District XII Philadelphia Public League Liberty Division Preview

Tagged under: Conference Previews, District 12, News

Anthony Franklin | August 24, 2023

PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC LEAGUE LIBERTY DIVISION

The Liberty Division will be highly competitive as there is great talent and parity within the division. The new team into the division this season will be Frankford which drops down from the top Independence division. Returning this season is Central, Mastery Charter North, West Philadelphia, Martin Luther King & Boys Latin. Continuity within the coaching staff remains as all teams will have returning head coaches this season which should make for a very interesting and tight race for the division championship. Out of the 6 schools in this division 4 are in the 5A Classification (Frankford West Philly, Mastery, MLK) while Boys Latin (4A) and Central (6A) are in different classes.

Martin Luther King: 2022 record 4-8: The Cougars are led by HC Malik Jones and look to improve upon what they’ve built over the last 2 seasons in which the Cougars have rebuilt the program & culture. Coach Jones states that “We’ve been a very young team for the past few seasons, so we return many of our 2022 starters as well as a great deal of guys with game experience. Depth is a bit of a concern, but we were a small team in 2019 when we won the league championship. If we can get the chemistry going early, we can make some noise”. The Cougars return a talented core led by Jr. LB Khalid Bueno, Sr. OL Keith Jenkins, Sr. OL Jordany Pajuste, Sr. LB Kimber Wimber, Sr. RB Shamir Norton, Jr. WR Sameer Keith, & Sr. DL Savion Terry. The Cougars will open the season with Pottstown and also have non-league games with Dobbins & Wilson HS.

WEST PHILADELPHIA: 2022 record: 5-4: The 2022 season saw the Speedboys take huge steps towards returning to prominence on the gridiron. HC Karl Dugan and his staff helped the team reach the post season the second consecutive season and were close to pulling off an upset against Mastery Charter North before falling 15-6. The Speedboys despite losing team MVP athlete Zaire Williams (Alvernia) return a talented and huge offensive line. Also returning is Sr. CB/RB Zamir Poteat, Sr. WR Nyceem Chamberlin, Sr. QB Nyeem Shubert, Jr. OL Justin Brown, Sr. OL Jabril Holmes, Jr. DL Khalil Matthews, Jr. & OL Jaquan Holmes. The Speedboys look to break through with their first post season win under HC Bubb and will face a challenging league schedule, but their non-league schedule should prepare them well for the PL division opponents. They’ll travel to Bishop Shanahan to open the season, then to Delaware to take on the 2022 3A DIAA Dover Senators & at Springfield Township HS.

Central: 2022 record 3-8: The Lancers had a rocky 2022 season under HC Rich Drayton. They absorbed the largest defeat in city league history to Chester (80-0). Two of their wins were upsets 29-18 over MLK) & 27-16 over Kensington. They suffered a close loss to Mastery Charter North (21-14) & West Philadelphia (26-14). This season Coach Drayton states “Our goal is to make the playoffs by playing sound defense & not turning the ball over on offense”. Returning starters include Sr. WR/DB Vance Johnson, Sr. DB Nick Schmidt, Sr. DB Bryce Hill, Sr. DB Will Tejada, Jr. QB Aidan McElhatton, So. WR/DB Jadian Connors, So. FB Jordan Nicholson & Jr. LB Luke Meer. The Lancers will open the season with Belmont Charter and their non-league schedule incudes games against Kipp (Camden, NJ), Bishop Shanahan and of course the annual Thanksgiving game to conclude the season against rival Northeast.

Boys Latin: 2022 record 4-7: The Warriors are led by 2nd year HC Marcus Fulton. They are the 2x runner up in the 4A PL Championship game and look to break through in 2023. Last season after a rough start under a new coaching staff they caught their stride within the league with wins over MLK & Central. They did lose games to Mastery North, Lincoln & West Philadelphia. They loss athlete Semaj Carmichael (Imhotep) but return QB Jamarr Williams, OL Jeremiah Carter, OL Tramayne Walker & Athlete Nasir Davis. The Warriors will complete a home/away series with Marple Newton to open the season followed by non-league games with Upper Moreland, Kipp & Frankford.

Frankford: 2022 record 3-10: The Pioneers led by 3^rd year HC Damion Brockington look to rebound from a rough 2022 season in which they lost 10 games for the first time in a season in program history. The growing pains of 2022 should lead to more wins & success in 2023 with them dropping down a division. Gone are Imhotep & Northeast from the schedule which should give them more chances to pick up divisional wins. They’ll start the season with a cross-town night game with rival George Washington. Other non-league games include Olney, Boy Latin & Ben Franklin.

Mastery Charter North: 2022 record 9-3: The Pumas are led by HC John Davidson and are coming off an PL 5A Championship game appearance. They look to return to the title game but must do so without a special core of seniors who led them last season in QB Jamik Eaddy, DB/WR Quentine Wright, LB Torrian Jones & DB Hudaifah Patton. They’ll rely heavily on Sr. RB Amir Northern offensively, Sr. QB Mahmud Gee, Jr. Athlete Zion Chamberlain, Sr. LB Terrance Jones, Sr. DB Naif Griffin & So. DL Tyshir Cave. Sr. K/P Migue Gomez also returns as one of the better kickers in the Public League. The Pumas non-league schedule includes games with rival Simon Gratz & Marple Newton.

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