District 12 3A & 4A Playoff Previews

Tagged under: District 12, News, Playoffs

Anthony Franklin | November 4, 2022

This weekend there are 4 games involving teams from the 3A and 4A Classifications on tap in District 12. The CL 3A and 4A title games are being played while in PL action the 4A title game is taking place Saturday and they’re still determining if/when there will be a 3A title game. Let’s jump right into the 4A CL and PL title games.

Friday @4pm @Bonner-Prendie 4A CL Championship Game

Archbishop Ryan (5-4) @ Bonner Prendie (8-1): This matchup is a rematch to an earlier season CL Blue game where Bonner won fairly easily 35-7. The Friars are the defending CL 4A champs and have looked the part for much of the season. Their lone loss thus far was to undefeated Inter-Ac member Haverford School by a slim 14-12 decision. On the season the Friars have outscored their opponents 265-82. Their regular season finale a 13-12 win over West Catholic was their only game in which they won by less than 10 points. Leading the way offensively is Jr. RB Avery Hankey who has a team leading 809 rushing yards to go along with 7 rushing TDs. Jr. RB Isaiah Sessions has a team leading 8 rushing TDs. Sophomore WR Jalil Hall has 9 TD receptions on the season. Defensively Jr. DB Wykil Flowers leads the team in interceptions with 2 while Jr. Edge rusher Mylacchi Williams leads the team in sacks with 6.5 on the season.  Sr. DB Elijah Beaty (Virginia State offer) leads the team in passes defended with 10.

The Ryan Raiders come into this game just over .500 and fresh off a 38-0 shoutout loss to Neumann Goretti. They have been up and down this season offensively. They’ve been shut out against the likes of NG and Egan but have put up +20 points in wins over Lansdale & West Catholic. They are led offensively by Sr. Athlete Aiden Clancy who has 6 total TDs on the year and 450 rushing yards. So. QB Tommy Gontz is the signal caller with 4 TD passes on the year and 602 passing yards. Defensively Freshman DB Dave Spinelli has been a great addition with a team leading 4 interceptions on the season while Sr. MLB Kyle Schumann and Jr. LB Matt Malley (4 sacks) anchor the defense.

Prediction: Bonner-Prendie 37 Ryan 12

Saturday 1pm 4A PL Championship Game

Boys Latin (4-6) @ John Bartram (4-5): This will be a rematch of the 2021 PL 4A game where John Bartram escaped with a late TD to take this game and the PL 4A championship. They would battle but fall short the next week in their quest for the D12 4A title. They return on the strength of a defense that has improved weekly while the youthfulness has taken the early season lumps and losses and used it to grow, mature, learn from the mistakes and improve. The Braves started the season 1-4 before finding their footing and winning 3 of their last 4 games. 2 of those wins came against conference opponents in Frankford & Simon Gratz. They also gained confidence in their performance at Northeast while falling 21-6 they hung tough and were a few plays away from making that game quite interesting. They were able to have an offensive breakout in their playoff performance last week scoring 44 points. They’ll need that same explosion this week against a Boys Latin team looking for revenge.

Boys Latin led by 1st year coach Marcus Fulton like Bartram started the season off with some lopsided losses. In fact, they started the season 0-4 being outscored 165-54. They were able to find some rhythm and success once they got into league play and finished the season winning 4 of their last 6 games including last week 44-0 rout over Overbrook in the playoffs. They utilize 2 QB’s Sr. Harice Reddick who has thrown for 203 yards and 2 TDs as the pocket passer while Sr. Jamarr Williams has 580 passing yards & 5 TDs through the air. Williams is the mobile of the two signal callers with 3 rushing TDs. So. RB Semaj Carmichael is a threat in the backfield with 5 rushing TDs and 556 yards on the ground. When they opt for the air attack Jr. WR Damour Barry-Martinez (278 Yds & 2 TDs) and Jr. WR Jayden Baker (272 yards & 4 TDs) are the main targets.

Generally, in a game of this magnitude you look for common opponents however with both teams playing in different divisions and playing out of area teams in non-league games there are no common opponents. They both played tough non-league games challenging themselves before opening league play and are fairly evenly matched in terms of talent and coaching. The difference will be which young team limits the turnovers and who can capitalize with big plays.

Prediction: Boys Latin 24 John Bartram 22 in OT

Friday 5pm CL 3A Title Game @Truman HS

Neumann-Goretti (5-3) @ Conwell-Egan Catholic (6-4): The NG Saints are the defending CL 3A champs but come into this game an underdog. They started the season with a shocking 21-0 loss at home to William Penn Charter before reeling off 3 CL wins against Lansdale, West Catholic & O’Hara. They would run into Bonner-Prendie and Egan next losing both games falling to 3-3 before rallying to win the last 2 regular season games. The offense against Carroll & Ryan looked to be firing on all cylinders. Leading their rushing attack is Sr. RB/DB Shawn Battle (Boston College commit) with 10 total TDs. The signal caller is Jr. Mekhi Wharton who has 1026 passing yards and 12 TDs along with 4 rushing TDs. his main targets are Battle and Sr. WR Denim Smith (446 yards & 7 TDs). Leading them defensively are Sr. LB Samuel Hobbs (Syracuse offer) and Jr. LB Jabril Nuriddin (3 sacks).

The Egan Eagles come into this matchup after shutting out Carroll two weeks ago. They look to dethrone the defending champs using the blueprint they put together back in mid October when they knocked off NG 29-14. The Eagles are a run first oriented team and led by Sr. RB Colin Majors who has 906 yards on the ground this season along with 9 total TDs. Jr. Sam Cooper is his backfield mate and has 7 total TDs to go along with 348 yards total offense. Defensively Jr. LB Gavon Pond leads the team in tackles with 47 while So. LB Sincere Fairley leads the team in sacks with 7. Sr. Mekhi Harper is the leader in the defensive backfield and leads the team in interceptions with 5.

Prediction: Egan 28 NG 27

Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews