Gratz’s quarterback King Salley, who was a perfect 10-for-10 passing

PHILADELPHIA, PA — King Salley thought for a moment, and the Gratz Mastery Charter 6-foot-2, 212-pound junior quarterback took another few seconds to think some more. You could almost see the thought bubble form over his head, “The last time I was perfect in a game … the last time I was perfect in a game … the last time I was perfect in a game.”

Salley could never come up with an answer, because he was never perfect in a game—until Saturday.

Salley completed a perfect 10 of 10 passes for 218 yards and four touchdowns in Gratz’s 39-9 dominance over Bartram in a Philadelphia Public League B Division game.

The Bulldogs improved to 6-2 overall with the victory and clinched their first Pub Division B title in program history, while Bartram fell to 6-3.

Salley, along with the 148 yards rushing from senior tailback Amar Woodson, have quietly kept Gratz winning, despite the program undergoing a recent major change, when Gratz principal—and former Gratz coach—Erik Zipay took over the team the last three weeks in place of dismissed Gratz coach Albie Crosby.

The players have remained together and they continue to win.

The Bulldogs, who are Class 4A, will play the top Class 4A team from the Philadelphia Catholic League. Salley, who transferred in to Gratz from Neumann-Goretti, won his eligibility hearing to play in the postseason.

He started strong and ended stronger. Four of his 10 completions went for touchdowns of 51, 15, 31 and 56 yards.

The Bulldogs were dominant, although they were their worst enemy. They were flagged 16 times for 170 yards.

“I have trust in my receivers, and I knew once they caught the ball, they could all run,” said Salley, who has offers from Delaware State, Akron and Syracuse. “It was pitch-and-catch. We do need to clean up the penalties. We need to play with more discipline. I have to think about that, though, perfect in a game, perfect in a game, actually, no I was never perfect in a game before. This is a first.”

The Bulldogs scored on all four of the offensive drives in the first half, and Jamie Boyer returned a pick-six 35 yards. By halftime, Gratz led 32-3.

“I know King completed a lot of passes, I didn’t know he completed all of them,” Zipay said. “King is really a dynamic young man who excels in and out of the classroom. We have a lot of young talent, and King has been an exceptional leader. He is working is way to being a Power 5 quarterback. He has the poise, the character, everything you want in a quarterback, and he has a rocket for an arm.”

Bartram had its moments, too, especially senior receiver Stephan Green, who caught a game-high five passes for 105 yards. Many were of the highlight reel type against top talent. Green caught one sideline pass over his shoulder from a seemingly impossible angle, yet secured the ball and tapped both feet in bounds. Perhaps his most impressive catch came between two defenders who crunched him, yet he held on.

“Offensively, we should have done way better,” Green said, who has not received any college offers yet. “We needed more intensity in the first half. We were a little shaken up in the first half. We made some adjustments in the second half, talked it out, and came out with a lot of energy.”

The Braves are a Class 3A school, and have the talent to make some noise in the postseason.

Bartram coach JD Ockimey was happy with the way his team competed, but “If we made our adjustments earlier, and used more experience on the offensive line, the outcome would have been closer,” he said. “We finished the game putting some fight in the game. They landed the haymaker in the first half, and we were too stunned to recover. I didn’t like how we started the game, but I did like how we finished it.”

Scoring Summary

Simon Gratz (7-1) 12 20 7 0-39
Bartram (6-3) 3 0 0 6-9

1st Quarter
SG –  Joe Melonson 51 pass from King Salley (run failed), 7:25

B –  Kemokai Mohammed 23 FG, 2:44

SG – Amar Woodson 74 run (kick failed), 1:00

2nd Quarter

SG – Jamie Boyer 35 INT return run (Nick Guedes kick), 11:00

SG –  Melonson 15 pass from Salley (Guedes kick), 8:46

SG –  Semaj Thomas 31 pass from Salley (kick failed), :55

3rd Quarter

SG –  Nehemiah Coston 56 pass from Salley (Guedes kick), 7:32

4th Quarter

B –  Toney Freeman 20 pass from Tyler Freeman (pass failed), 11:36

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter who has been covering high school football since 1992 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow EasternPAFootball.com on Twitter @EPAFootball.

Great Valley’s Beau Kosmalski

MALVERN, PA — It was eight years ago, and 16-year-old Beau Kosmalski vividly remembers. He was around eight, and a little too afraid to play football, fearful he would get hit and get hurt. He even told his father that was it, he was not going to play football again after grade school.

