Playoff Preview: 4A City Championship – Bonner/Prendie vs. West Philadelphia (D12/4A City Title)

Tagged under: District 12, News, pfn, Playoffs

Mike Livingston | November 14, 2024

West Philadelphia – 7-4 (4A PFN Rank: NR)

Head Coach: Karl Patrick (3rd Season – 21-12)

The 2024 West Philadelphia HS Speedboys are no stranger to history. The team is coming off an 18-0 victory over Martin Luther King just last week to claim their first Philadelphia Public League title in 83 years.

Now they’ll face Bonner/Prendie in the school’s first-ever meeting on the gridiron. It will be a neighborhood rivalry game for the 4A City Championship as the Speedboys make their first appearance in the game in the same amount of time, though they’ve yet to come away victorious in the contest. (see game recap below, via; Tedsilary.com)

“1941
At Franklin Field
West Phila. 0, West Catholic 0
With a Thanksgiving crowd of 40,000 — largest to watch a scholastic game in Philadelphia — looking on, West Philly played its fourth scoreless season tie. Twice within the last 6 minutes, 5-6, 145-pound Francis “Bud” Williams frustrated West Catholic by sending out coffin-corner punts at the 2 and 10. Defense by Albert “Buck” Gornish and Charles “Sonny” Leonard limited the Burrs to three trips into Speedboy territory. In the final minute, WC’s Cornelius White completed passes of 11 yards to John Kenney and 27 to Frank Kane, moving the ball to WP’s 30. But the clock ran out. WC defeated Harrisburg Catholic 31-0 the following week for the state’s mythical Catholic championship. Leo Dillon scored three TDs.”

West, who is 7-4 thus far in 2024 will look to claim their first-ever city title with a win over Bonner—continuing a stretch of winning football that began with their first +.500 in campaign six seasons back in 2022 under the then-second-year HC Patrick. Since then, Patrick has led the Speedboys to the Public League (Liberty Divison) playoffs in consecutive seasons despite falling to King in last year’s 4A title game.

They’ll be led by their running game, and one senior back in particular; Zahfir Cleveland. Cleveland, the Speedboy’s two-way star tailback recorded 136 yards along with nine tackles last week against MLK. Cleveland has been a one-man show this season for West, with 1145 yards and six touchdowns. The star back is also closing in on multiple school records including the career rushing record held by the class of 99’s David Watson with 2238 yards, though it would take a monster day for Cleveland to make the jump from the 1958 he is at now. Compliments in the backfield will come from junior quarterback Xavier Howard (504 yds, 8 tds) and back Mekhi Bryant (316 yds, 2 tds)

As far as offense goes the Speedboys lean on their run game to get them by, Howard has thrown for just 317 yards this season while tossing four touchdowns to eight interceptions – marginally less than his rushing numbers. Additionally, through the air, the only weapon West has shown to have is in the form of a sophomore receiver Neelaj Armstead who has recorded a team-high 189 yards and two touchdowns this year.

The strength of the team nonetheless is their defense which has allowed just 12.4 points per game this year and finished off their season with shutouts in four of the last five games. Heading that Speedboy defense is the strong backfield duo of Cleveland and senior linebacker Saire Bailey who leads the team with 82 tackles on the year. Up front, however, it’s the defensive end pairing of seniors Amin Winston and Sa’iyd Harper-Haines who have combined for a menacing 14.0 sacks and 18.0 TFLs on the year thus far.

Don’t forget senior DB Nasir Ward and sophomore LB Jahsir Newsome who complement the West defense perfectly as tacklers on the second level.

This is a West Philadelphia team that has put together one the best showings in Public League this year garnering notable wins over George Washington and MLK along with a hard-fought loss against a good Father Judge club early in the season. Though it’s going to be a tough challenge going up against one of the PCL’s best in Bonner it will be interesting to see how West matches up in most phases of the game come Saturday afternoon in South Philadelphia.

Bonner/Prendie – 8-2 (4A PFN Rank: 8)

Head Coach: Jack Muldoon (8th Season – 56-30 All-time)

The district/state playoff stage is nothing new for the Friars.

Jack Muldhoon’s team has made appearances late into November during five of his eight seasons at the helm in Drexel Hill. The team is also coming into Saturday’s game looking to claim their fourth consecutive D12/4A City title dating back to 2021.

The Friars turned a lot of heads during their first season in the Catholic League’s red division with notable wins over Roman Catholic, and The Haverford School. Bonner also picked up big convincing victories over Cardinal O’Hara, Father Judge, and the PCL’s blue division champion Archbishop Ryan all the while putting up an astounding 62 points on Archbishop Wood in week two.

The menacing offensive output didn’t come from nothing, as the Friars boasted one of the most potent all-around offenses in the Catholic League all season long. Led by sophomore quarterback Noel Campbell and three-star senior wideout Jalil Hall (West Virginia) the Friars’ offense is rounded out by superstar senior runningback Mick Johnson.

Bonner has carried out a very balanced attack on offense all year, though headed at times by their young star quarterback. Campbell, who was 137-211 with 2095 yards and a whopping 21 touchdowns through the air on the year.

The star receiver duo of Hall and senior Jeremiah Coleman have complimented Campbell all year as the two combined for 1391 yards on the season (763 Hall, 628 Coleman). All the while Hall pulled in nine scores of the year compared with Coleman’s six.

Seniors Chris Jones and Rob Ford round out the Friar receiving corps, both tallying north of 200 yards with a few scores between the two of them.

If the West Philadelphia defense already doesn’t have enough to worry about in the air, they’ll also need to keep tabs on Johnson along with junior Saleem Frink on the ground. Johnson, who recorded 766 yards on 101 carries and 17 touchdowns has been a wrecking ball out of the backfield for the Friars all year. Frink has been a steady compliment all the same with 93 touches for 493 yards and five scores. Both backs have tallied multiple 100-yard games this season with Johnson going on a four-game tear between weeks 2-5 of 100-yard contests.

While not the team’s strong suit, the Bonner defense still stands as a force to be reckoned with. The team allowed 21.5 ppg in 2024, totaling 215 points. Senior DB Kahlil Holey, junior DE CJ Amboi, and senior LB Brett Johnson all make up the heart of the Bonner defense. Holey and Amboi combined for over a hundred tackles, 33 TFLs, and 8.5 sacks in 2024. While Johnson served as a rover in the backfield with 48 tackles and an interception. Junior LB Ashton Woodard, and senior CBs Robert Nettles-Carter, and Dylan Spindle round out the names to watch on Bonner’s defense.

Coming into the game with one of the best offenses in District 12 this season along with several big-time names on defense the Friars should look to simply play their game on Saturday as they fancy their fourth straight 4A city title.

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