the game by head official Tom McClain to sr. RB Calden Pierce (out again with ankle woes). "Tommy Mac" informed Mr. Pierce that he would be the recipient of the League's Sportsmanship Award. It is indeed well deserved as Pierce is a fine young man with one hell of a story. He just seems like one of those kids that has the worst behind him and only success in front. One that is destined to make it... Finally, the funny of the day goes to two Indian Lineman, two very large ones I might add. When sr. OT Anthony Jackson (6-0 320) went down with what looked like cramps, he rose and came to the sideline on his own will. First head coach Mike Stanley chimed in with, "I'm glad you got up 'cause I wasn't coming out there for you." Then even larger lineman sr. NG Nafis Briggs (6-2 350) added, "Yeah, I wasn't coming out either. They would have had to roll you over here."

NOV. 4
PUBLIC LEAGUE QUARTERFINAL
Washington 43, Bartram 0
    WOW! That's the best word I can come up with after this one. I truly believed that the Braves were game for the challenge and so did many others probably including G-Dub. That probably was everyone except who mattered the most, the Braves themselves. Oh well, this is one of those things that sometimes happens in playoff action as the true players are separated from the pretenders. The Eagles looked as sharp as they have all season long and at the best possible time. Much of that credit should go to jr. QB Clinton "Juice" Granger (6-for-9, 105 & a TD -- also a 5-yard rushing TD) who was mostly inconsistent (probably admittedly) this year. He looked very sharp and never got rattled as he has seem to have gotten in the past. Hopefully, this will be his stepping stone as there is much to like about his arm strength and his 6-2 235-lb frame. Props also must go to the Eagle lines which flat out dominated this game making life rather easy for Granger and his pals. The Eagles D-line never let the Brave skill guys play and that was the best game plan you could possibly have against a quick/athletic team like them. Sr. RB Fateen Brown (16-76, TD), one of the tougher runners that you'll find, set the tone with a 10-yard TD run. I love the fact that he's sacrificed his game this season for the good of the team while still putting up decent numbers (120-705, 9 TDs). At most other places, he'd be touching the ball much more than he did this year, but the Eagles have so many other good skill guys that it isn't really necessary for him to do so here. Sr. SB Brian Carter was his versatile self rushing for 42 yards and a score while also catching 4 balls for 57 yards and another score. Also key in the last few weeks has been the reemergence of jr. TE Damien Wilmer (3/95), who looked like he was well on his way to stardom after last season. It didn't happen right away for him this year, but things are finally picking up. The top Eagle defenders were sr. LB Jeff "Milky" Jones (6-2 240), sr. LB Aaron Hampton & jr. CB Devon Wallace all in on 7 tackles. Jones had 2 TFLs while Wallace also had 2 along with another sack. Reserve sr. LB Tyreek Hatton had a late game 62-yard INT return. The Braves were totally out of sync from the beginning. A large part of the credit goes to the Eagles, but again they are the blame themselves for a large chunk as well. The only offensive player that made plays/looked comfortable was sr. RB John "Fudgie" Pratt (13-84, 1/13). He was the culprit on all, but one of Bartram's first downs (the 4th was the result of a penalty). On D, the main man was DE Dant'e Harmon (6-3 220). The big man was flat out ballin' with a game high 12 tackles (10 solo, 1 for a loss). DBs sr. Eric Mason (7 stops, TFL, a pick) & jr. Mike Alexander (2 fumble recoveries) also made nice showings.
AA's Notes: I gotta' give more props to Harmon who was juiced all game long. At one point in the first half he yelled to the coaches when the offense was on the field, "Let Boobie spin." In layman's terms, I guess that meant let him got in at Tight end because he could block somebody -- smile... One things that the first weekend of the playoffs and even something that I saw as the season wound down is that the middle echelon of the Pub needs to pick up some tricks from the upper echelon by playing a tougher early season schedule. Who cares if you lose? It'll be much better for the long haul. Bok, as prepared as they are could have used an early season contest under the lights at an Academy Park or an Upper Merion as could Olney (who had two bye weeks), Bartram and Central have... The EAGLES have finally come full circle. They played no non-sense FB here and were clicking on all cylinders. It should be a fun home stretch now that it looks like somebody could challenge the Pioneers who thoroughly beat both GW (28-13) and NE (20-0) earlier this season... The Eagles do get one black eye for this win. I mean the team performed with class and with excellent skill/sportsmanship, but their PA announcer did not. As the game wound down, he made quite a few taunting comments directed at the Braves that were totally uncalled for. It was bad enough that his voice was quite annoying, but to then act in that manner was in no way called for. I hope the Eagle officials deal with him accordingly because in no way was that called for...     

NOV. 3
PUBLIC LEAGUE QUARTERFINAL
Northeast 9, Bok 0
    Ted handled the specifics so I'll just file a few notes from Friday night's chilling affair... Burrrr... Mr. Cold has finally arrived as evidenced by the frost chips that covered Benjamin Johnson Memorial Stadium Friday night... As for the game, a much expected defensive struggle with the seasoned Vikings of NE coming out on top in large part due to sr. DE/LB Sean Evans 9-yard fumble return in the second quarter. The Vikings as always have a VERY quick D, but must muster some offense if they hope to handle the Eagles of GW (Eagles won 19-0 in an earlier match-up)... Bok of the other hand has nothing to hang their heads about. The loss does hurt as they are one average point below the district I 2-seed which is who they'll likely face next weekend in the State Playoffs which means that the Wildcats will likely trek back to the road. That is unless the #5 seed takes the #2 seed this week. Unofficially, that looks like it will pit Montgomery County's Upper Perkiomen on the road to see Delaware County's Garnet Valley this Friday night. If Upper Perk, which by the way was a 48-18 loser to Frankford earlier this season, wins then Bok would in turn be the home team for the second round game... This was my first in depth look at the always well coached Wildcats and I did like what I saw. They are as hard-hitting a team as you'll see which should make them game challengers. They should take back to their winning ways this week against Fels, but U-City is sitting out doing nothing this week. Why can't the two flip flop as wouldn't the 6-4 Jaguars be much more of a challenge/tune-up for what lies ahead... As always, the trail must go on...   

NOV. 2
PUBLIC RED
Germantown 14, Gratz 12
    You know I've been covering Football since September of 2001 and each and every year I've been around, I had a chance to cover this game and its always a fun rivalry which Gratz has never won for some odd reason since I've been in the mix. Well this was the first year, I did not cover the game and well we all know how that turned out. There were 3 OTs and the officials stopped the game not knowing the rules that there is no limit to the amount of OTs that can be played as long as a winner emerges so we had a tie that had to be broken especially because of the fact that both teams were winless (identically, 0-8-1). This game mattered in the jockeying for position sense as the loser would go down to the White Division while the winner would stay in the Red. So you just knew that both of these teams would fight their hearts out  and this one would be a good one. It was too as it came down to the final drive for the Bulldogs, but once again the Bears found a way to prevail over the seemingly always slightly more talented Bulldogs. They did it solely on the ground with the TOUGH running of sr. RB Tyree Clemons (15-123), jr. RB Tramelle McKie (7-84, 64-yard TD run) & sr. FB Eric "Neck-Bone" Williams (6-1 225 -- game winning 33-yard rumble right up the gut & 2-point run, also game long tough lead blocking). Pretty simple right? Well of course nothing is ever really simple when these two meet up. The Bulldogs had their chances, but couldn't covert when they really needed to. The Bears picked off three Jerrick Jenkins passes which helped, but this Bulldog squad just seemed to lack something upstairs all year long. The talent was surely there, but that's not what FB is all about. I'm confident that Coach Erik Zipay will one day soon right the ship as Simon Gratz is an athletic gold-mine for almost all sports. Jenkins passed 12-for-32, 153 & 2 TDs. He was victimized by 6 or 7 drops especially early on while his receivers were still getting used to the biting cold weather. Jr. RB Hal Chambliss had probably his best performance of the season with 18 totes for 111 yards. This should spring board him to better days ahead. Sr. WR Bradley Martin was his go up and get it self with 5 catches for 72 yards while playing hurt most of the way through. He also had a pick on D. For G'Town, the picks were made by in order: jr. LB Darryl McBride, jr., sr. DB Jason Hardy & so. DB John Banks (also 2 other defended passes and 6 stops). Williams made a key sack worth 12 yards. I personally liked what I saw on both sides from sr. two-way tackle Chris Oliver (6-3 250). He's said to have an excellent academic profile to go along with a pretty good FB upside.
AA's Notes: I MUST commend G'Town coach Mike Hawkins for what he did this season. First off, he played a really tough schedule and second he still had a full load of guys after not having the best of years. This year will indeed be something for his crew to build on and I think that it'll pay huge dividends next year... Play of the Day: Bradley Martin's leaping, bobbling one-handed 42-yard drive saving grab along the sideline while being well covered late in the game. It was, however Gratz' last positive play as they kind of fizzled thereafter... For a the first quarter, I felt like I was in the twighlight zone as there were only 12 plays from scrimmage. The clock man was late, so the clock was kept on the field. Kickoff was at 6:08 and well the quarter ended at 6:22, horrible job Mr. Official though the rest of the game went rather smoothly... Finally the funny of the day went to a Gratz assistant. A G'Town player made a play at the line of scrimmage and began to dance/prance around, the Gratz assistant yelled, "What are you having a seizure! Mr. Official, get him out of the game. He's having a seizure..."

