West Philadelphia Speedboys Capture First Public League Title in 83 years

Tagged under: District 12, News, pfn, Playoffs

Anthony Franklin | November 9, 2024

The West Philadelphia Speedboys Friday afternoon traveled across the city to play Martin Luther King in a Public League 4A championship and the right to play the Catholic League 4A Champion Bonner-Prendie. These two teams are no stranger to one another as the 2023 season they played twice, once as a divisional matchup and the second game was a semi-final playoff game and in both games King came out on top. The regular season game King won 34-22 and in the playoffs they prevailed 19-14. Friday West came in to the game as Liberty Division champions riding a 4 game winning streak.

The game would start with West Philly getting on the board early in the 1st quarter behind star RB/LB Zahfir Cleveland who would jumpstart the offense on the opening possession carrying defenders to the goal line. Sophomore RB Jahsir Newsome would plunge in for a short touchdown to give the Speedboys an early 6-0 lead. King would start at their own 35 yard line after a West illegal pick penalty and behind the running and throwing of Sr. QB Trent Gilliard they’d move into Speedboy territory thanks to a great catch and run by Sr. WR/DB Makhi Robinson. The drive would stall and on 4th down King attempted a 38 yard field goal that sailed just wide. Makhi would be active on the defensive side as well recording 2 sacks in the 2nd quarter stopping West from putting more points on the board. Unfortunately his offense had trouble finding yards on the ground and in the passing game forcing King to go 3 and out on consecutive drives until their final possession before the half when they would drive into the redzone and on 3rd down with under 10 seconds remaining Trent attempted to throw a pass that would be intercepted by Sr. DE Sa’iyd Harper Haines who returned it 82 yards for a touchdown to extend the lead to 12-0 with no time left on the clock.

The 2nd half would feature plenty of carries and yards from Zahfir as he would finish the afternoon with 21 carries for 136 yards and Jahsir punching in another short carry for a touchdown for the final victory margin of 18-0 in favor of the Speedboys. Coach Karl “Bubb” Patrick hoisted the championship trophy with his staff and players completing a mission he started 4 years ago. Defensively for the Speedboys Sa’iyd led the team in tackles with 10 while Zahfir chipped in with 9 tackles.

This championship is the first for West since 1941 and its first title since the Public League joined the PIAA. West will play Bonner next weekend in what’s another neighborhood rival as both schools are separated by just 3 miles. While many believe Bonner is the heavy favorite the West players and staff aim to prove they belong and can have a lengthy state playoff run of their own.

Martin Luther King will be idle for 2 weeks before they finish their season hosting Olney High in their annual Thanksgiving game clash.

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