D12 Class 6A Title Game Preview
Tagged under: District 12, News, Playoffs
Anthony Franklin | November 18, 2022
The Northeast Viking football program has a long-storied history. Traditionally they’ve been a powerhouse within the Philadelphia Public League and one of the stronger teams in the Philadelphia area. The Public League and Catholic League agreed to resume the City Championship games back in 2008 when the CL officially joined the PIAA. The city title game winner advances to the PIAA quarterfinal round while the loser season is over unless they have a Thanksgiving Day game scheduled. For Northeast and SJP they’ve met in the City Title game 7 times with Prep winning 6 of those matchups. The 2021 season for the Vikings was a season of adversity from having limited winter workouts, restricted and late summer workouts, the tragic passing of a player shortly before the first game, 2 games wiped out due to COVID, another game was won via forfeit at halftime due to the opposing team AD suspending his team for academics and yet they managed to win the Public League 6A title and advance to the city title game where they fell to a deeper and better SJ Prep team.
The 2022 season saw an influx of transfers for Northeast, a renewed team spirit and a chance to write a new story. Key players who sat out in the 2021 SJ Prep game are now eligible but first they had to win the Public League championship game which they accomplished in thrilling fashion over a tough Lincoln team. Coach Eric Clark is in his 2nd City Title game as HC of the Vikings and is a former Viking player (1999-2002) looking for what would be the school’s first city title game win since 1946 (West Catholic) and first city title since 1953 (Tied St. James). Leading the Vikings are Sr. LT/DT Naquil Betrand who was forced to sit out of last season’s game due to the PIAA transfer rules. Naquil has offers from powerhouse schools such as Auburn, Penn State, Florida, Kentucky, Georgia but choose SEC Texas A&M as his next home. As the best lineman and having to watch his team fall to SJ Prep last year from the sidelines Naquil said “I want to break the cycle and streak, I’m giving it my all and bringing my dog-eat-dog mentality. When asked what he feels is the difference from last season to this season simply he stated, “Last year was a lack of focus, we are focused this year and translate that from practice to games as we want to be the best team and best players we can be”. When asked what Saturday would feel like in his head winning and holding that trophy he stated, “Dreams do come true and proving that public schools can not only hang but beat the Catholic schools”. One cool fact many may not know about Naquil is that he loves to dance, play games and make jokes with friends.
Senior QB Sabor Stevens was the PL 6A Championship game MVP winner throwing 3 TD passes including the game winner. He is a 2-year starter who began his junior campaign as the backup QB but in the opening game against St. Joseph’s (NJ) was inserted in the 4th quarter of the game with the Vikings down big and engineered a good comeback in defeat and hasn’t relinquished the job since. When asked how this year feels during game week compared to last year he simply stated, “I’m a returning starter, senior captain, our film observance, practicing, maturity and game preparation is a lot better this go around”. Last week this team faced adversity being down 14 points early on and he stated that “emotions were rushing, but the guys didn’t panic as that’s now how they anticipated the game going but, as a senior captain and leader I went out did me and helped get the momentum back in our favor”. When asked how this team does so well with adversity Sabor stated “Adversity requires patience and being posed and staying focused on the task at hand. I have to stay even keel while doing what is needed for my team to win”. Asked what winning on Saturday would feel like he says, “It would be a big accomplishment to finally win a city title for the school and program, man it’s history”. He currently sports a 2.8 GPA and looks to major in health, medical or a science related field. Besides throwing the ball many would be shocked to know he’s also a chef and loves to cook, something that runs in his family.
Senior OG Tasir Davis returns for his 3rd city title game as a starting lineman. When you watch him play you see a bulldozing lineman who relishes pancaking and flattening his assignment. When asked to describe his style of play he says, “I was taught lineman should be dawgs, nasty and gritty and I’ve applied it to my game since little league”. When asked the mentality of this team to overcome the large 1st quarter deficit last week he simply said, “We had to pick it up, keep pushing, I pulled the lineman together and said we had to keep fighting, stay on our blocks as long as possible and play through the whistle to get the offense rolling”. Being a member of the team last year he feels gives him confidence going into this game knowing what to expect as “we’ve had a full offseason to develop, more time for game preparation and the chemistry this team has is better. We also have a great game plan and I like us Saturday”. Tasir hasn’t gotten an offer yet, but he has plenty of D2 PSAC (IUP, Kutztown, West Chester, etc.) interest along with New Hampshire (FCS) and a host of NEC schools (St. Francis, Robert Morris, etc.) have been in communication. For Tasir winning on Saturday would be an amazing feeling for the program pretty much we’d be “making history”. A fun and interesting fact is that he is the owner of his own clothing line risitsivad. Www.risatsivad.com
The Vikings have a few other interesting players who had great takes on the game Saturday like Senior RB James Bermudez who is now a 3 time champion having won 2 titles with Bishop McDevitt as a two year starter there before the school went out of existence in 2020 forcing him to transfer to Archbishop Wood for his junior year where he once again earned a starting position on a team that went to the CL championship game and lost a heart breaking 3 point decision to Prep. When asked how his assimilation to the school was being as though this was his 3rd school in 4 years he stated, “Football was football, he had relationships with coaches prior to his transfer and he lives in the neighborhood, so he had relationships with many players so the transition was pretty smooth”. James feels this is a special team due to the summer practices where they practiced in the heat, fighting through to make it to water breaks helped bring them closer together and he also feels him being a captain with other players they’ve made sure to be vocal yet relatable to the other players so nobody feels above the team. He’s currently holding a D2 offer from Lock Haven but also has drummed up serious interest from Harvard, Penn and other Ivy League schools as well as a couple HBCU’s in Delaware State & NC A&T. This season when NE has needed a key conversion in short yardage they’ve called upon James, and he’s answered the call. When asked how he finds the strength and grit to get those tough yards he simply said, “Big players make big plays, if my team needs that gritty yard, I’m that dependable guy in any situation I’ve worked on that since little league”. A highly interesting fact I learned talking to James was that he sports a 5.18 GPA. As Coach Clark described him ‘the kid is Einstein”.