NOV. 2
NON LEAGUE
Overbrook 31, Southern 20
    Boy I love covering these games! Sounds kind of crazy right? Sure they mean nothing, but for some odd reason they are always fun to watch and normally a lot of stats are to be kept and well what stat-man doesn't like that. I had that feeling about this one and I was right. I've had season tickets to Overbrook games (smile) so I won't Talk too much about them, however I've only seen Southern on the first day of the season and they are greatly improved since then winning their last 3 before this one. They have talent indeed so the 3 game winning streak was no fluke. The two headliners are: sr. TE-DE Jahmel Bashir (6-4 235) & jr. RB-LB Tyrell Cooper (5-11 200). Bashir played a decent game on D today, but you can see that his best days will be at the next level. He owns one offer right now and that's from emerging MEAC school Delaware State. I could see more coming. Cooper (11-135, 73-yard TD run & a 29-yard TD reception, also 2 returns for 31 yards -- That's a total of 14 touches for 195 all-purpose yards.) is a flat out BEAST. He's got all the tools to be a successful back at this and the next level: vision, speed, quickness, power, ect, ect. Going out on a limb (maybe not...), he was probably the best back that I saw this year in the Pub. He's definitely the kind of kid that I'd feed 25-30 times a game -- he's that kind of work horse. He was also a terror on D with 13 total tackles including a sack and another TFL while also making a pick. He'd easily be close to the top of my Pub Juniors list. I also liked what I saw from Freshman QB Shaquille Gaskins (6-1 165). He played with a lot of brass. He could be very good down the road with his EXTREMELY athletic build. 
AA's Notes: Gotta give the Hill-toppers some mention right and I will. The more I see him, the more I like so. QB Markeyse Carter (7-for-13, 118). He is getting better every week and by this time next year could be a star... Also gotta give some props to so. WR John Melvin (2/69) as he's already got a knack for going up and getting the ball out of the air while at the same time making DBs look silly. Its amazing because he probably truly goes like 5-8 155 (which might even be generous)... When 'Brook senior K Cleavand Smith tried an extra point late in this one, it was blocked, but before it was blocked he kicked the air out of the ball, amazing!.. In the second quarter, Brook ran 22 plays to Southern's 3... And once again every time Panther senior back Ubong Ikpe did something cool, the sideline boys sang, "Ba-Da-Ba Ba-Da-Ba-Da Uuuu-Bong Ikkk-pe!" Classic stuff brought to you by the always colorful Panther sideline... Finally, everyone send defensive coardinator David Carter a grieving card as I know he's going nuts about his Mountaineers loss last night to Louisville (smile). It'll be alright big fella. Don't hurt nothin'...    

OCT. 28
PUBLIC BLUE
University City 8, West 0
    The Jaguars won this muddy battle of schools that only sit about a mile and a half away from each other, but it was another wild animal that brought the Jags their good fortunes. (More on him later...) UC was hampered by 4 lost fumbles, but still somehow found a way to win and that folks was mostly due to the tough play by sr. QB Kenny Moore. Moore had some trouble throughout with clean snapping with his center and he had a TD throw called back by a penalty while also having his usual share of drops, but otherwise he played an excellent FB game leading his team to victory. He made for the game's only score a 1-yard lunge and then passed to emerging so. wing-back Neville Hill-Brown (11-83, 2/21) for the two-pointer. Moore just simply makes football plays which something you just can't teach. The intriguing part is that he's still SO raw and has so much more to learn. He is said to be all caught up and will graduate, but is still looking for a prep school where he can play both Football and Basketball. The defensive leaders were LBs Hill-Brown (10 total tackles) & jr. Telmez "Muscle" Irons (11, 2 TFLs). Sr. FS James Liggins added a pick while so. LB Jamir Steed added 2 TFLs of his own. West was game and looked much better than when I saw them earlier in the year which wasn't that hard to do considering the clunker they put on that day. That's probably mostly due to the fact that jr. QB Courtney Waiters was available for this one and he's a slick player if I ever seen one. He plays with much poise and savvy, two qualities that are the narks of every truly good QB. He's got a prospect to watch in so. WR Dominic Peterson (6-1 185). D.P. missed/dropped/didn't lay out for the first ball throw to him which probably would have been a TD, but he caught (5/63) everything near him thereafter with his hands -- very impressive. Watching the Speedboys, you can't help but notice massive so. two-way tackle Darius Knight (every bit of 6-5 350). The big fella has a large future ahead of him and is already a force on both sides of the ball.
AA's Notes: Today it wasn't the Jaguar that gave coach Lou Williams good luck, it was instead a rather large rabbit that camped out on the UC sideline throughout the entire game. Why was this rabbit good luck you ask? Well we all know about the superstition about rabbit's feet, but this was different because as soon as the game ended, "Bugs" hopped across the field behind the Locust street batting cage which is where he lives according the West field man -- Cool huh! By the way, the color of this furry creature: Golden Brown & Black... As always, this game serves as both of these schools homecoming game and so a big crowd always does show. Both schools homecoming king and queen stood on the large WP pedestal and posed for pictures... Finally, earth to the district -- Please make a super-site in West Philly asap. There are only three schools that could use it in West, Brook & U-City (the latter 2 have no field at all). Then the Southwest Philly boyz (Bartram & Comm. Tech) could also use it along with West Catholic. There's been a lot of talk about building a new West Philly High school and IMO that should go right at the big piece of land between 46th & 48th in between Market St. & Haverford Ave. There's enough room to build an awesome facility right there including separate fields for Football, Baseball & Soccer along with a practice field. Just a random thought... 

OCT. 27
PUBLIC RED
Frankford 20, Northeast 0
    The Pioneers made quick work of the tough Vikings here causing the defending Champs to sit in the driver's seat going into next week's playoff session. Everything again is right in the pigskin section of the city that we well know as Frankford -- smile. The Pioneers did it behind the feet of sr. RB Calvin Spires who ran his way to 131 yards on 16 totes. He opened the scoring with a 2-yard run. It was a nice workmanlike performance especially in spite of the constant rain (a cold rain to boot) that fell on this night. Sr. QB Andreas Hudson wasn't bad himself completing his first 6 passes (all of which came on the three scoring drives and 4 made for first downs). Hudson also ran for the second Pioneer score. Then there was the forgotten Pioneer sr. FB Nate Johnson who bulled his way to the third score from 6-yards out late in the 1st half. Sr. WR-LB-DB J.C. Montgomery put forth a very nice two-way performance: 2/46 & game long defense (though he did have a lot of help) on quite possibly the city's best prospect sr. WR Sean Evans. Evans only caught two balls for 24 yards and only had 1 other ball thrown at him (a Montgomery INT). All came in the 4th quarter with the game basically out of reach. The Vikings again struggled on O, but you had to like the efforts of spunky sr. RB Andrew Vu (9-57) & jr. WR Keith Scruggs (2/34). The Frankford D was once again led by jr. LB Chris Spence (9 total tackles), who indeed packs some serious pop especially for a guy listed at 5-8 155. You would think he was 6 inches taller and 50-lbs heavier the way he plays. The same can be said for his jr. teammate LB Josh Burnett (6, a TFL, What are these guys twins?.. smile). Like most of the season, Mr. Evans saved his best work for the defensive side of the ball where he went for a game-high 11 tackles including a sack and a other TFLs worth a total of 13 yards. LBs jr. Tyrik Clary & sr. Brennan Shapiro were also good with 10 & 9 stop respectively.
AA's Notes: Now let the playoffs begin! Everything will kick off next Friday evening up at Germantown's Benjamin Johnson Stadium. Hope to see you there although I still don't know who is playing where just yet. Though if I were a betting man, I'd say that Bok will face Northeast there in one of the games... The other 3 match-ups will include: Washington-Bartram, Frankford-Olney & Central-Dobbins... Not much idle chatter or really any excitement for that matter as this one was pretty much all business and things kind of went smoothly which was strange because I witnessed these two clubs split 2 1-point wars last season with NE taking the regular season  game at Frankford on a late game halfback pass from Lamone Fox (Remember him...) to Evans and the Pioneers taking the title game as Mr. Fox fumbled deep in Frankford territory late in the 4th after not fumbling all year long... BTW - Be there next week as there's just something about the Pub FB playoffs. There's just always that feeling you get that almost anything can happen and every so often it does...   

