D12 5A Championship Preview: Imhotep vs Roman Catholic

Tagged under: District 12, Gameday Hub, News, Playoffs

Noah Stomsky | November 15, 2023

Imhotep v. Roman Catholic
Where: Northeast High School
When: 12:00 PM Saturday, Nov. 18th
Last Meeting: Nov. 19th, 2022 Imhotep 14 Roman Catholic 6

Imhotep Charter Panthers (PFN Rank 1):

Coach: Devon Johnson

Imhotep, one of the most dominant public schools when it comes to sports. At 11-0 on the year with a point differential of 510-63. Their biggest win of the year came in their first one where they beat Life Christan Academy by a score of 87-0. Up until last week when they beat MLK 60-18, they went on a five-game stretch of wins with the total points added up to 257-0. Tep has been without their WR1 Penn State Commit Tyseer Denmark due to transfer rules. In the passing game, Army Commit Mikal Davis Jr is 97/164 for 1561 yards with an average of 16.1 yards per completion. He has been safe with the ball with only 3 picks on the season, 13 touchdowns, and a QB rating of 109.8. Tep is a way more run-dominant team with 310 runs vs their 179 passes. The main workhorse comes from Georgia Commit Jabree Wallace-Coleman. 1276 yards on 160 carries averaging 127 yards per game and 8 yards per carry. In his 10 games with the ball, he has fumbled only one time and found the endzone 24 times on the ground. With Denmark out, the receiving game will be less used. Other players to look at in the absence of Denmark will be Sr. Nile Brown, Sr. Johann Hennigan, and Fr. Kareem Haqq. While Tep’s offense has been hot, they have an argument for the best defense in the state. On the line, Pitt commit Jahsear Whittington leads the team with 30 total tackles, 22 solo, and 8 assisted. Whittington has found himself in the backfield for a tackle 14 times and has sacked the QB 9 times in 8 games. With players such as Whittington, Zahir Mathis, or Raheem Reid are making plays on the ground, the air is covered by Willie Norris with 5 picks, Saimire Locks with 3 picks, or Penn State Commit Kenny Woseley with 4. Imhotep has made a name for itself in recent years, with successful seasons and heartbreaking endings, can Tep get past one of their hardest challenge yet in Roman?

Roman Catholic Cahillites (PFN Rank 3):

Coach: Rick Prete

Roman Catholic comes in at 8-2 with a point differential of 316-179. The biggest win of the season came against Archbishop Wood in their most recent game where they won 43-3. Their only two losses came at the hands of Demantha Catholic (MD) where they lost 25-23 to Maxprep’s #48 team in the nation and St. Joe’s Prep where they lost 45-7 to Maxprep’s #9 ranked team in the nation. They come off a bye week waiting to see the winner of Imhotep or MLK they’ve had a chance to freshen up and get out there and be ready for anything. Roman is down two players from transfer rules. Without DE Lazarus Tombs and DB Christian Palmer, it’s the next man up for them. Offensively they are very balanced. They have Seven players with more than 2+ touchdown receptions. They also have run for over 1000 yards and thrown for over 2500 yards. The offense is led by QB Semaj Beals, RB Dazhaun Hopkins, and James Madison commit WR Jah Jah Boyd. Beals has thrown the ball well this year throwing for 183/318. He has 2507 yards on the year with 24 touchdowns to go with that. In rushing, Hopkins (798) and Xavier Kincade (416) have run for a combined 1214 yards. Hopkins has run the ball in the endzone 8 times and Kincade for 4. In receiving, Boyd leads the team with 553 yards on 30 catches with 7 touchdowns. The second closest comes from Tayden Mines with 409 yards on 35 catches and a lone 1 touchdown. The defense is led by LB Luke Van Brill, DL Lazaryus Toombs, and DB Jah Jah Boyd. Van Brill leads the team in Total tackles with 57 tackles and the second closest comes from Lou Gaddy and Jahmir Diabara with 44. The leader in sacks comes from Toombs and next closest Jaasai Simmons with 6.5 then Mykell Ford with 6. The leader on defense with takeaways comes from Van Brill with 6 total (3 ints 3 FR), then Will Felder with 4 (4 FR). Roman is a very balanced offense with a physical defense, can they shock everyone by knocking out Imhotep?

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