Stream Pennsylvania High School Football on the NFHS Network
 
 
 
SAFR: Safer Through Science
 
CoachComm Cobalt Plus
 
Turf Tank
 

Imhotep gets over the hump, wins first title since 2015

Tagged under: District 12, Gameday Hub, News, Playoffs

| December 8, 2023

In 2015 Imhotep won it’s first state title. Since then, they’ve gone 5 title game appearances without a win. Until tonight. The Panthers abandoned their usual fly high and strike fast offense in exchange for a ground and pound, get it done style of offense and it worked as the Panthers won the PIAA Class 5A title with a 38-13 win over Peters Township.

“It feels amazing. This is dedicated to our family, everybody at Imhotep at 21st and Godfrey and all of our players past and present, this is for y’all” said Imhotep head coach Devon Johnson after the game. “We knew that we had to establish the run, those guys play both ways so we wanted to kinda wear them out. That was the game plan. That’s a great football team over there, I got nothing but respect for coach Plack, I know they’ll be back here”.

The Panthers rolled up nearly 500 yards on offense, most of it on the ground. Jabree Wallace-Coleman accounted for 214 of those yards and a score and quarterback Mikal Davis ran for 70 and 3 tds.  Davis, 8-12 for 184 yards and one td through the air,  opened the scoring on the first Panther drive of the game, a one yard td run that capped a 66 yard drive to start the game.

Peters Twp responded with a drive that ended in a punt, but Davis threw an interception on the first play of the drive giving Peters’ new life. It was short lived as the Panther defense held and a field goal attempt went just left of the goal post. Imhotep got a field goal of their own, a 30 yard kick by Kenny Wosley to make it 10-0 with 1:25 left in the first quarter.  Davis made it 17-0 with a masterful 22 yard run, dropping the ball on the pylon as he reached for the goal line with 5:33 left in the first half.

The Indians responded. Nolan DiLucia hit on 5 of 7 passing to lead Peters Twp to a 17-7 deficit. The td pass was a beautiful toe tap catch by Thomas Aspinall, a 12 yard td pass with under three minutes left in the first half.

Three minutes was too much time. The Panther took the ball from their 35 to the endzone in just under a minute and thirty seconds to widen the gap to 24-7 at the break.

“When seen that first run we got for the td, we knew we could wear them out. It seemed like, when we got to half time they were done” said Davis. “We just wanted to knock them down hill after that”.

On their second play of the third quarter, Wallace-Coleman did what he does. He busted loose for a 68 yard td to put the game out of reach. “It feels great to finally win. That’s what this season was about. Get to this game and finally win a state championship” said Jabree. “The key was to keep pushing. I believe we have the best offensive line in the state. As long as we keep running behind them we’re gonna get ours”.

Johann Hennigan hauled in a 50 yard td pass from Davis to finish out the scoring for Imhotep. The Panthers finished a perfect 15-0 season with the 5A title.

Game Highlights:

 

Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews

 
 
PA Football News Scoreboard presented by NFHS Network
 
GoRout
 
Showcase by Circle W Sports
 
Football Legends board game
 
 
x