OCT. 26
PUBLIC WHITE
Bartram 26, Roxborough 14
    Welcome to playoff Football baby! The Braves started the game with a mistake, then dominated for a quarter and a half, then made more mistakes, the got a scare before closing out the Indians and heading into next week's Playoffs for a date with Red-2. Sounds like a lot of action right. Well let's start from the beginning. The Braves opened the game with a muff of the kickoff giving the Indians the ball on the Brave one-foot line. Jr. QB Stephen Tucker easily took it in on a QB sneak giving Roxy a 6-0 lead. That's when the Marooners turned up the juiced scoring 20 unanswered points. First sr. QB Kris Brownlee marched his team downfield in 6 plays ending with a 44-yard strike to sr. WR Shanon Wilson. Then on its next drive, the Braves looked to Brownlee's leadership once again and he delivered with a 5-yard TD run on a keeper (with an awesome fake). Then early in the third spunky jr. DB Mike Alexander made a pick and went untouched 39-yards for the score. That made it 20-6. Meanwhile the Indians struggled offensively as its star sr. back, the studly Calden Pierce (3-3) tried to go, but couldn't beat last week's ankle injury. No one else was able to find themselves either. What did help the Indian cause was that Bartram went from what appeared to be dominance to blooper-ish for lack of a better term as their next three drives were marred with penalties and turnovers and the proverbial foot was not put on their counterparts neck. The second half was set to begin and now the Indians had life again. The heart was seldom-used jr. RB Jeff Lancaster (13-115) as on the half's first play from scrimmage, he raced 65 yards untouched to the end-zone and now folks we had a Football game. The remainder of the half produced not much, but both teams went back and forth. Finally, the 4th quarter began and the Indians looked to be gaining control once again. They drove all the way down to the Brave 11. With a Braves on the ropes, a bad handoff exchange by Tucker & Lancaster and the ball came out with the Braves recovering and in business at their own 13. This probably took the fight out of the game Indians as the Braves drove 87 yards in 11 plays and scored on Brownlee's 2-yard plunge with 1:56 remaining. Much props on that drive should go to. sr. RB John "Fudgie" Pratt (15-110) who accounted for 3 of the 4 Brave first downs on the drive seemingly saving his best for crunch time and showing why he's one of the Pub's top backs. On D, the Brave leader was Alexander who made 2 picks while also recording a TFL. Pratt broke up 3 passes. So. DB Tyron Cheeseboro broke up 2 and sr. CB Eric Mason also had a pick. Roxborough was led by sr. LB Russhane Black (12 total tackles, a fumble recovery, a TFL and a sack). LARGE sr. NG Nafis Briggs (8 stops, a TFL) may have also played his best game of the season. He was VERY ornery on the D-line.
AA's Notes: The Braves vs. the Indians, it gets no better than that. The battle of the Natives and one thing this indeed was was a battle. Bartram lives to fight another day and Roxborough who had their best season in years looks toward the goal of a 10-win season which hasn't happened in God knows how long... Bartram goes into the playoffs and will probably draw the mighty Eagles of George Washington next Saturday. Here's an early outlook. Bartram can actually play with anybody in the League and may have the best overall athleticism and team speed, however they have a penchant for mental mistakes which could get them in trouble in an important game against a team the caliber of G-Dub. It'll be interesting to see how it all plays out... Finally, I've been meaning to shout it out all year that we are now entrenched in the new age of Pub Football! Welcome and Enjoy. Game's aren't over in less than 2 hours anymore. Game plans are better, scouting is better and team's are focusing more on what's probably their most lethal weapon, the Air attack (Remember, when you have the kind of athletes that the Pub produces throwing the ball only makes sense). These mostly subtle changes will show very shortly down the road as the boys upstate won't be able to look down on our league anymore... Its been an awesome year to cover the Pub and I've been glad to be a part of it!.. 

OCT. 20
PUBLIC RED
Northeast 16, Gratz 12
    Not bad for Gratz' first outing under the lights. This turned out to be one of those fun to watch games despite the fact that frankly, the officiating crew was below average, penalties were a plenty as were turnovers. First off, the Bulldogs aren't your average 0-7 team or 0-7-1 or whatever they are these days. They can easily put points on the board with the weapons that they have and they don't have much quit in them. Of course they have bite, their Bulldogs. They just simply lack the discipline to beat a quality squad. That's alright as coach Erik Zipay is still a young guy with much to learn, but he does have his players' love which is more than half the battle. The Vikings dodged a huge bullet fumbling 4 times and throwing a pick. They are very lucky that they didn't end up on the other side of the comma. The biggest reason they didn't was a pretty big one. His name is Sean Evans and he just might be the best sr. FB prospect in the city of Philadelphia. Why? Well he's 6-6 220 with superior athleticism and above average speed (good enough to be a big, possession receiver) especially for a kid his size. Plus, he's turned himself into a pretty damn good receiver something he may not have been a year ago. Here he made 4 first down catches totaling 81 yards while also leading the defense with 7 total tackles (5 solo, 1 TFL - 6 yds, 1 sack - 9 yds). Sean was simply a man amongst boys tonight. Sr. RB Andrew Vu (18-90) was the next best Viking especially on O. You just have to love his hard running and toughness. So. K Tim Freiling booted a 27-yarder the first in the new Marcus Foster Stadium's history. Jr. LB Tyrik Clary made 2 TFL worth 11 yards while sr. CB Darryl Dawson made a pick. The Bulldogs got nothing from the rushing attack tonight so they went to the air and they only have the best signal caller in the Pub so... Sr. QB Jerrick Jenkins let loose 30 times completing 16 totaling 233 yards and 2 strikes. He was hitting guys in the numbers while also making perfectly placed throws to the edges. Its truly a thing of beauty watching this kid play the position. His two main targets were sr. WR Bradley Martin (7-122-TD, a pick on D) & fleet/brassy jr. WR Malik Palmer (5-90-TD). Both made some seriously difficult grabs in traffic.
AA's Notes: The atmosphere here was awesome and the stands were almost three-quarters full. So what I damn near froze my you-know-whats-off and the game ended at almost 9:45 PM because I had a great time... The Bulldogs were guilty of 12 penalties for 121 yards while the Vikings weren't much better with 8 for 75. Its almost October folks so that is indeed unacceptable... Finally and simply put, Evans could be a PRO in this sport one day. If you turn on your TV on Saturdays and Sundays in the Fall, you'll see plenty of guys that look just like him. He's also a D-I type in hoops so it'll be interesting to see what happens in the next few months...

