Northeast DeShawn Woodhouse powers the Vikings past Gratz
Tagged under: District 12, Gameday Hub, News, pfn
Anthony Franklin | September 23, 2024
Both Simon Gratz and Northeast entered Saturday’s contest anxious to start Public League Independence Division play. Gratz entered the game 4-0 with wins over Catholic League program Carroll, Mastery North, Capital Prep & Executive Education Academy. Northeast entered 2-2 with wins over West Catholic and Boys Latin to start the season before suffering back-to-back defeats to Easton and Germantown Academy.
Saturday’s game displayed two of the city’s best running backs with Gratz Tray Parsons and Northeast’s Deshawn Woodhouse. Northeast would get on the board first late in the first quarter behind the hard running of DeShawn as he often carried multiple defenders before being brought down. Finally, they’d get a short rushing touchdown to take an early 7-0 lead. The ensuing kickoff Tray ran 50 yards taking the ball back to the Northeast 42-yard line. After a Northeast penalty on 4th down gave the Bulldogs a first down Quamire Jones ran in the end zone for a touchdown to cut the lead to 7-6 with 10:03 left in the second quarter. The next possession for northeast saw a little trickery as Kyaire Stewart threw a touchdown pass on a double reverse to give the Vikings a 14-6 lead with 8:01 left in the first half. Tray would once again display his speed and vision when Gratz started the possession at midfield thanks to a penalty for unnecessary roughness on a Viking defender as he ripped off two large rushes to get the ball down into the red zone. Unfortunately, Gratz offense would stall, and they’d walk away without points and go into halftime trailing 14-6. The score would remain such until late in the 3rd quarter when Hanif Jones found David Brown in the end zone for a touchdown catch with 0:31 left in the 3rd quarter. Gratz would fail to convert the 2-point attempt and trail 14-12.
Deshawn on the ensuing possession displayed why he’s one of the top backs in the city when he took a handoff and raced 43 yards to the end zone to extend the lead to 21-12 as time expired to end the 4th quarter. Gratz would toss an interception on their next possession thanks to a great play on the ball by Rasheed Grinage and the Vikings would start at Gratz 23-yard line with 11:40 on the clock. Northeast offense stalls and they lined up for what would be a 35-yard attempt. They tried some trickery, and Gratz sniffed it out and had life with keeping the game within striking distance. After a couple first downs they’d be denied on 4th down by Deshawn as he crashed down hard to stop a quarterback run. The Vikings offense stalled, and they were forced to punt the ball. Quamire then ran 69 yards to the end zone to get the Bulldogs within one as they trailed 21-20 with just 4:09 left in regulation. Northeast would respond with a beautiful touchdown pass from Lamont Brown to Kyaire Stewart in double coverage to extend the lead to 27-20 with 2:31 left in the game. Gratz would take possession down 7 with 2:23 left in the 4th quarter and drove the ball to the Northeast 49-yard line. With 0:40 left on the game clock and facing 4th and 13 the Bulldogs opted for a QB rollout that was sniffed out and stopped by DeShawn to end any chance at a comeback for Gratz as Northeast handed the Bulldogs their first loss of the 2024 campaign dropping them to 4-1 while Northeast improved their record to 3-2. Deshawn would end the game with over 150 yards rushing, 1 sack and 4 tackles for loss. Tray would also finish the game with over 150 total yards via rushing and return yardage.
Deshawn acknowledged coming off a 2-game losing streak “Going into the game we were down some key players I knew I had to step it up as a captain on the team. I was able to play at a high level on both sides of the ball all game because we have intense & high-level practices”. A northeast resident sporting a 2.77 GPA Deshawn is a leader on the field and off as well for his teammates. This year is the first for Head Coach Nick Lincoln which meant transitioning to a new style of play as well as new players entering the program. Deshawn noted that “It’s not an easy process for anyone but Coach Lincoln is a good leader and coach and knows what’s best for his program. The chemistry is only getting better from here”. With regards to the last defensive stand, he simply stated “We have to protect the crib at all costs. I feel like the defense knew that, so we all stepped up and ended the game”.
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