Something happened along the way. The first time he ever touched the ball, he ran the wrong direction on a play—and scored a touchdown. It’s when he fell in love with being a running back.

Kosmalski now has something more unforgettable to place in his mental log book—with the type of game that stretches the limits of the imagination not only for the 5-foot-10, 185-pound Great Valley junior tailback, but for anyone who witnessed what he did Friday night when the Patriots hosted Archbishop Wood.

Kosmalski splattered every single-game school rushing record in a night, running for 406 yards on 32 carries and scoring three touchdowns in a dazzling performance that translated into a 34-27 Great Valley victory.

The Patriots are 9-0 for the first time since 2004, while Wood fell to 6-3, despite strong games from Dandre Webb, who rushed for 219 yards and three touchdowns on 26 carries, and quarterback John Drakeley, who scored once.

But it was Kosmalski who ruled the field. He had 200 yards by halftime on 20 carries and 206 yards rushing on 12 carries in the second half. He averaged 12.6 yards a carry, and entered the game needing 232 yards to break the school’s single-season rushing mark held by Jim McDevitt over 12 games in 1978, when he ran for 1,839 yards and 23 touchdowns. Kosmalski established a new mark midway through the third quarter on a five-yard run.

He ended the game not only breaking the single-season record but the school single-game record for yards rushing in a game. The 406-yard performance brought him to 2,014 yards rushing this season and 30 touchdowns—in nine games—in his resonating season.

Kosmalski was first to admit he had considerable help along the way. Tackles Dean Hickman and Nick Langston, guards Najee Dorsey and Emmanuel Buitrago, center Alan Johnson and receivers Sonny Baldino and Cooper Callahan each played significant roles in springing Kosmalski loose the entire game.

“Without those guys, I go nowhere,” Kosmalski said. “There were times I wasn’t touched until I was around 10 yards downfield. But I still can’t believe this. I think my best attribute by far is my vision. I had gaps to run through everywhere.

“Teams can’t figure out our offense. This game was a battle. This is the best team we played.”

Football was a second sport to Kosmalski, a standout wrestler. He followed his younger brother Dean to the football field.

“I remember it, I remember it well,” Beau said, laughing, recalling his first experiences. “I was around eight and too afraid to get hit. I told my dad I wouldn’t play in high school. The first time I ever touched the ball, it was against Spring-Ford and I ran 68 yards for a touchdown. I remember bouncing outside for a touchdown and the coach yelling at me because I didn’t follow the play. I loved being a running back ever since. It was eight years ago, and I still remember it.

“I thought tonight I had a good game maybe around 200 yards, maybe upper 200s. I never thought about 400 yards. I can’t really wrap my head around this.”

He had runs of 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19, 23, 29, 34, and 52 yards. Of his 32 carries, 14 were for double-figure yardage. After a slow start in which his first three carries amounted to eight yards, he broke loose for a 21-yard carry, giving him 29 yards, then doubled that on the next play with a 29-yard run.

He was a swirling human tornado.

The thought that he was once afraid to play football could have fooled anyone at Great Valley’s stadium.

“That kid is next level,” Wood coach Brian Goettner said about Kosmalski. “That kid is special. We knew we had to stop him and we didn’t. His vision is special. You can see that in the way he cuts back.”

Wood was exceptional, even in defeat. The Vikings kept fighting back each time Great Valley took a lead. The teams were deadlocked at 27-27 when Great Valley’s Andrew Stanley unfurled a perfect pass down the middle to a wide-open Callahan for a 43-yard touchdown and 34-27 lead with 11:10 to play.

What didn’t help the Vikings was getting flagged seven times for 65 yards in penalties, which included a Webb touchdown called back in the first half on a holding call and an extra point blocked by Dean Kosmalski.

“Those points matter in close games like this,” said Goettner, whose team is a Class 3A program and will be a problem for any 3A team in the state by the way it played Great Valley. “Great Valley is a great football team. I’ll be following them throughout the playoffs. But for us, this was a great way to prepare for the postseason. We battled, but it’s two weeks with close games that we lost (in the last 30 seconds to West Catholic last week).”

Buoyed by Kosmalski and head coach Gary Phillips, this season has been a resurrection for the Great Valley program.