OCT. 20
PUBLIC WHITE
Central 26, Overbrook 24
    The Lancers found a way once again. That must be the quote of the season for Central. The Lancers used a 19-yard counter run by its other big play maker jr. WB Ray Harris with 3:13 to play to dispose of a game Overbrook squad. This one was a stat man's dream as 3 guys ended up with 100-yard rushing games and another ended with 99. The Lancers showed serious perseverance after surviving 2 4th quarter fumbles and still finding a way to get it done. Win this W, they are crowned Division Champs (More on that in my notes...). Central amassed 373 total rushing yards here amongst 4 players. Harris ran 8 times for 99 yards. His wing-back partner sr. Cory Kelly ran 9 times for 128 yards and a 61-yard score. Sr. FB Daniel Barrett ran 22 times for 79 yards and a score. While sr. QB "Superman" John Kennedy (Just Clark Kent today though -- smile) ran 8 times for 67 yards and a score. That's a whole lot of running folks. On D, sr. LB/DE Mark Surma (6-3 215) was the star. He made huge plays on key second half drives twice stripping a ball carrier causing a fumble. First he did so on the opening third quarter 18-play, 10:03 'Brook drive (More on this in the notes, 'Brook also opened the game with a ball...). The Panthers drove all the way to the Central 7 when Surma made the big play knocking the ball out of jr. FB Joseph Gaines grasp. Then on the final Panther drive, he made a SSR (sack, strip, recovery) on green yet, impressive so. QB Markeyse Carter to give the Lancers the ball back to run out the clock. Sr. LB Anthony Duley made a game high 9 stops (1 TFL). Jr. FS Kyle Yeiter made a pick. Jr. CB Ray Harris was in on 8 stops with 2 TFL. This was the best effort from the 'Brook offense all season and it was great to see the young Carter at the helm. No he didn't put up great numbers, but he showed much poise/confidence. Enough that he'd be my starting QB for the rest of his days as a Panther. There's just no sense in taking him away from there now as he'll only continue to improve. He just seems like such a hard worker and a born leader to boot. It'll be interesting watching him develop. Carter did hook up with fellow soph brassy WR John Melvin twice for 48 yards. Both jr. RB Darius Johnson (16-137-3TD -- 5, 55 & 25) & sr. RB Ubong Ikpe (8-106-TD) had their best games of the season. Johnson looked like I thought he would all season after seeing him last season. He used patience, speed and vision to possibly win our best performance in defeat award (at least my vote). His 55-yarder was a beauty too as he used a serious cut back creating a huge hole for himself in which he burst right on through outrunning some of the fastest Lancers toward the end zone. Hopefully, D.J. will build off of this performance as the 'Brook coaches feel he has much untapped potential. He's said to be pound-for-pound, the team's strongest player. The Panther D was led by Srs DT Charles Owens (strong line play, a TFL), DE Sean Young (8 total tackles) & LB Allen Hamilton (8 solo tackles).
AA's Notes: Stranger things have happened, but Central decided not to receive the ball in the second half after 'Brook won the opening coin toss and received because they wanted the wind at their back for the 4th quarter. That almost came back to bite them too as the Hill-toppers damn near held the ball for the entire 4th quarter... Every time Ikpe made a good play, the Overbrook bench came with the chant of, "Da-Da-Da Da-Da-Da-Da Uuuuu-Bong Ikkk-pe..." Ofcourse, 'Brook aide Will Nesmith couldn't stay out of the funny comments section as he yelled to Owens (who is wearing a cast), "Hey Owens, like a slot machine. You a one-armed bandit!.." Finally, with this victory Central will find themselves moving on up to the Red Division for next season where they'll have to deal with the heavyweights on a daily basis, should be very interesting...

OCT. 19
PUBLIC WHITE
Roxborough 14, King 6
    What a weird game this was. You would have thought that the once beaten and rising high Indians would have smashed the visiting & winless Cougars and rebounded from last week's tough loss to Central. Ah, but that wasn't the case as King played with much heart and desire and almost found their first W of the season giving the Indians all that they could handle. The Cougars were aided by 4 Indian lost fumbles while the Indians benefited from a stifling D. The main culprit was jr. TE-DB Amir Boler. Boler was simply ballin'! He caught 4 balls for 40 yards and a 5-yard strike on O and made 8 stops including 2 TFLs along with a blocked punt on D. This kid has caught my eye in each of my trips to see the Indians causing me to say that's he's one of the Pub's better juniors. Sr. RB Calden Pierce caught a bad break (no pun intended). After making a great over the shoulder catch for 39-yards (game's longest play) he was tripped up and turned his ankle. This happened late in the 1st half so he never saw action the rest of the way. Hopefully, it isn't severe because Pierce has been one of the premier backs in the city and of course next week a playoff game looms in a sense as the Indians will battle Bartram. Sr. DT Markel Wright made 3 TFLs all worth 3 yards, sr. LB Russhane Black & sr. DE Chris Koons both made picks & sr. FS Ramon Odom (in on 10 tackles) did an excellent job shadowing star sr. scat-back Kendall Coleman (22-79). On Coleman, I kind of feel bad that he hasn't had a great senior year as he's easily the fastest player in the Pub and probably the city. The D-II state schools should be banging down his door as he could become and unbelievable return specialist. He was clocked at 4.29 (Or faster than a blur) in the 40 last spring if that gives them any incentive... The Cougar O looked like it would be clicking after sr. QB Aleem Marshall tossed a 31-yard TD to fleet jr. WR Norman Brown to begin the scoring. Nothing kind of went right from then on though and unfortunately Marshall just couldn't make a play. He had his opportunities too, but things just didn't click. The effort was there though and you gotta love that. The Cougar D was led by sr. DB Donte Clanton (11 total tackles) & jr. DL David Bunion (8, with 3 TFLs).
AA's Notes: Its funny, but the Cougars are no 0-6 team. They played with a lot of heart and had the will to win and with a few bounces go another way well... The Indians can cap off a magical season with a win Thursday over Bartram and their first stop at Playoff heaven in some time. Let's see how it plays out... Intense King coach John Sheroda made for the funny of the day when an official told him that he could call his guys over during an injury time out if he wanted. Coach S answered with, "NO! If they come over here I might hit them..."

OCT. 14
PUBLIC WHITE
Bartram 24, Overbrook 6
    There wasn't a better place to be on a Saturday afternoon. Southwest vs. West, it doesn't get any better than that for a life time West Philly boy like me. Things looked interesting early on as 'Brook took the first possession of the game straight to the house (7 plays for 55 yards). The score went to sr. FB Joseph Gaines on a 14-yard run. Ah, but things were pretty much shut down thereafter as the Maroon Wave/Braves totally dominated from the second quarter on. Jr. scat-back Mike Alexander (14-110-43 yd TD) did a great job as the feature back in the absence of sr. John "Fudgie" Pratt (ankle, should be back next week). Sr. QB Kris Brownlee, aka Mr. Perfect Delivery,  hooked up with sr. WR Shannon Wilson three times for 101 yards and 2 scores (15 & 68). Wilson was flat out burnin' dudes. He indeed has some nightlight reel stuff from this game. The Brave D was stifling led by Alexander and his 20-yard INT return. Sr. LB Taron Fripps also played well with 7 stops and an INT of his own. Sr. LB Colin Jones was also in on 7 tackles with one for a 4-yard loss. Finally so. FS Tyron Cheeseboro, one of many Cheeseboros, was ballin'. He was always getting his hands on balls and making plays all over the field. He was juiced too. Its good to see a youngster with that kind of confidence. The Panthers were doomed again by its stagnant offense and matters were made worse when both QBs went down with what looked like injuries that could put them out for a week which is compounded by the fact that sr. QB Brandon "BJ" Johnson is also the punter (a very good one at that). I'd bet that jr. Eric Kemp is the back-up punter as he was the starter there last season. A good sign was soph. QB Markeyse Carter, a lefty. He showed some good things that he can carry into the future which might come rather sooner than later. On D, 'Brook has some big-uns'. Their best player was sr. DE Sean Young (9 total tackles) who is one of those ball hawk types who makes tackles by accident.
AA's Notes: 'Brook has added another prominent player to their roster in jr. DE Tyreese Johnson (6-6 250). Big 'Reese played for Imhotep last year and now attends Lamberton, a AA school without FB. They just found him a weeks ago and hope to have him suited up next week. I remember him being a big, aggressive, agile kid that might have even played tight-end. The 'Brook coaches liken him to last year's star Naftalie Ellis... The Braves have a great prospect in sr. T-DT Maurice Jessup (6-3 300, probably projected OG). The big fella is big/strong and has a serious motor. He's also dedicated as he lost over 30-lbs from last season and is now probably in the best shape of his life. He's got some D-Is monitoring his progress... Although the Braves had a set-back to Central last week, I could still see them figuring prominently in the Title picture. They actually match-up with Frankford pretty well probably owning the fastest team in the Pub, quite a few game-breakers. It would make for a pretty good game... This is a great rivalry and there's was a great crowd on hand. What makes it even better is that Bartram AD James Brown (also new hoops coach - long overdue IMO) & assistant coach Will Ferguson (very good friend and old college buddy at Hampton) are 'Brook alums and 'Brook assistant Will Nesmith works at Bartram... Finally, I wouldn't mind seeing Bartram Field becoming a super site. Sure it would have to be leveled, but there's a lot of room there to work with, could be a great place to watch a game with some upgrades... 

