District 12 Class 5A Playoff Preview

Tagged under: District 12, News, Playoffs

Anthony Franklin | November 4, 2022

The Simon Gratz Bulldogs come into this game confident after a 27-0 shutout of Ben Franklin. The first shutout they’ve had this season. Their season has been up and down as they’ve fallen against the better competition they’ve faced (Northeast, Olney, Bartram, Germantown Academy) and did what they were supposed to against lesser competition. While they have size on the lines, they’ll need to be able to stay composed and weather the storm when Mastery makes plays in the passing game. The Bulldogs in big games this season have at times unraveled and become undiscipline with unnecessary penalties & costly turnovers.

This week features 2 Public League Semifinal games within the 5A Classification with the winners advancing to next Saturday’s 5A Championship game. The top seed Imhotep will host neighbor school and #6 seed Martin Luther King while the #4 Seed Simon Gratz hosts their neighbor rival in #5 seed Mastery Charter. In CL action Roman Catholic & Archbishop Wood will battle for the CL 5A title with the winner to have a week off in preparation for the PL 5A champion.

Saturday @1pm Germantown Supersite

#6 Martin Luther King (3-7) @ #1 Imhotep (5-2): The MLK Cougars earned their semi-final berth via a 7-6 upset of Frankford on the road who was the #3 seed. The Cougars defense kept them in the game and ultimately secured the game with a late 4th quarter interception. Jr TE/LB Kasir Wimber, Jr TE/DE/LB Khalid Bueno Jr DB Amir Muhammed and Jr DE Savion Terry are the key cogs for the Cougars defense. Offensively they rely on the speedy Jr. Athlete Sahfi Reed (Syracuse and UConn offer) to get the chains moving. The key for MLK will be to win the time of possession, crowd the LOS and force Tep to throw the ball in the air. MLK has athletes on the back end to cover and give them a chance against.

Tep comes in as heavy favorites after routing Dobbins last week 69-0. Their offense has improved weekly and they’ve found their rhythm in the passing game making them extremely dangerous during the post season. Leading the offensive charge is Jr. QB Mikal Davis who has thrown for 1051 yards and 12 TDs this season. He’s also rushed for a score. Leading the rushing attack has been So. RB Jabri Wallace-Coleman (Georgia commit) with 565 yards & 8 TDs while adding another 127 receiving yards & a TD reception to his resume. Sr. WR Cory Wright-Downing leads the team with 380 yards and 4 TDs. Defensively they’re led by a stout line with Jr. Jahsear Whittington (Pittsburgh commit), Jr. David Johnson and So. Zahir Mathis. The LB core is equally strong led by Michigan commit Sr. Semaj Bridgewater. In the secondary the talented group is led by two studs in Sr. S Rahmir Stewart (Jackson State/PSU/Texas A&M/Oregon offers) and Jr. CB Ken Wosley Jr. (PSU/Georgia/Michigan/WVU/Texas A&M offers). The Panthers can beat you on the ground or through the air. The only way to limit the damage is keeping the offense off the field and finding a way to keep them off balance. They’re highly talented and very much disciplined so they don’t make many mistakes.

Prediction: Imhotep 42 MLK 0

click to see brackets

Friday @3pm: 

#5 Mastery North (8-2) @ #4 Simon Gratz (5-4): This is an opening week rematch between to heated rivals in the Pumas and Bulldogs. In week 1 these two teams met in a HBCU classic game at local Lincoln University in a game in which Simon Gratz came away with a 19-6 victory. Outside of that defeat the only other game Mastery has lost was a tough 26-13 defeat to Abraham Lincoln on the road. They’ve played well the rest of the season however they’ve had close games with all games decided by 10 points or less except their 35-0 rout over Ben Franklin and the 35-12 win over Boys Latin. To win this game Mastery has to find a way to score early and often while limiting their turnovers. The offense is led by Sr. QB Jahmik Eaddy and his favorite targets are Jr. WR Jihad Mccall and Sr. WR Quentine Wright. Leading the rushing attack is Jr. RB Amir Northern. Defensively they’re led by hard hitting Sr. LB Torrian Jones who brings championship experience as he’s a transfer from Northeast.

Prediction: Mastery North 20 Simon Gratz 12

Saturday @1pm @Wissahickon HS

Archbishop Wood (1-6) @ Roman Catholic (7-2): When is the last time Wood went wineless in league play? Their lone win came at Northeast early in the season, but they’ve been competitive in quite a few other games namely their matchup with La Salle in which they lost in OT 6-3. They also were competitive against Roman earlier this season dropping a 12-7 decision. Their regular season finale was a nailbiter in which they fell short 28-21 to Father Judge so they’re not a bad team just inexperienced and have had trouble figuring out how to get over the hump in tight games. The Vikings are led by Army commits Sr. DE Eric Gardner, Sr. OL/DT Cole Evans and Jr. OT Kevin Heygood (Michigan, PSU, Pitt, Kentucky offers).

Roman is fresh off a humbling 42-0 setback to St. Joe’s Prep last weekend. While they failed to win the overall CL title, they still control their destiny to winning a state title and that begins with correcting the mistakes from last week. They failed to establish the running game and were out muscled upfront which allowed Prep to sit back and disrupt their dynamic passing game. The Callihites look to get back to their winning ways by utilizing all-purpose athlete Tyseer Denmark (Ohio State/PSU/Tennessee/Alabama offers) who leads them with 746 receiving yards & 7 TDs. Fr. QB Semaj Beals has been the general on offense passing for 1269 yards & 11 TDs. Leading their rushing attack is Jahmir Robertson who has 783 yards & 8 TDs. Jason Patterson is their leading pass rusher with 9 sacks on the season. Sr. Jamiel Lyons (PSU commit) has 44 tackles and 3.5 sacks. Roman has been successful this season namely because of their stingy defense which outside of the Prep game had only surrendered 4 TDs in the 4 games against CL competition.

Prediction Roman 24 Wood 7

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