The Patriots were a combined 6-14 over the previous two years. A month ago, they were one of the biggest surprises in the area, beginning 5-0 and ranked No. 3 in PIAA District 1 Class 5A.

The Patriots are no longer a surprise.

Great Valley chewed through a very talented Wood team and proved to be capable of beating any Class 5A team in eastern Pennsylvania.

Phillips, who is in his second year of his second stint at Great Valley and 19th overall, has been the catalyst behind the resurgence.

He set new high bars on team culture. He slowly built a young team that had taken more than its share of lumps over the last years into a viable PIAA District 1 Class 5A championship contender.

And he was instrumental he creating the Kosmalski running machine.

“Beau is having games like this against quality teams like Wood, which was excellent, and he did this against Kennett and Unionville,” Phillips said. “What happened tonight was a credit to the offensive line, and Baldino and Callahan were great blocking down field. It’s complete efforts like that that make nights like this. A lot of it was Beau, but he would be the first to tell you, the guys up front had a lot to do with it.”

The way this season is shaping up, more special things may be ahead for Kosmalski and the Patriots.

One thing is certain, Great Valley solidified its role as a formidable threat to play beyond November.

Scoring Summary

Archbishop Wood (6-3) 7 6 14 0-27
Great Valley (9-0) 7 10 10 7-34

1st Quarter
AW –  Dandre Webb 17 run (Trevor Homnick kick), 4:26
GV –  Beau Kosmalski 16 run (Ryan Wilsher kick), 4:26

2nd Quarter

AW – John Drakeley 1 run (kick failed), 11:00
GV – Kosmalski 4 run (Wilsher kick), 8:06
GV – Wilsher 22 FG, :00

3rd Quarter

GV– Wilsher 30 FG, 7:14
AW – Webb 6 run (Homnick kick), 3:03
GV – Kosmalski 23 run (Wilsher kick), :31
AW – Webb 74 run (Homnick kick), 09.2

4th Quarter

GV – Cooper Callahan 43 pass from Andrew Stanley (Wilsher kick), 11:10

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter who has been covering high school football since 1992 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow EasternPAFootball.com on Twitter @EPAFootball.

Springfield’s Finn Delany 

FOLSOM, PA — The game carried marquee appeal. The billing carried two undefeated teams with stubborn defenses that were among the top in the state in scoring defense.

They also happened to be traditional, fierce rivals.

Zeros galore orbited Springfield (Delco) and host Ridley Friday night. The Central League rivals were each 5-0. Both had multiple shutouts this season, with Springfield entering the game as Pennsylvania’s No. 1 scoring defense, giving up a stingy 1.7 points a game with three shutouts, while Ridley had four shutouts and were holding teams to 4.7 points a game.

How does a team drop from giving up an average of less than 2 points a game?

Pitch another shutout.

It’s exactly what the Cougars did to Ridley, in a 20-0 victory that was textbook Springfield, nothing flashy, standard fundamentals, playing smart.

The Cougars (6-0) have a habit of zapping anticipation. This was supposed to be an exciting close game, but instead, it turned into a systematic dissection of the Green Raiders’ offense.

Springfield held Ridley to a total of four first downs and 89 yards of total offense. The Green Raiders did not achieve their first first down of the second half until there was 9:35 to play in the game. By then, Springfield was up 20-0.

Of Ridley’s 10 possessions, the Green Raiders crossed the 50 once, on their first drive, reaching the Springfield 38, the deepest Ridley would get the entire game.

Springfield’s run defense was dogged, giving up an average of 1.7 yards a carry, which ironically matched the number of points the Cougars were giving up a game this season until Friday night, when that miniscule number somehow managed to now fall to a state-leading low of 1.6 points a game.

Cougars’ head coach Chris Britton runs the defense, with some help from his personal defensive Yoda, legendary defensive guru Mike D’Esposito, who has forgotten more than anyone in Delaware County may know about football with a 10-year stint at defunct St. James, followed by 27 years with his buddy Steve Lennox at Interboro and now here under Britton the last four years at Springfield.

The Cougars are coming off an historic 2025 season and seem primed to at least equal what they accomplished last year, when they won their first District 1 Class 5A championship with a single-season school record 14 victories, going 14-1 overall and reaching the PIAA Class 5A state semifinals, where they lost to eventual state champion Roman Catholic.