OCT. 13
PUBLIC RED
Frankford 28, Washington 13
    Well so much for the suspense. The Pioneers have tricked us all. Sure they only played 2 Non-League tune-ups which caused them to kind of fly under the radar early on and sure there's some new personnel, but the more things change, the more they stay the same and Frankford FB is flying high once again as they kind of in easy fashion handled the Eagles from GW. The defending champs did it mostly by controlling the lines which led to controlling the clock which led to more scoring plays which led to well of course, the W. The Pioneers out-gained the Eagles 304 to 123 yards (55 to 41 in total plays). It was such a great overall effort that I don't really know who to start talking about first. I guess things start with the head so sr. QB Andre Hudson should b mentioned first. He was again his poised self as all Pioneer QBs normally are as he went 7-for-11, 106 yards with 3 TDs. Two TD grabs went to sr. WR J (as in James) C (as in Charles) Montgomery (listed at 6-5 210). There isn't a better wide-out in Public League folks. The Gaffney, SC native has taken the Frankford (which is indeed FB town USA) section of the city by storm already thought of as an adopted son after moving here back in April. There's no limit to how far he could go in this sport. He's got great hands (His first TD, a 5-yarder, on a fade route was snagged with one hand in the end zone while taking a hard pop and still getting one foot in. The second was a 4-yarder off an easy as pie slant.) He's also got an unbelievable build and top flight athleticism. It'll be interesting to see how this develops... Then there was the running game led by sr. backs Calvin Spires (22-95-TD) & Nate Johnson (15-81). Both guys ran hard and played a very go FB game. Spires (2/21) also caught a TD from 6-yards out. The defensive leaders were D-I prospect sr. DT Tyree Dudley (6-4 305) with 2 TFLs (8 yards), feisty jr. LB Chris Spence (7 stops with a sack and fumble recovery) & so. FS Khalif Walker (7 stops with a TFL and a pick). The Eagles struggled on both ends and if not for the serious moxie of sr. SB-CB Brian Carter (10-63 rushing, an INT on D which led to his 7-yard TD run), they would have been totally out of it. There weren't many other bright spots.
AA's Notes: In the house: ex-Frankford aide Rasheed Muhammed an all-timer of an assistant coach. Afterwards, he came to me and said, "That's 3 in a row over these guys..." For GW, it was the debut of sr. LB Jeff "Milky" Jones (6-2 240). Jones formerly attended Northeast and had to request a fifth year from the district which was a long, drawn out process that led to a trip to Mechanicburg, PA (The head PIAA office). He looked decent out there despite some jitters at his old stomping grounds...

OCT. 13
PUBLIC BLUE
Lincoln 33, Edison
    What a disappointment this one turned out to be. Edison seems as if they lost hope when three bad things happened in the last week. First in last week's tough loss to U-City, top sr. skill position players Kory Marshall & Joshua Alicea both went down with ankle injuries (Both tried to give it a go here, but sat after the first quarter). Then coach Larry Oliver had to leave town due to a death in the family. This was not the same Edison team that I saw a few weeks ago at West. There was no positive energy from this group and that pretty much tells the story. Lincoln, however, played very hard as if this were their season's first game. This was my first look at the Rail-splitters and I liked some things that I saw. First off sr. TE/LB Corey Burrell (6-3 205) is one of the Pub's hidden gems. He should surely be recruited at the I-AA level. He didn't do anything overly impressive here. It was just that you could see what he's capable of doing. He could play a number of different positions (Even returns punts!) at the next level too as he has receiver speed and a D-End build (easily could add weight). Here he caught a 10-yard TD pass while leading the D from middle LB (in on 6 tackles). He should be an easy sell to a college coach providing his in-school stuff is in order -- just a long, rangy, athletic kid with size and speed. I'd buy stock in him... I also really liked sr. T/DL Tyrone Bolden (listed 6-4 220 probably 235-40 though). He's another big, athletic kid who probably projects as a D-End at the next level. He made the play of the game IMO on a late game 55-yard TD run by soph. RB Kevin Chilton. The big fella blocked the you know what out of THE would be tackler. He actually lifted him up off the ground (Man was it a strong play). Big Ty' also recorded two punishing sacks worth 16 yards and returned a fumble 53 yards. Burrell and Bolden would probably be starters for most squads in this area. There just aren't many big, skilled, athletes of their caliber floating around out there. Jr. QB Charles Boyd (another TD pass to sr. WR Scott Lambinus an 11-yarder, also ran for a score and a conversion run) had some nice moments especially in terms of ball handling. He really carries himself well under center. Sr. DE Theodore Brams was a terror on D. He was in on 11 tackles (7 solos, 3 sacks worth 28 yards, another TFL worth 10 & a blocked punt worth 26 yards). Theo' was flat out rockin' ball carries while he was at it. He gets my vote for defensive POW in the Pub! I felt bad for the Owls here especially sr. QB Ernesto Medina who had little to no protection game-long. He was sacked 5 times and hurried many others. Plus many of the green (no pun intended) guys thrown into roles this week didn't know exactly what was going on. I hope to see the Owls finish strong on what has mostly been a fun year for them.
AA's Notes: Special thanks/props must go out to hurt Lincoln jr. Kyree Nesmith. He's been relegated to the chain crew while nursing a knee injury. He lent/gave me his pen when I first walked in as I noticed there wasn't one in my car or one in any of my pockets (been one of those weeks folks). I told him that I'd make him famous so here goes. Game winning assist buddy... The funny of the day came after Boyd lunged in from 2 yards out then did the same on a conversion run when another member of the Lincoln hurt players/chain crew soph. Joe McCausland said, "He's just like Michael Vick (Boyd wears #7), but slower..." Lincoln assistant coach Kevin Reilly (Edison's Hoops coach) also got into the commenting when late in the game his prized hoops prospect and one of the Pub's top scoring wizards jr. George Baker was still on the field. Reilly joked, "They need to get George out of there. I almost died when he went down holding that ankle..." 

OCT. 12
PUBLIC AAA
Imhotep 50, Freire 0
    As Ted has already prompted you folks, this report won't be a long one as IC was always told that if you don't have something nice to say... I didn't always take heed to that old adage, but I think I'd better this time. Besides, the Freire coaches seem to be good guys so maybe one day things will change for the better. I'll reiterate what I said about the Panthers last week in that they have an amazing cadre' of athletes though they are probably a year away from making serious noise. A winning record this season will be more than progress though they could prove me wrong by taking down the League's AAA kingpin Bok Tech next week. I'm sure that they'll be fired up which could make for a great game.
AA's Notes: FC does have one true player in jr. multi-purpose back Antoine "Blueberry" Singleton. He took a beating here, but he was easily the fastest player on the field and probably the toughest. I know that he's frustrated, but I hope he makes the best of it and rides the rest of the season out... It doesn't get much weirder than this one. 'Hotep only amassed 177 total yards so how did they come to score a whopping 50 points? I have the answer to that one. FC's punter soph. Isaac Yoro (a pretty good one) was not in uniform and actually wasn't even in attendance to start the game (He did show up later). So that meant that every time FC went back to punt it turned into a fake which meant that IC always had better than good field position. In fact only once did they ever start their drive from their own territory and even that was from their own 40 which is hardly bad... Amazing!

OCT. 6
PUBLIC AAA
Franklin 12, Imhotep 6
    This was as hard-hitting a game as you'll see! Both teams deserve to be commended for leaving it all on the field and IMO there wasn't a loser out there only one team that out-lasted the other. IC's demise can probably be traced back to the 1st quarter when each of its first 3 drives ended in fumbles: the first play from scrimmage on a center snap, the second play on the next drive another center snap, then a squib kick after Electron franchise RB jr. Versean Dawkins' 1 yard TD run. The Panthers can also look at the 8 nagging 5-yard penalties that rang up 40 yards to their downfall in this one... Dawkins wasn't spectacular here, but that's quite alright with me as he simply got the job done running 33 times for 69 yards. There's no doubt about this kid's durability and don't even mention toughness -- this kid is the epitome of tough. Plus, he's such a smart runner in so many ways. I truly believe that he's mastered the art of taking the hit, but not really taking the hit if you get my drift. It'll be interesting to watch this Elite junior continue to develop. The game winning score came on the heels of a 12-play, 8:32 drive to start the second half in which the Electrons ran for the first 11 plays only to throw the good ol' slant for the last one from southpaw jr. QB Tajidin McGough to sr. WR Harold Scott (Hands down the player of the game!) for 14 yards. Scott was out there for lack of a better term, smashin' ball carriers. He had 8 hard-hitting stops and I mean hard. He also recovered a fumble. The next best defender was probably sr. LB Brian Lilly who was in on 5 and also recovered a fumble. The Panthers have a prospect to watch (actually they have several...) in jr. QB Julius Legg (6-5 270). He is one large individual and he has a decent arm. He's an off-season of conditioning and a few combines/camps away from being a known commodity. Here he tossed a TD while passing 7-for-17, 152 yards. His TD came just before the half, a 57-yarder to jr. Andreas Roberts (another one to watch -- has all the physical attributes to be a success in this game). Jr. multi-purpose back Gerald Bowman, who's simply a true baller & probably the very best prospect of the Panther juniors, made 3 snags for 66 yards. The Panther D was again led by the Evans twins, sr. LB Khalief was in on 10 stops with 3 going for losses and also an 8-yard half sack with sr. DL Dustin Taylor. Sr. SS/LB Khaleel was in on 7 with a TFL of his own. They, too are true FB players/ballers. The DT tandem of sophs: Daniel Jones (11 stops, 3 TFL) & Tyvaun Witherspoon (not a lot in the stats department, but very active along the line) was also impressive. Both of those kids will be heard from from the next few years. They are both big and athletic which could eventually turn them into defensive ends.
AA's Notes: 'Hotep is still without its top prospect: sr. DT Ahmad Rasheed (6-5 255). He is receiving widespread D-I interest. Let's hope he returns soon... The Electrons once again impressed me showing that they know how to win ugly and much of that should be attributed to the 2 aforementioned seniors: Scott & Lilly. These two guys are major sleepers who colleges should be all over maybe even as high as at the 1-AA level. Both of their best football is ahead of them and both could easily hold more weight. Both also play with the right attitude. Scott is about 6-2 185 and probably projects best as a SS. While Lilly goes about 6-3 195 and probably projects as a strong-side LB... Imhotep is quickly becoming one of the gem schools of the Public League. As far as I can see everything is pretty much done the way its supposed to at the school and all the people that I know that are involved with the place are first class individuals. In time, they'll be a power in all sports, mark my words. Taking it even further, it'll happen sooner rather than later...  

