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Imhotep Survives Roman Catholic in D12 5A Championship

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

| November 18, 2023

Rewind to a year ago today and almost everything is the same. Roman Catholic and Imhotep playing each other for the District 12 5A championship at Northeast High School on a cold, windy, Saturday afternoon. But unlike last year, the score was much higher. Coming into the game, Imhotep came in undefeated at 11-0 and ranked PFN number 1 while Roman Catholic came in 8-2 ranked PFN number 3. Roman also came is the hardest team Tep has faced all season. With Imhotep being looked down upon and Roman seemed as the favor in some eyes, there was only one way to go for Tep.

“We played Archbishop Spalding, I feel like they’re better then Dematha. You know they played St. Joe’s Prep a great team, and Spalding and Prep has played each other so you can kind of actually put that into perspective and you know we came out here and just played our game” Said Jahsear Whittignton.

“Yep it was” Said Qb Mikal Davis when mentioned about how Roman would be their hardest game. He contimued saying “Our Doubters? You mean they’re our Motivators. Our Haters are our motivators, we hear what they talking about we just block out the noice, we take it game by game you know but Roman did give us the hardest game of the year. I’ll give that to them. But we battled tested man. Our Pregame speech was ‘Men don’t run from adversity they take it on'”.

“First and Foremost must respect for coach Prite and Roman that’s a hell of a team over there you know that’s a hell of a team; They got a lot better coach over there you can tell those guys play hard for him, they’re very talented and they’re defensive scheme is really good over there but this year I’m telling you, we do a lot of brain training and stuff like that making sure our guys are focused mentally and mentally tough and I think that was the difference like them being able to play from behind and not give up, you know we gave up a touchdown to go down by ten points with eight minutes left in the game you know they could have gave up right there but they didn’t because that’s a resilient group and our seniors don’t want to go out like that” Coach Devon Johnson said about what’s different from this year vs last year the two teams met.

Between Davis for Tep and Semaj Beals for Roman, this was a great QB matchup. Davis finished with three touchdowns, all three rushing while Beals finished with four, three passing, and one rushing. On Tep’s side with Davis, a true warrior. Without his starting receiver in Tyseer Denmark, having his trusty running back Jabree Wallace Coleman go down, getting hit from all sides all game, from being hit out of bounds to being bent backward from his back he somehow only missed one snap. On two of his three touchdowns, Davis did the Philadelphia Eagles special “Brotherly Shove” where he was pushed into the endzone. However, even after those two touchdowns, surviving all the hits, and creating plays, his most important play came with four minutes and thirty-four seconds remaining in the game. A simple four-yard keep to the outside and lowering his shoulder into the endzone is what brought Tep back within three.

“I’m a Warrior. Man I’m battle tested at Imhotep. They don’t train us to win games, they train us to win a war. So I’m good I’m just like a fighter” Said Davis.

“We gone get that looked at for sure. We gone get that arm looked at but when he was out the game I had to put the team on my back. I’m a Quarterback you know I can run. I’m a dual threat I can do both: So when they call my name to run the ball it’s cool” Said Davis when asked about Wallace-Colemans injury and how they went on without him.

“Man we don’t reload we rebuild here. So we got Freshmans thats came in and ready to work we train em’ real well. So we had two freshman receivers in and they stepped up real well and were real good for us, and then we had a junior receiver for us Isaiah Prater you know he stepped for us as well” Said Davis.

“We practice hard, we practice hard we make sure every single person on our roster is ready for their moment…and we make sure the backups get their reps to so when they step up they’re not dear in the headlights” Said Coach Johnson

 

Beals and Jah Jah Boyd for Roman Catholic simply put were fantastic. Long strike after long strike only proved how good each of these players are. Beals only three passing touchdowns came in the hands of Boyd. Touchdowns of seventy-five yards, forty-seven, and forty-five yards. Beal’s fourth and final touchdown came off the simple one-yard QB keep up the middle. Roman last touchdown put them up in the lead 26-16 with 8:35 remaining in the game. And of course, the final touchdown came from none other than Boyd. The downside came out of half though. After Beal had his three touchdowns and Boyd had his two all in the first half, they were only able to score one final touchdown in that second half.

“Not being disipline, not staying outside, he’s a good guy I mean good receiver and all that but yea we just came over to quick” Said Malik Drayton on the troubles stopping Jah Jah Boyd.

“That’s a good quarter back so you know put a good quarterback under pressure, it makes the game easier for you” Said Whittington on how he was able to help slow down Boyd.

The final four minutes were the most hectic. It all starts with Davis getting into the endzone to make it a three-point game. Roman had a chance to seal the game out with a good drive, yet they could not get anything started and were forced to punt into the wind. The wind being wild, strong, and violent all day took an effect on the punt, a low punt right into the wind put the ball on the Roman forty-yard line with 2:27 in the game. After a minute and fifty-one seconds passed by, Imhotep took their first lead since 7:42 in the second quarter. Word got his first touchdown of the game and was the first person other than Davis to get into the endzone. A three-yard rush gave Tep the hopeful win. Roman had shown its quick-strike abilities, unfortunately for them, Imhotep had adapted. With pressure coming towards Beal’s he had to get the ball out, the ball went up and into the arms of Malik Drayton of Tep. With twenty-three seconds remaining and only one timeout, Imhotep had secured their win 30-26 win.

“Going into that drive we felt like we found something with tempo, a lot of the drives we were driving the ball we outgained them in the first half even though it don’t seem like that we was down 19-8 at first but we knew that we could move the ball. We weren’t finishing in the redzone and I think that’s what you saw a lot” Said Coach Johnson. He went on by saying0″ We had some guys that went down, and we young guys that really stepped up in big moments; a lot of our twenty-sevens those freshman they really stepped up in big moments, Johann Hennington made big plays, Rondell Word made big plays, Kareem Haqq, Eisa Nealy, they made big plays down the line but most importantly was Mikal Davis that made those plays down the line”

“I was thinking like I gotta end the game like it’s now or never. If I ain’t catch this ball bro they prob would still be in the game so I had to end it right there” Said the Drayton on what went through his head when he saw the ball coming his way.

“I can’t thank them enough, I can’t be greatful enough to be on two different sides with a Five star four star defensive end and then me having the stars and the offers I do myself so I feel that takes a lot of pressure off me” Said Whittington about how greatful he is to be on a team with other great players. He went on saying “Once I saw the ball going to Malik Drayton I knew him for so long, and I seen him progress from little league — Me and him played for the same orginization — so I knew once the ball went towards him I knew he was gone get it”

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