High expectation already abound for the Cougars before they visited rival Ridley Friday night. They were confirmed by Springfield’s intractable defense led by seniors TJ Valletti, Zion Culbreth, Finn Delaney and Alex McGinnis, and juniors Tommy Griffin, Chase Christy, Michael DePetris and Brady Wainwright.

“We have captains and we also have a lot of leaders on this team,” Britton said. “We are undersized up front, but that is the way it always is on both fronts. Our defensive front is selfless, and they listen. They play sound, and they play smart. There isn’t just one unsung kid on this team. We have a team of unsung kids. Christy came out of nowhere to play really well, and Wainwright came out.

“We have good coaches who work well with each other and coaches that have different roles. Our guys are good at taking what we’re selling. It’s a culture thing. We have a good group of seniors that police each other.”

Britton said the defense is a cohesive unit that knows the system.

“Other teams have to adjust to us,” Delaney said. “We’re disciplined. We don’t make many mistakes. We have a great plan put in by our coaches. We switch things up. We thought we would be this good on defense. It’s everyone who is doing it. We were calling out plays and communicating. We were really confident coming in here.”

So confident that the Cougars knew what Ridley was going to do before the Green Raiders did it.

“That’s the coaching staff preparing us,” said Valletti, a dual-sport star in football and basketball. “Everyone on this defense is smart. We knew pretty much every play that was coming. Coach Britton prepared us well. (Ridley) has a lot of tells that we picked up on.”

Springfield started slow, but picked it up in the second half, scoring on its first drive when John Hopkins hit Shane Kilroy with an 8-yard touchdown pass with 2:43 to go in the third quarter.

By the end of the quarter, Springfield had outgained Ridley 149 to 10, and 175 to 33 in the second half with the Cougars turning out 13 first downs to Ridley’s 2. For the game, Springfield amassed 296 yards of total offense to Ridley’s 89 yards.

Entering Week 7, Springfield is No. 2 in District 1 Class 5A behind No. 1 Chester, which the Cougars beat in last year’s district championship. It seems the two programs are another collision course to the finals.

The problem Springfield faces in securing the No. 1 seed in the District 1 Class 5A playoffs—and homefield advantage throughout the playoffs—is that the cumulative record of its last three opponents is 8-11, which affects bonus points. The Cougars also face one more heavy test in their season finale against Strath Haven, which is coming off its biggest win this season in a 13-7 victory over previously undefeated Garnet Valley on Friday night.

Chester’s last four opponents, however, are a combined 16-10, when the Clippers face a 3A, 4A, 5A and 6A team each.

The inevitable Chester-Springfield District 1 5A championship collision may also have a lurking interloper in a very good, young Great Valley team, which holds one of the season’s best storylines. The Patriots are 7-0 and have more than doubled their victory total of a year ago when they went 3-7 overall.

But for right now, Springfield is focusing on staying king in the land of zeros.

Scoring Summary

Springfield (Delco) (6-0) 0 7 13 0-20

Ridley (5-1) 0 0 0 0-0

2nd Quarter

Spr. – TJ Valletti 3 run (Zarel Suarez kick), 7:00

3rd Quarter

Spr. – Shane Kilroy 8 pass from John Hopkins (Suarez kick), 2:43

4th Quarter

Spr. – Jackson Sheffield 6 run (kick failed), 10:32

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter who has been covering high school football since 1992 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow EasternPAFootball.com on Twitter @EPAFootball.

Legendary veteran coaches Mike D’Esposito (left) and Steve Lennox (right) play important roles in Springfield’s football machine

Chester’s Kenjai Gatling

PROSPECT PARK, PA — You wouldn’t know Kenjai Gatling has a pulse. The Chester 6-foot-2, 200-pound senior quarterback carries an icy, stoic veneer that nothing seems to penetrate, even a windy, raging rain storm or an undefeated defense on a Friday night.

Gatling, who transferred to Chester from national powerhouse DeMatha Catholic (Md.), scored two touchdowns and threw for another in Chester’s 17th-straight Del-Val League victory, stopping previously undefeated Interboro, 36-14, at Interboro Friday night in a game played under challenging, mucky conditions.

Chester, the four-time defending Del-Val League champions, last lost a Del-Val game on October 30, 2021, to Academy Park. Since then, the undefeated PIAA District 1 Class 5A No. 1-ranked Clippers (6-0) have not lost to a Del-Val team and have gone a combined 51-7 over the last five years.