SEPT. 29
PUBLIC RED
Washington 19, Northeast 0
    This was supposed to be the big game of the weekend in the Pub and by halftime I thought I was watching a punting exhibition -- though a very good one. As GW went into the locker room with a 6-0 advantage after sr. SB Brian Carter (set up by a 48-yard catch by Carter from jr. QB Clinton Granger) ran one in from 5-yards out on the Eagles first drive. Sr. two-way end/punter Scott Marano and soph. Tim Freiling (6-4 170) are probably the top two punters in the Pub and they showed why here. For the game, the left-footed Freiling punted 7 times for 245 yards (35 yard average) with a long of 42. Marano punted 4 times for 138 yards (34.5 yard average) with a long of 53 (he also had a shank that only went 6 yards). This is a very important part of the game that sometimes gets lost. It doesn't at these two schools and that's why both schools are always league powers. Otherwise, the Eagle D stood out as they were as stingy as can be in this one. Marano led with a fumble recovery in the end zone for a score after the ball was snapped over freshman QB Malik Stokes' head. He also had a sack. Sr. G-DT Aaron Murrey was also impressive all game long. He recorded 2 late game sacks worth 19 yards while earlier wreaking havoc along the lines. He is indeed a prospect (probably 1-AA) on either side of the ball as he's got three things going for him: strength, agility and tenacity. Sr. weak-side LB Oliver Wallace was also pretty active with 8 total stops ( 2 TFLs & 2 on special teams). Sr. scat-back Jay Sloh ran for the other score (21-yarder) in the 3rd. Otherwise, there wasn't much offense by either team. For the Vikings, you couldn't help but notice sr. WR/TE/DE/LB/S Sean Evans. He's listed at 6-6 220 (and is probably a shade bigger in both height and weight -- 6-7 230). Sean is the epitome of hybrid player. He's probably the League's truest 1-A prospect. Here he was very hard to control on the defensive side of the ball. He was in on 8 stops with 1 for a loss while often times the Eagles ran no where near his vicinity meaning he had to come across the field to make plays. I can also recall at least 3 GW holding penalties committed while trying to block Sean alone. That's when you know you're pretty good. Sr. DE Kennard Martin (3 TFL) & tackling machine sr. LB Brennan Shapiro (7 stops -- 1 for loss) also made decent showings.
AA's Notes: I truly feel that the 1-4 Vikings could be a serious factor by season's end. They've had a tough way to go thus far, but are much-improved from when I first saw them against Norristown. They have as good a leader as you'll find in Evans along with a strong supporting cast... The Eagles rebounded nicely after a tough loss last week to Chestnut Hill which wasn't anything to hang their heads about as this just might be the best FB year in the Inter-Ac in some time and CHA is arguably the League's top team... There was a great crowd on hand to watch this Friday night contest with half of both sides stands filled and both sides loud...

SEPT. 29
PUBLIC BLUE
University City 22, Fels 6
    The Jags have now won 3 straight and are establishing themselves as a front-runner in the Blue Division. They did this one in rather easy fashion over the new-to-Varsity Samuel Fels of Lawndale, Northeast Philly. Many don't know, but Fels is one of the District's larger enrollment high schools, therefore they probably should offer every possible sport and soon probably will. This was my first look at the Panthers (Again, how many freakin' Panthers are there on the Pub?). Coach Cliff Hubbard is no rookie in this game so I soon expect them to be decent. He does have his share of athletes to work with and that always help. It'll just take some time as many of them are new to the sport. It might not me for another year or two, but I'm confident coach Hubb' will get it together. As far as the ins and outs of the game, not much to really talk about. UC won a with a workmanlike performance and that's always nice. They still need some sharpening up on things: like receivers cleanly catching the ball and tacklers wrapping, but they'll be fine by season's end.
AA's Notes: Next week's test for the Jags should prove to be their season's most important as they'll battle with fellow league unbeaten Thomas Edison on Friday afternoon and it doesn't get more key than that... UC's sideline was graced by its first ever QB, 1975 grad (74' FB season) and the neighborhood poet Keith Robinson. In my younger days growing up around 40th and Lancaster, he was always visible marching up and down the section known as "The Bottom" shouting his poetry to anyone who'd listen and he still does 'til this day. He was said by all to be a very good player in his day and most feel he's an asset to the program being that he's an old-school FB nut. Many of his comments/blurbs were of the classic variety, had to be there to hear them... UC coach Lou Williams is also know for his classic commenting. His best today came after a penalty when he yelled, "You guys watch too much Monday night Football! Watch college football if you wanna learn something!.." I was also happy to see that Fels had decent numbers -- about 35 kids dressed and there are said to be decent JV numbers as well...

SEPT. 28
PUBLIC WHITE
Roxborough 50, Overbrook 14
    Coming in, I felt that these would be two evenly matched teams which could make for a very good game, but that's why we play the games and this one turned out to be anything but. The Panthers scored first on a flee-flicker on the game's second play from scrimmage. Sr. QB Brandon "B.J" Johnson lined up in slot with jr. QB Eric Kemp under center. Kemp pitched to in the motion Johnson who came around and tossed a 42-yard bomb on a beautifully executed play to brassy soph. WR John Melvin (2/84). There was no one near him for at least 15-yards so he walked into the end zone. After that, it was all Indians all the time. The 'Boro racked up 365 yards in rushing and held the 'Brook to -44 and that alone should tell the story. Sr. RB Calden Pierce, who didn't score except for 2 conversion runs, pounded out 120 yards on 21 carries. Sr. RB Ramon Odom, a true speedster, took 5 totes for 102 yards and scores of 40 and 51. He also returned a punt 49-yards for a score. Jr. QB Stephen Tucker, who seems to be making a rather smooth transition from WR to QB took 2 keepers (1 & 10) for scores. Pierce led the D with a sack and 3 other TFL from his LB spot. Impressive Jr. hybrid type (He plays at least 5 different positions) Amir Boler (rushed for a TD as back-up QB) was also ballin' on both ends. He went for 2 sacks (23 yards) & two other TFLs (9 yards). Also very important was sr. DE-Punter Chris Koons (6-4 220). Koons made a sack for a safety and had another TFL while Punting 4 times for 128 yards (32-yard average) twice burying the Panthers deep in their own territory leading to Indian Safeties. He should get some some college looks for both positions. The Panthers O did nothing after the first quarter and their O-line especially probably owes its QBs lunch for a week. They didn't block a sole and their signal callers paid for it. The D was led by sr. DE Sean Young who made play after play.
AA's Notes: Is the 'Boro finally for real? Yes they are 5-0 and yes they are riding high with confidence. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out as all indicators are pointing towards a great season... The future doesn't look too bleak for the Panthers. They have two decent soph. wide-outs that are starting for the moment. Plus they have two large D-linemen who are fairly new to Football in 6-6 290-lb jr. Ramille Bryce and 6-6 275-lb soph. Giba Goba (plays with a lot of energy)... Finally, the funny of the day came in the second half as the Indians came out for their pre-second half warm-ups. Sr. DT Markel Wright (2 second half sacks) had his pants sagging a bit and his undershirt hung down causing some adult 'Brook fans to yell, "Look at #53, he's got a thong on!.." Next week the Indians should have the services of two key starters in seniors FB-LB Kevin Hargrove and XXXL NG Nafis Briggs (6-2 350). Both have been out the last few weeks with various injuries... 

