Martin Luther King storms past West Philly for the Public League Liberty Division Title
Tagged under: District 12, News, pfn
Anthony Franklin | October 22, 2023
Back in 2021 the Martin Luther King Cougars were playing in the Public League Liberty Division against powerhouse programs Northeast & Imhotep. That season due to injuries, youth, inexperience and some bad breaks they struggled and went winless in the division. In the Public League the team at the bottom of the standings in each division is dropped to the next tier division the next season while the first place team in each division is promoted. The Cougars today secured their first division championship since they won the Philadelphia Public League back in 2018 when they won the 5A Public League Title and advanced to the 5A City Title game.
This game started with both teams feeling one another out and looked to be a low scoring defensive slugfest. However the Cougars would make the first big play of the game when Sr. QB Isaiah Robinson hooked up with Amir Muhammad for a 32 yard touchdown reception. Isaiah would convert the 2 point conversion on a QB rush for an early 8-0 lead. The Speedboys would respond driving the length of the field before failing short of the goal line giving the Cougars the ball back at their own 10 yard line. On second down and 10 the Cougars I would strike again with a 90 yard touchdown hook-up from Isaiah to Jr. WR Mahai Robinson to extend the lead to 16-0. The Speedboys would respond driving the length of the field to get the ball inside the 10 yard line when MLK Jr. CB Sameer Keith snagged an interception deep in the endzone and returned the ball 103 yards for an touchdown to extend the lead to 22-0 with 4:35 remaining in the half. They’d tack on an additional score when Shamir Norton rushed into the endzone for a 28-0 lead with 1:48 left in the half.
The Speedboys would respond to the adversity with a 40 yard catch and lateral touchdown to cut the lead to 22-8 heading into halftime. The 3rd quarter would feature quite a few hard hits and defensive stops until with 2:05 left in the 3rd quarter Isaiah Robinson found Makhai again this time for 25 yards for a touchdown to extend the lead to 34-8. The Speedboys would respond with an impressive drive and get a 7 yard rushing touchdown to cut the lead to 34-14 with 9:05 left in the 4th quarter. The Speedboys defense would step up and get a pick 6 of their own to cut the lead to 34-20 but time would run out on their comeback attempt. With the loss the Speedboys still finished a respectable 6-3 in the regular season. Their 3 losses came to opponents with a combined record of 20-3 so they are battle tested and prepared for this upcoming 5A playoff run. The Cougars finish the regular season at 7-1 and undefeated within the division and public league.
Junior CB Sameer Keith was a terror in the secondary. He finished the day with 2 interceptions and a handful of tackles. He said “My mindset coming into this game was just do what we couldn’t do last year and take home of being the Liberty Division champions. Our preparation coming into this game was nothing but competition at practice and playing together as a team. We knew coming into this game that it was going to be a lot of talking because of the history behind this game so I wasn’t focused on what was said I was just focused on what they were saying I was just focused on the task at hand which was coming out with the win”. When asked about the interception he returned for a touchdown Sameer said “It was a great call by my coach I can’t take all the credit because he called a perfect call to set me up and put me in the perfect position to make a play and everything just fell together. Once I have the ball in my hands and I see green I don’t think it’s nobody stopping me.” When asked what people should know about this MLK team he simply said “MLK as a team is different from last year, we aren’t what everyone is used to seeing, we’re very well coached, we play together and know how to keep our composure when people try to get under our skin because we are up. It’s going to be way different coming into the playoffs I’m telling ya’ll now!!”.
https://x.com/afrankl3/status/1715455130856734983?s=46&t=N5fVwd8BRHqOvVE3satFLw
The offensive star of the day was Jr. WR Makhai Robinson who finished with two touchdown receptions and 2 other clutch receptions to extend drives. Makhai stated “On the touchdown receptions I knew my teammates trusted me as we went into the game with our heads high and our offensive coach knew what he was doing and had plays ready. He checked out the defense and gave my quarterback the play we ran and because we all trusted in one another and my quarterback trusted in me he found me wide open and Coach wanted to extend the lead right before halftime and decided to call my number again because he knew I’d make a play which I did to give us a large halftime lead.”
King played this game without 2 starters as Senior Sahfi Reed was unavailable as well as Jr. LB Khalid Bueno (injured on the first defensive play). For the Speedboys this season was a success and they’re rewarded with a #4 seed in the playoffs which means they’ll open the playoffs in the Jungle at 48th and Spruce next Friday. For King they’re the #2 seed and will have a home playoff game next weekend.
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