Twins Jalen and Daron Harris led the last four Chester teams. Gatling is emerging as one of the leaders for this team, along with a very young nucleus led by freshmen tailbacks Sa’Mham Williams and De’von Morton, sophomore Kanif Doward, juniors Ja’siyn Mallory-Granberry, Demir Hatchett and Zahir Clayton and seniors Shane McCalain and Sekai Brown-Murray, who are among only eight seniors on the team.

Friday night was supposed to be a challenge, and it was, compounded by a pounding, fierce storm the teams played through most of the first half.

For one, Interboro coach Pat Fisher has completely turned the Bucs’ program around. The previous two years, the Bucs were 2-9 and 3-9, winning a combined five games. In Fisher’s third year, Interboro equaled that total in the first five games of this season, going 5-0 for the first time since 2009, when hardly any of Fisher’s current team were born.

Midway through the third quarter, the Clippers were holding a 16-8 lead with Interboro driving for a possible tying score after the Bucs recovered a fumble on a kickoff. The Bucs were threatening, when Chester’s defense held at the Clippers’ five.

In two plays, Chester was sitting at the Interboro three, before Williams scored the second of his two touchdowns, solidifying Chester’s lead.

From there, Gatling scored twice nailing down what was a more a competitive game that the final score indicated.

At the helm was Gatling, who has been easing into his position as a team leader on and off the field.

“I don’t regret transferring to DeMatha, which taught me many lessons, I learned many things in a national program, and it took me here, to Chester,” Gatling said. “I didn’t play for two years, but I did learn a lot. I am a lot more comfortable. It comes with more practice and being with my guy. There were bad conditions and this is probably the first time I played in the mud since I was a little kid (laughs). It was fun.

“My first time running the ball, I couldn’t move. It took away from my straight-line speed. I didn’t expect to rain like that. I expected us to run more. We didn’t have a specific plan to run more or pass more, and of course I’m a quarterback, I would make liked to throw more. I wasn’t frustrated when I left DeMatha, but I am better for being there.”

And it seems Chester is better for having Gatling. The Clippers appear heading toward another deep run in a loaded PIAA District 1 Class 5A, where Chester reached the 5A championship in 2025.

“Kenjai is a big, strong kid and we’re learning to emphasize his legs,” Chester coach Dennis Shaw said. “I felt like he showed that tonight. He is brand new to the program and we like where he is going, and we like where this team is going with Kenjai as a leader. We knew Interboro was a tough team, a scrappy team. This was challenging playing in the rain and see how we handled the conditions. Obviously, there are always things to correct.”

Interboro was in the game. The Bucs were slammed by minus-80 yards in high snaps. At halftime, Interboro was minus-35 yards in total offense because of high snaps over the heads of the quarterback and punter.

“We killed ourselves with mistakes you can’t have against a team that good,” Fisher said. “You can’t put yourself in a hole. That was the first time in the last few years when we felt how good of a team we could be. We fumbled the ball three, four times. The conditions didn’t help.

“Moving forward, as bad of a loss as that was, this was a competitive game. We still have a job to do. We are 5-1 and have the rest of the Del-Val to compete against. We have some tough teams to play against.”

Interboro won the PIAA Class 4A championship in 2022, the Bucs last winning season when they went 10-4 led by current Yale star Abu Kamara.

This Bucs team shows some promise to make another deep playoff run.

Scoring Summary

Chester (6-0) 8 8 6 12-36

Interboro (5-1) 0 0 8 6-14

1st Quarter

Ches. – Sa’Mham Williams 4 run (run failed), 6:11

Ches. – Safety (ball kicked out of end zone), 2:07

2nd Quarter

Ches. – Kanif Doward 18 pass from Kenjai Gatling (Sekai Brown-Murray pass from Gatling), :37

3rd Quarter

Int. – Jon McClockey 28 pass from Momodu Rogers (Rogers run), 10:47

Ches. – Williams 3 run (run failed), 3:11

4th Quarter

Ches. – Gatling 1 run (run failed), 9:47

Int. – Roman McCrary 65 pass from Jaxon Porter (kick failed), 3:21

Ches. – Gatling 7 run (run failed), 1:40

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter who has been covering high school football since 1992 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow EasternPAFootball.com on Twitter @EPAFootball.

Though they all knew it held some significance for the Panthers, who saw their 35-game Public League winning streak get snapped.