SEPT. 22
PUBLIC BLUE
Edison 38, West Phila. 6
    Not a great experience here, actually even hard to write about. As many know, I'm a true-blue West/SW Philly guy and I always enjoy seeing its high school teams be competitive. And if they aren't competitive, they at least must exert the effort that its takes to in time become successful. In this case, that made this game kind of sad. It was almost as if the Owls/Inventors (not a powerhouse by any stretch -- albeit very ornery/tough) were playing against a JV squad out there. Now I do know that this past off-season coach John R. Lay dismissed as many as 12 seniors from his team for not participating in his off season regimen and he deserves to be commended for that. He does indeed have quite a few green prospects, many of which are underclassmen so we'll see what happens for the future... As for Edison, they were sensational to say the least on both sides of the ball. Over the years, I've always enjoyed Edison athletics and the reason is because their kids are always spirited if nothing else, win or lose. And SPIRIT my friends is what high school athletics is all about! I hope to see them later on the trail in a more competitive/higher stakes type of game. I did like the way their 4 skill position guys handled themselves and that could take them a long way in the Blue. Those guys are: sr. RB Kory Marshall (TD -- 50-yd reception), jr. QB Ernesto Medina (6-for-9, 122 yards a TD plus a 46-yard rushing TD), sr. WB Joshua Alicea (2 rushing TDs of 8 & 2 -- plus 2 catches for 50 yards) and sr. WB Robert Serrano (22-yard TD run). Serrano also had a pick on D. Hopefully, I'll experience a bit more joy my next time on the trail, but I guess that's why we play the games.
AA's Notes: There were some good things about this game. The best may have been a quote by a West Philly female fan. She heckled her own Speedboys all game long. The young lady, all of maybe 5-2 100-lbs (And I mean maybe!) had the line of the afternoon as the Speedboys missed tackle after to tackle she yelled, "Somebody give me a uniform! I'll show you how its done..." The Edison bench called Serrano "The Iceman." Why, you ask? Because they say, "He's cool..." Finally Edison Basketball star jr. George Baker should be suited up next week against Bristol. The football coaches call him the best athlete in the building -- and an outstanding wide-out. It'll be an interesting addition to an already skilled group of skill players...

SEPT. 21
NON-LEAGUE
Franklin 26, Central 14
    "T-Time" will handle the report on this one, although I know it will be tough for him. (smile) I'm VERY confident he'll do a good job though...

SEPT. 15
NON-LEAGUE
Mastbaum Tech 12, Communications Tech 6
    This wasn't much of a game, but hey somebody had to be here and it was me this time. No sweat though as both teams are young and should experience much joy in due time. Mastbaum won this one behind its game long pressure in the backfield holding the Phoenix to 18 total yards of offense (-34 rushing!). In fact, CT had one good drive and that was the game's first as they marched 68 yards on 6 plays concluding with so. RB Stacey Hill's 10-yd run. They did absolutely nothing thereafter. The Panthers controlled the ground and had scoring TDs by both Tookes boys very impressive soph. Rasheen (16-69, 10-yd score) & sr. Kareem (9 yarder). So. DE Andrew King was probably the best player on the field in this one as he really got after it here. Not much more to say except hopefully, when I see these squads later in the year that things will be better and I'm sure that they will.
AA's Notes: This was my second week in a row seeing the Phoenix of C-Tech and though they were much better this week than they were last against Tower Hill (De), there is still a long way to go. The Uniforms are nice, but with so many freshman and sophs on the roster, experience as at a minimum. Plus coach Greg Harris has had serious issues with many of his kids dedication and at times it has shown. Hopefully, this will change one day soon as CT could soon be a sports giant in all sports in the Pub. I hope these kids buy into it by losing the bad attitudes for the TEAM mentality...

SEPT. 15
NON-LEAGUE
Central 41, Gratz 18
    Another decent Pub game with an only in the Pub atmosphere. Its always fun when the trail leads me to Broad and Sommerville to watch Central run the you know what out of their option and that's what they did here. The Lancers potent offense rang up a whopping 409 yards rushing on the Bulldogs to go along with 6 rushing TDs. The leader of the charge today was sr. FB Daniel Barrett (20-129, 2TDs). Barrett set the tone early with his hard running and toughness which opened things up later for his speedier mates. Sr. QB John Kennedy again proved to be masterful at running the option. He dashed 11 times for 104 yards himself with scores of 3 & 15. He also caught a pass on a 4th down play while set up at wide-out and completed 3-of-6 passes for 62 yards. He could prove to be the MVP of the League when its all said and done as no one else is a more valuable asset to their team. Speedy wing-backs sr. Cory Kelly (4-96, 56-yd score) & very-impressive jr. Ray Harris (7-80, 40-yd score) completed the scoring for the Lancers. Harris also was the defensive leader with 2 picks, 3 other defended passes and 3 solo stops. He seemed to be all over the place. He is indeed one of the better juniors in the League. Even with all of their offense, the most impressive Lancer might have been hard-hitting sr. LB/DE Mark Surma (6-3 215). I've heard that he's getting 1-AA interest and that is very well deserved. The kid's a flat out BEAST! He just has a nose for the ball. He was in on a game high 10 tackles with a sack and another TFL mixed in there and most of them were of the smashing variety. I bet there are some Bulldogs ball carriers that had nightmares last night about #51 (smile). Jr. FS Kyle Yeiter also recorded an INT while sr. LB Anthony Duley quietly was in on 9 stops of his own. The Bulldogs should be stronger after this tough early season stretch. Unfortunately, they are in the toughest division in the League. One thing that I will say is that they are truly mentally tough. They never gave up here and balled until the game ended. That was great to see as so many kids now-a-days tend to fold when their backs are against the wall. Large sr. RB Nisia Dunaway (6-2 215) was pretty impressive. He rushed for 138 yards on 16 carries and a score at his new position. He could one day be a college full-back and colleges as high as the 1-AA level should keep an eye on him. He has a great blend of power and speed (I hear he's been clocked at under 4.5 seconds in the 40!). Sr. RB Dawayne Turner, "Mr. Trash Talk" himself, was a nice complement rushing 9-61 and a score of his own. Sr. QB Jerrick Jenkins will have better days as he only passed 4-of-15, for 88 yards with 3 first half INTs, but not to worry he's still a fine prospect as he never lost his mojo, continuing to play as if those 3 picks were TDs. Gotta like that in a young athlete, especially a QB. On D, I was REALLY impressive with sr. DT Terrance Frazier (6-1 255). The big fella can ball and he WILL ball somewhere in college although he does need to tone his act down a few notches.
AA's Notes: This was as wild a Pub game as you'll see! First off the game had to halted for about 5 minutes mid-way through the 3rd quarter as a disgruntled fan came across from the Gratz section to the Central sideline and heckled the cheerleaders & pep squad beginning to remove his jacket and shirts. He then shouted at some of the Central coaches and their AD Frank Greco. The police were called and he was arrested on the sideline -- very weird sight... Ah and there's never an only in the Pub type game without referee Gary Butler at the helm. "Hart" as he called by those who know him is back on the scene and all are happy to see him. The problem today was that he didn't don his normal white hat being a fill-in at linesman. I teased him most of the game that he was lost without the white hat. In the first half, he might have agreed  as he made a few boo-boos at his not so normal position (smile)... The quote of day went to Lancer sr. Eddie Pereira as every time a play was over Gratz' Turner talked trash to anyone who would listen. At one point, Turner made a play and popped up screaming, "I'm all Public!" Pereira muttered, "Yeah, All-Pub in trash talk..." Most city squads should take a page out of the Gratz team's book. I mean yeah they are 0-3, but they've played some tough teams to start the year with Delco power Interboro coming next week. I love their approach though as no ever hangs their head. Instead everyone perseveres and plays hard until the games end and that's what a true FB player does. The main culprit was Jenkins who made no excuses en route to leading by example... Finally, there was a very decent crowd on hand for this early season battle. It was good to see a handful of the Lancer & Bulldog basketball players there to cheer on their respective FB squads...

SEPT. 9
NON-LEAGUE
Tower Hill (DE) 42, Communications Tech 8
    I won't say much about the game itself here, but I will make a quick mention about how displeased I was with many of the upstart Phoenix FB players attitudes and dedication. These young guys should take the same approach as last year's basketball players and work a a team, it would eventually take you a long ways. MANY guys, however, had piss-poor attitudes and not many over the course of the week consistently showed for practice according to the coaches. This is something I'll look for improvement on in the coming weeks as the young Phoenix continue to mature...

