District 12 Rewind & Review: Week 1
Tagged under: District 12, News
Anthony Franklin | September 6, 2023
Week 1 in District 12 was full of excitement with some marque matchups some ended in thrilling fashion, others ended with a running clock. Without further ado lets’ get into the games of the week with the great 8 for the week:
#1 St. Joes’ Prep v St Peters Prep: The Hawks coming off a narrow defeat to #4 nationally ranked IMG last week came back with a vengeance against St. Peters Prep (NJ) which was a formidable opponent. The Hawks defense stifled St. Peters offense most of the night. Among the stars who shined was Sr. CB Omilio Agard (Wisconsin) who nabbed a circus 1 handed interception, backup QB Jack O’Connor who went 9/13 for 135 yards & a TD while also rushing for a score, Sr. RB Erik Sanchez (4/66/1) & Junior WR Alijah Turner (3/65/1). Next up for the Hawks is a road trip to the sunshine state where they’ll take on Lakeland High (FL).
#2 Imhotep v #8 Haverford School: The Panthers came into the game high off their 87-0 win over Life Christian Academy. The Fords were playing their first game of the season and it showed that Tep is on a different level & mission with how they executed on both offense & defense. Shining for the Panthers were the usual Sr. QB Mikal Davis (Army) who went 8/13 116 yards and a score through the air while adding 21 yards on the ground. The RB duo of Jr Jabree Wallace-Coleman (Georgia) and So. Syeer Coleman combined for 165 rushing yards and 3 TDs. Defensively Sr. DL Jahsear Whittington (Pittsburgh) couldn’t be blocked and had a pick 6 called back due to penalty. Up next for Tep is a date with Archbishop Spaulding (Maryland) whom they played last year on the road and lost narrowly.
#3 Roman Catholic v #7 Abraham Lincoln: This game lived up to its potential as most projected Lincoln to go toe to toe with Roman in a close game. Roman got a great game from So. QB Semaj Beals who went 20/35 for 306 yards & 4 TDs. His main target was So. WR Ashdan Roberts who went off for 131 yards & 2 TDs in the win. Rounding out the scoring for Roman were Sr. Athlete Jah Jah Boyd (JMU) and Sr. TE Luke Van Brill. Roman would score first and Lincoln would jump back to score a TD & take a 7-6 lead with 5 minutes left in the 1st half. Roman would answer the call & score the next 15 points to take a 21-7 lead at the half. Lincoln once again under the leadership of Sr. QB Gabe Smalley would score again to cut the lead to 14-21 but that would end their comeback as Roman iced the game with 7 minutes left in the 3rd quarter with Beals throwing a score to Roberts for the final score of the evening. Up next for Roman is a date with Episcopal Academy while Lincoln will travel to play Cheltenham.
#4 NG was idle as their game with William Penn Charter was cancelled.
#5 LaSalle v #6 Malvern Prep: Malvern Prep used an balanced and rotating backfield with 4 players all notching at least 5 carries to keep La Salle defense honest and guessing to churn out a 13-7 win. Leading the way was So. Athlete Andrew Pellicciotta who rushed for 69 yards and both TDs. Jr. DB Owen Mears would help defensively nabbing an interception. For the Explorers So. QB Gavin Sidwar would throw for an impressive 244 yards & a touchdown in the loss. The Explorers will travel out to play Bishop McDevitt in Harrisburg while Malvern Prep will host Delbarton (NJ).
Other notable games:
Northeast 14 West Catholic 6: The Vikings & Burrs kicked off action Friday in the Mid-Atlantic Pigskin Classic in humid sunny conditions and the first half was a defensive battle, hard hitting mixed in with some athletic plays. Both teams went to the half knotted at 0. The 3rd quarter was when offensively the Vikings got things going starting with Sr. LB George Truitt scoring on a 35-yard pass from Jr. QB Jordan Mahir. So. RB David Akpuru would round off the scoring with a 6-yard run with just :13 seconds left in the period to extend the lead to 14-0. The Burrs would fight back late in the 4th quarter when the offense started to click as Sr. QB Kal-el Durham dashed into the endzone on a run yard scamper to cut the lead. Unfortunately, time would run out on the Burr’s comeback attempt. Northeast will play Archbishop Wood this week while West moves on to host Steelton-Highspire.
Boys Latin 36 Upper Moreland 28: The Warriors relied heavily on Jr. RB Semaj Carmichael as he rushed 33 times for 333 yards & 3 TDs helping them hold off UM and get their first win of the season. Next week they’ll travel to West Philly for a divisional game.
George Washington 25 Archbishop Wood 15: The Eagles used a swarming defense led by Sr. Terrell Farris who notched 3 sacks and a forced fumble and Jr. DB Donnell Stephens got the game ending interception late in the 4th quarter to preserve the win for Washington helping them improve to 2-0. The Vikings got 87 tough yards on the ground and a TD from RB Naka Robinson while Yasin Lowery pitched in with 86 yards. Washington will move onto host South Philadelphia while Wood will host Northeast.
Congrats to Northeast HC Ryan “Goose” Nase on his first win as HC at Northeast. When asked about his first win Coach deflected the attention back to his players stating “Our defense is definitely the strength of our team & George Truitt continues to prove he’s a scholarship level player & I hope he gets that opportunity at the next level. It was also awesome to see him get rewarded on offense with a touchdown. He also praised West Catholic edge rusher Sr. Jayzen Flint (Boston College) saying “He is as good as an DL as there is in this area and he cause havoc for us”. Thankfully we were able to figure some ways to run away from him, but he still made plays.”
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