This time, there would be no slow starts, no spotty passing game, no defensive lapses. This time, the Panthers put on one of their best performances of the season, smoking the Railsplitters, 54-14, to move to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the Philadelphia Public League.

Panthers’ quarterback Joey McLeish completed 10 of 13 for 209 yards and three touchdowns—all in the first half, while sophomore receiver By’ire Murphy caught two touchdowns and had a career-high 107 yards receiving. Imhotep’s imposing all-everything edge rushed Tristan Alexander has four sacks, two fumble recoveries and a 94-yard fumble return touchdown.

The victory could not have been wrapped tighter and more complete for Imhotep coach Devon Johnson.

“This is actually the first game this season when we started fast,” Johnson said. “We scored on all six possessions in the first half. We let up a long play in the second quarter, and I’m not happy about that. This is the best our passing game has looked this season, and is what we expected from Joey. I like his decision making and now it’s time for us to put altogether.

“By’ire Murphy we like to say is one of our Ferraris. He’s one of the fastest players in the state who played for us as a freshman. We just have to keep building and be ready for our state playoff run.”

The Panthers were flawless in the first half, while McLeish completed passes of 17, 26, 35, 46 and 68 yards. Of the six drives, the Panthers only had to convert three third downs. Defensively, Lincoln was smothered, with the exception of one play, when Lincoln’s dynamic Issiah Muhammad bolted 30 yards for the Railsplitters’ only score of the game in the second quarter.

By then, Lincoln was trailing, 21-0.

“I had revenge on my mind, because I didn’t play well (against Lincoln), just no one was going to say that out loud,” McLeish said. “We did well overall as a team. We just need to cut down on mistakes. I’m seeing the field really well. I feel as though I have the best receivers in the state and I believe in them. Our passing is better than it was last year, because our offensive line is coming together

“Everyone is putting the work in. We’re all doing extra stuff after practice.”

Murphy was simply uncoverable. McLeish found him numerous times completely alone.

“They were covering us man-to-man, and we thought that was very disrespectful trying to cover like that. We put the state on notice.”

Imhotep amassed 333 yards to total offense to Lincoln’s 125. They even scored a defensive touchdown when Alexander scored on a 94-yard scoop-and-score off a Lincoln fumble inside the Railsplitters’ 10.

From there, Johnson pulled his starters on both sides of the ball and rode out the mercy rule.

“The goal is to get back to the (Class 5A) state championship,” McLeish said. “Things are coming together at the right time. Everyone trusts one another. Everyone is putting in the extra time. There is a bigger ahead. That’s what we’re aiming for. We have the team that can do it.”

Scoring Summary

Lincoln (2-3) 0 8 0 6-14

Imhotep (4-1) 14 26 6 8-54

1st Quarter

IC – Kassan Chappelle 5 run (Joey McLeish kick), 9:22

IC – By’ire Murphy 35 pass from McLeish (McLeish kick), 4:31

2nd Quarter

IC – Murphy 2 pass from McLeish (McLeish kick), 9:59

L – Issiah Muhammad 30 run (Kendall Jackson run), 7:13

IC – Chappelle 2 run (kick failed), 5:32

IC – Basil Reid 65 pass from McLeish (McLeish kick) 4:38

IC – Brian Culmer 25 pass from McLeish (run failed), 1:22

3rd Quarter

IC – Tristan Alexander 94 fumble return (kick failed), 7:44

4th Quarter

IC – Idris March 1 run (Culmer pass from Kyran Davis-Adams), 8:41

L – Nazir Holley 17 pass from Jackson (no attempt), :00

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter who has been covering high school football since 1992 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow EasternPAFootball.com on Twitter @EPAFootball.

Jacquez would know a thing or two of having a football fall from his fingertips, or bounce off his palms, or a batted pass dangling up in the air, only to dive for it and come inches of securing his first interception.

On Saturday night, for the first time, Jaquez came up with his first two career interceptions, and made what was the game-saving tackle in St. Joe Prep’s 12-7 victory over Inter-Ac power Malvern Prep.

The game went a little deeper than a victory. It was probably The Prep’s most significant victory in two years. The Hawks lost starting junior quarterback Max Rogers for what may be the season last week due to an upper body injury, and in stepped junior Nickee Holden, who completed 15 of 19 passes for 168 yards in his first varsity start, while the first of Jaquez’s two interceptions led to one of two Colin Stoner field goals.