SEPT. 8
NON-LEAGUE
Washington 51, Overbrook 6
    Since when has Bustleton Avenue become a one way street? It sure seemed that way yesterday as the Eagles thumped the West Philly boyz in this early season tilt. The Eagles did it behind an awesome ground attack that produced 386 yards spread amongst 10 different rushers. Sr. multi-purpose back Brian Carter led the way with 4 totes for 96 yards and scores of 67 & 12. The other rushing TDs were by: sr. RB Fateen Brown (7), sr. scat-back Jay Sloh (6), sr. FB Mike Wallace (1) & jr. QB Clinton Granger (2). The non-rushing score was made by jr. DB Devon Wallace on a 23-yard fumble return. The Eagles still have much room to improve because their QB situation has yet to have been solved. 5 competent QBs mark the roster (although 2 are just hot shot freshman) with two juniors: Granger & Marquis Murray at the forefront. Granger, the transfer from Imhotep Charter who goes 6-3 235, has the most natural tools of the bunch and seems to be given every opportunity to grab the job. He kind of struggled today, but next week's test should tell the tale against midlevel Sub-One National opponent: Bensalem, who took care of the Eagles in last year's game. As for the Hill-toppers, it should be a long, hard week of practice prepping for an always physical Episcopal squad. Remember last year they had similar early season outings at Truman and Germantown, but by season's end things looked to be fine. Their lone score came on sr. DB Calem "Twin" Bridgette's picture perfect 53-yard INT return. I also liked what I saw from West transfer sr. QB-P Brandon "B.J" Johnson. He's still getting acclimated to his new surroundings, but in his late stint at QB he showed the brass and poise that you look for in your signal caller.
AA's Notes: GW, simply put has a GREAT program. There are prominent players on their 62-man roster in every class from Freshman to Senior. That's the mark of a program as it shows that the team will be reckoned with not just now, but in the years to come as well. That was compounded in the 4th quarter when coach Ron Cohen looked to his bench and asked his coaches, "Where's that big Freshman? I want to put him in." The next thing I knew a very large 14-year old ran onto the field -- introducing 6-3 275-lb (probably a little taller/leaner -- not much fat on that cut) lineman Sharrif "Baby Shaq" Floyd. You will be hearing the name again as well as two other freshman already playing roles for this bunch in QB-DBs Ramadan Abdullah & Aaron Wilmer... Again, 'Brook was a shade out of sync, but not to worry as recent history serves as a reminder that they are normally well-oiled by Mid-October which is the all important stretch run. Plus today, they went without about five or six key members... Not so much for today, but as the year goes on, you'll hear the names of Carter, Brown, sr. G-DT Aaron Murrey (6-2 280) & sr. C-DE Chris Clanton (6-2 220) being linked with some D-I & 1-AA schools. All 4 are deserving... Finally, it was good to see linesman (at least for this one -- smile) Ernie Gallagher. "Ern" got a chance to brag about being in the movie in Invincible. He even tried to sign some autographs -- smile again. I couldn't resist asking him where his white hat had disappeared to. He said, "that he was a fill-in for the day and that he had to dig into parts unknown to find his black hat." I guess that explains it as the trail goes on...

SEPT. 7
NON-LEAGUE
Roxborough 34, University City 13
    What an exciting game! Sure there were many sloppy moments as there are in many early season contests, but for the most part it was a pretty cleanly played game with many stats to keep and of course that's a stat man's favorite kind of game. The Indians are much better than they were this time last year and will continue to improve as the year goes on. Its wonderful what Mike Stanley has done with his troops. The team leader is sr. RB Calden Pierce (5-11 205). He had an off day fumbling three times, but he still rushed 16 times for 106 yards. He is a very powerful runner and has the build to be just that at the next level though I could also see him as a SS (game high 10 stops from his LB spot). Whatever the case, he's a prospect that should play in college somewhere. Jr. QB Stephen Tucker (5-for-9, 109 yards), last year's top wide-out, might be the team's best athlete. He ran for a score here and threw for 2 more. The TD tosses went to very fast sr. WR Russhane Black off a lateral from Pierce. Pierce caught a 7 yarder then flipped it back to Black who darted 57 yards downfield for a score. The second went to Black's partner sr. WR Robert McGrier for 26 yards which was the play that made the score 26-7 and put things out of reach for the fiesty Jags. The top Indian on the day was probably sr. RB-S Ramon Odom. "Mone" ran back a punt for 63 yards for a score and had a 46-yarder called back. He also closed the door on the scoring with a 49 yard sprint. On D, he made a two of each: tackles and defended passes. He played a very good all-around game. Sr. DE Chris Koons also made big plays on D with 3 sacks worth 43 yards among his 7 stops. Sr. CB Amir Boler stopped 3 passes and back-up jr. DB Adrese Hicks picked off two late game balls. The pride of UC was none other than sr. QB Kenny Moore (listed and every bit of 6-6 210). This kid has endless potential on the FB field. He's absolute murder in the spread offense. Its like target practice for him. He only completed 9-of-31 balls for 147 yards, but he was also under constant pressure (sacked 5 times and hurried probably 10 more times) and 7 or 8 times he hit guys on the money or they weren't ready or just simply dropped balls. Also a 60-yard strike was called back due to a kind of fantom penalty. Nevertheless, he has all the tools to be successful at the position and just needs some fine tuning in the little things department to be a success. I'd love to see him try his luck at one of the VA Military academies for a year and play both sports (FB & BB) to see what happens for him. His main targets were sr. WR Khayri Young (3/67) and sr. RB Malik Randolph (4/52). Randolph scored both of the TDs: a 3-yard run and a 44-yard fumble return. Jr. LB Telmez "Muscle" Irons was the star on D with 8 punishing stops. Sr. DB James Liggins had 7 to go along with an INT.
AA's Notes: It was great being on the UC sideline for the first half as coach Lou Williams keeps coming non-stop with hilarious one-liners. His Jags aren't very good now, but they could challenge division favorite Lincoln by the end of the day... Its was also good to see the Indians having some fun as Roxy is always on my favorites lists in terms on places to go... Linesman George Geiss was in the house for this one and always makes the game fun being it on the field or in the gym. He's not seen much in the Fall as he's normally on tour doing major college FB as a referee. He's a great man and a great guy to have around the game... New Fels and longtime Roxborough boss Cliff Hubbard was in the stands taping this one. It'll be interesting to see what his Panthers (another freakin' Panthers!) put out this season... Finally, I've now seen Mastbaum and Roxborough who are probably the teams projected to finish at the bottom of the White division and I left impressed with both which means that there should be some very good, balanced ball played in the White this year and all will have a good time watching it...

SEPT. 1
NON-LEAGUE
Norristown 17, Northeast 14 (OT)
    See Mastbaum-Southern Notes for report info...

SEPT. 1
NON-LEAGUE
Mastbaum Tech 34, Southern 6
    What a difference a year makes? The Red Panthers (How many freakin' Panthers are there in the Pub anyway these days?) of Mastbaum Tech are much-improved from their win-less crew last go 'round. I know this was against a very green and at the moment, not very good Southern squad, but a win is a win and getting that first win is always very important. Plus, the Panthers simply look so much sharper than when we saw them last and also much more organized -- And as we know, being organized is the #1 quality of a good Football team. M-Tech's headliner is sr. QB Rich Stratton. He's very well put together on top of being very athletic. He probably projects as a wide-out or DB at the next level. He was pretty sharp behind center though going 5-for-8 for 140 yards including a 79 yard strike to sr. WR Desmond Elijah (2/113). He also ran for a 4-yard score and had 2 conversion runs. Tail-backs jr. Hal Chambliss (16-77, 2 scores) & so. Rasheen Tookes (6-77, TD) carried the load. Both have the look a being very decent prospects. Chambliss is a workhorse with decent speed while Tookes could be special in time. He possesses that effortless kind of speed along with very good instincts which make him a threat to score at any time. He's already a major crowd favorite. The defensive leaders were sr. DB Kareem Tookes with 2 picks and another pass defended. Three sophs also looked good in DE Andrew King (a TFL and a sack worth 15 yards), LB Daniel Guzman (1.5 sacks worth 17 yards) & LB Darren Berry (a TFL and a half sack worth 10 yards). For Southern, no one truly stood out on offense though their backs did run hard. Sr. QB Kareem Williams is very athletic, but his line is kind of green which makes for constant pressure -- he was hurried and sacked all game long. His best weapon is studly sr. TE Jahmel Bashir (listed 6-4 235... and probably every bit of it). The Rams must find ways to get the big fella the ball. Bashir is said to be a decent student/citizen so he is very recruit-able probably even as high as at the 1-AA level.
AA's Notes: Both of these teams are extremely young with a lot of sophomores not only on the roster, but playing key roles. The Red Panthers are in the tough White division where anyone can beat anyone. All six teams should be decent which should make for some great games... This was the first of a doubleheader at the Northeast super-site. The second game was a night-cap pitting Northeast against Norristown. I won't do a report as NE dropped a 17-14 OT decision as they totally dominated the first half while N'town did so in the second... NE, too has many sophs with key roles which makes me wonder if this is a trend around the League. If so, it could pay huge dividends down the road...