Khadir Rowe is a senior LB who transferred from Archbishop Wood as well, he played a huge role in Northeast defense putting the clamp on Lincoln’s explosive offense in the 2nd quarter. He stated “We came out and our game plan didn’t work, and our coaches adjusted some things like our formation and alignment, and we held them scoreless after the 1st quarter. When asked about his transition from Wood to Northeast he stated, “It was all love and warm welcoming, of course you have to prove yourself with your teammates and coaches, but I learned the playbook quickly and within a week I felt like I was a part of the team”. He was a part of the 2021 Wood team who fell to Prep in the CL championship game, and he stated, “This is personal I have a grudge with Prep I’m coming to win for sure”. Khadir currently is receiving Division 2 interest from Lincoln and Bowie State (CIAA). His hobby when he isn’t practicing his craft on the field is to simply sleep and get rest.
The common theme I learned from the Vikings was family and brotherhood, these players truly care for one another there was no cliches they all laughed and joke around with one another, but all shared the same sentiment of how this team has bonded over the last year and while holding one another accountable and to high standards they’re there to pick one another up. Jr. star athlete Kahmir Prescott stated “Saturday feels like we have a chance to shake the city up & I trust my guys because I’m going to fight for them every play and I know they’ll fight for me as well; we are locked in and hey anything can happen. Outside of being a star football player and track sprinter he enjoys playing video games mainly Call of Duty, Madden and 2K. When asked on how this game differs from last year he simply stated, “Last year team while talented wasn’t as close as this year’s team on and off the field, at any given point and time you may see numerous Vikings hanging together off the field and bonding”. When the smoke clears Saturday the goal for Northeast is to be declared the first Public School in the league team to advance to the PIAA quarterfinals since Washington upset LaSalle in 2008. Sr. WR Rashaan Swygert who is an artist in his spare time drawing stated “To win Saturday would bring joy, tears of joy man”. He also has playoff experience from his sophomore season at West Catholic where they fell to Bishop McDevitt ironically some of the McDevitt players from that team are now his teammates and brothers as they chase the PIAA playoffs together. We will find out Saturday at noon just how close this team is to finally capture that elusive city championship.
St. Joes Prep is the defending District 12 6A City Champion. They’ve won the last 6 city titles including 4 wins over Northeast. The Hawks are led by Jr. QB Semaj Jones who has offers from BC, Louisville, PSU, WVU, Tennessee & Temple. His outside weapons are Jr. David Washington & Jr. Brandon Rehmann. The leading rushers are Jones (509 yards & 10 TDs) and Jr. Khaseem Phillips (7 total TDs). Along the OL they have Sr. George Reinhard, Sr. Joseph McMahon, Jr. Kevin Towns as the leaders. Defensively they have a trio of high star recruits in Sr. LB Josiah Trotter (WVU commit), Jr. Omillio Agard (Georgia, Bama, TAMU, PSU, Michigan offers) and So. DB Anthony Sacca (PSU offer). The Hawks average 36 points per game while averaging 191 passing yards & 191 rushing yards. Offensively they are very even in their approach to the game with running v passing. Semaj is an equally dangerous passer as he is a rusher and on short yardage the Hawks aren’t afraid to draw up a designed QB run to get him on the edge. Defensively the Hawks are young but give up 16 points per game and roughly 180 yards of offense to their opponent. While the defense is solid one thing, they have to do better in the playoffs is force turnovers and get to the opposing QB’s as they’ve only notched 9 sacks this season and forced only 9 turnovers. Cole Niles and Josiah Trotter are the LB leaders who help sure up the run defense. Trotter is like his father in how he closes fast onto ball carriers. The one thing special weapon the Hawks do have is Jr. kicker Skyler Shoulder who has made 34-36 extra points while also nailing 4/5 FGS including a 48 and 42 yarder.
The Hawks are coached greatly by Tim Roken and his staff and despite their struggles against La Salle in the CL Finals expect the Hawks to look to get their running game established early to loosen up the Vikings defense. Lincoln had success early on running against Northeast so Prep will look to duplicate that but also sustain it throughout the game. Both teams have massive offensive lines along with athletic defensive lineman so this will be won in the trenches and who can capitalize off turnovers.
OUTLOOK: No score predictions but look for this to be a much more competitive game than in previous years. Both teams know one another well and this game will come down to simply who has the better in game adjustments. Can Prep continue their dominance over Northeast, or can the Vikings break the streak. We will all find out Saturday at noon from the Northeast Super Site Stadium.
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