Jones’s Legs lead St. Joe’s Prep over Archbishop Wood 38-20. @WoodFootball @SJPrep_Football

Tagged under: District 12, Gameday Hub, News

Will Ryan | October 16, 2021

Sophomore QB Samaj Jones hands ball to official after taking it himself for a touchdown.

A windy day at William Tennent High School led to a rather sloppy and flowless first half between two historic Philadelphia Catholic League programs, St. Joseph’s Prep and Archbishop Wood. But in the second half, Samaj Jones provided the Hawks, hailing from 17th and Girard, some much needed stability in a 38-20 victory.

After watching the first drive from St. Joe’s Prep, it looked like the Hawks were poised for an easy victory over the Vikings, who came into Saturday at 5-2. Prep drove down the field from their own 2.5 for an 8 play touchdown drive. But it was never that easy for the Hawks again in the first half.

The next drive for Prep ended in a Wood DB, Andrew McHugh, “Pick 6”. The following drive ended with an Antonio Chadha punt. The drive after the Chadha punt concluded in yet another Samaj Jones interception, this time picked off by #5 Eric Wilson.

The Hawks then got a huge momentum boost from a Matthew Dumond-Josiah Trotter scoop and lateral defensive touchdown. On the final drive of the half, Jones connected with Brandon Rhemann on an out route to set up a Chadha FG to give Prep a 17-13 lead going into half.

Rhemann, a sophomore, had 0 varsity catches going into today’s contest. Without David Washington, who was unavailable today, Rhemann was given the opportunity. “He came up big today” said Samaj Jones in reference to Rhemann. “It’s really just trust, next man up, just trust”. Rhemann certainly not only earned Jones’s trust, but he also probably earned an opportunity to continue to get snaps as the season progresses.

The second half started off poorly for both teams. A punt was the result of the first drive for the Vikings. Prep then turned the ball over on downs, after sophomore running back Kahseim Phillips was stood up on a 4th &1.

Archbishop Wood stormed down the field, aided by a bizarre fumble that Prep failed to recover. QB Trey Holsman found 4★ LB Semaj Bridgeman, who was lined up as a WR, for a touchdown to give Wood a 20-17 lead. That lead was rather short lived.

Samaj Jones and the Prep offense stormed down the field and in the red zone, Jones found a hole up the middle and punched in a score to make it 24-20.

Then in the fourth quarter, Prep again stormed down the field and Jones ran outside to his left and powered in another score. The trend continued. Later on in the fourth quarter, Jones tried to pound it up the middle, then bounced outside and churned his legs for another score. “We realized at halftime how much we could bruise them with the run game… and we just took advantage of it” said Jones. Indeed they did take advantage of it, and St. Joe’s Prep moved to 4-2 on the season and 1-1 in Philadelphia Catholic League play.

Archbishop Wood has a bye next week, then will take on La Salle at Wissahickon High School on October 29th. Prep takes on Roman Catholic next week on Friday night.

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