Belmont make school history on Senior Night with win
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Anthony Franklin | October 11, 2025
The Belmont Charter Tigers on senior night made school history by starting the season 7-0 after defeating John Bartram 20-14. The tigers led by freshman QB Nafis Watkins who has thrown for over 1000 yards jumped out to an early 8-0 lead behind the strong running of Dash Carson who ran twice for 60 yards including the 5 yard touchdown as the Tigers jumped out to a 8-0 early lead. Defensively led by stud two way Sr. lineman Mason B Walker and his mate Jr. Lineman Tymir Seamon the Tigers bottled up the Bartram offense for most of the first half. The score remained 8-0 until late second quarter when both teams found some offensive juice. Belmont would get on the board first when Nafis found Jr Elias Colon in the corner of the endzone for a touchdown to extend the lead to 14-0 with 3 minutes left in the half. Bartram led by stud Sr QB Amare Gadson responded with an impressive drive that concluded with Amare rushing in from a yard to cut the lead at halftime to 14-6. Bartram received the 3rd quarter kickoff and continued their momentum by tying the score on a Amare touchdown pass to tie the score. The game would remain tied until Belmont took the lead for good late in the fourth quarter and Mason and Tymir led the defensive line in getting pressure to finish the game off for the final score of 20-14.
With the win Belmont made history as being the first team in program history to start the season 7-0. With the win they also clinched at least a share of the Liberty Division title. Next week they travel to Central and with a win they’ll outright win the division and have the option to move up next season to the top division Independence. As mentioned earlier Freshman QB Nafis Watkins tied the school passing record for yards in a season by a quarterback.
Mason a resident of West Philadelphia, stands at 6-3 310lbs and was dominant on both sides of the ball throughout the game. He described winning on senior night with the defense getting the final stop “a great feeling to be able to get a stop by coming together, fighting through adversity when we needed it most”. Belmont is the lone 1A school in the city so all of their opponents are larger schools ranging from 2A to 5A. While many would shun upon playing larger teams Belmont has always looked forward to the challenge. Mason stated “Being a smaller school other teams look down upon us weekly because we have a small sideline but that also motivates us every day and especially during practice. Our coaches also have instilled in us that football is an 11 man game, big sidelines mean nothing when we have talent and the right coaches to help us win and be successful”. Despite it being a physical game Mason shined on both sides of the ball he attributed being able to go both ways most of the game to “knowing the momentum of the game, having motivation from the coaches my teammates and fans I have to go 100% on both sides of the ball so that we always have the best outcome we want”. With regards to recruiting Mason has earned interest at both the Division 1 and Division 2 levels with Syracuse, Temple and West Chester all showing interest to varying degrees. While he has no favorites yet Syracuse highly impressed with their facilities, coaches and atmosphere during his visit this year and West Chester has shown lots of love and the coaches have built a strong genuine relationship with him. Next week Belmont goes for a perfect regular season against Central who looks to lock up a playoff spot. It will be quite the challenge but Mason is looking “to finish off the season with a perfect record in turn tying the school record for most wins in a season (8). Bartram finishes off the regular season with a senior night hosting Martin Luther King. A win will possibly give Bartram a playoff spot depending upon outcomes of other divisional games. Bartram defense was stout, physical and if they do clinch a playoff spot they will be a tough out in the public league playoffs.
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