The Hawks (2-1) did it rushing for 13 yards. How twisted this is, St. Joe Prep’s leading rusher was senior offensive lineman Cayden Ohler, whose third-quarter fumble recovery was for 12 yards.

Quite frankly, not many thought the Hawks would take Malvern Prep, considering everything that swirling around St. Joe’s Prep.

“We knew that,” said Jaquez, who won PIAA Class 6A state titles his freshman and sophomore years at St. Joe’s Prep. “Coming into this year, my mindset was to help my teammates out as much as possible, and don’t doubt anyone on this team. I love it when everyone outside doubts us. We love proving everybody wrong.

“I’ve come close to having an interception and I had two tonight.”

Probably bigger than the interceptions was Jaquez tackling Malvern Prep’s LSU-bound wide receiver Cade Cooper after a 32-yard reception on the Hawks’ 45 with 31 seconds to play.

The Friars got no further than that, when starting quarterback Brayden Fallon went down on the penultimate play of the game for a 1-yard loss with 15 seconds left.

“At the end of the day, you have to cherish the victories, and we know we’re getting everyone’s best shot, but we walk off with a victory,” Hawks’ coach Tim Roken said. “You have to appreciate that. Offensively and defensively, we made some really good plays at certain times, and we just have to be more consistent with those things.”

Simply put, the difference was Jett Harrison. Everyone within a mile of Franklin Field knew he would be at the eye of the Hawks’ progress. The Ohio State commit caught a game-high 10 passes for 120 yards and he had something to do with each Hawks’ score.

St. Joe’s Prep totaled 180 yards of total offense—168 through the air. When Ohler rumbled and stumbled up the field with the fumble recovery, Malvern had held The Prep to minus-five yards rushing to that point.

Malvern Prep, however, did not fair much better. The Friars were flagged nine times for 77 yards, while St. Joe’s Prep survived to win despite 13 penalties for 95 yards—the most costly a game-threatening personal foul roughing-the-kicker call in Malvern’s end zone early in the fourth quarter on a fourth-and-21 play.

Malvern made its share of big mistakes, too, like offside calls and holding penalties during critical moments.

“We shot ourselves in the foot on offense tonight, and we definitely should have scored more than seven points,” Malvern Prep coach Dave Gueriera said. “This is what happens. It’s a long season and we can’t afford to keep making them. We had a great defensive effort. Unfortunately, we could not get out of our own way on offense.”

Stoner kicked field goals of 38 and 44 yards, and junior Ameen Williams ripped through the middle for a five-yard score with 9:04 to play in the third quarter, set up by a 38-yard Harrison reception.

“We do like the doubts,” St. Joe Prep’s Oregon-bound linebacker Brandon Lockley said. “We knew no one thought we could beat Malvern. We love the hate. Ee try to prove ourselves every game. I’d rather have games that are dogfights. A few things went wrong, and someone stepped up, like Ohler stepped up with the fumble recovery, and how Jaquez came up big.”

He has the game ball to prove it.

Scoring Summary

Malvern Prep (1-2) 0 0 7 0-7

St. Joe’s Prep (2-1) 0 6 6 0-12

2nd Quarter

SJP – Colin Stoner 38 FG, 10:11

SJP – Stoner 44 FG, 6:42

3rd Quarter

SJP – Ameen Williams 5 run (kick failed), 8:11

MP – Brayden Fallon 25 run (Jack Keegan kick), 4:14

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter who has been covering high school football since 1992 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow EasternPAFootball.com on Twitter @EPAFootball.

The 5-foot-10, 175-pound is getting another chance this season, playing a vital role for a new school, Cardinal O’Hara.

Friday night marked a couple of milestone moments for Donzo, who has only been playing football for three years. Against his old school West Catholic and the same pals he used to hear on Monday mornings, Donzo exploded for career-bests three touchdowns and 118 yards rushing on 11 carries to lead the undefeated Lions to a 38-0 victory over previously undefeated West Catholic.

The Lions pitched their third shutout of the season in four games, and their first team defense has not been scored on yet. O’Hara has outscored its four opponents 173-7, the lone score coming against the Lions’ second team defense in a 34-7 victory over Conwell-Egan.

What gets lost here is this is an O’Hara team that reached the PIAA Class 4A state semifinals last season, failing to reach the finals on a highly controversial call against Southern Lehigh, the eventual Class 4A state champions.

Now with the bulk of its defense returning and powered on offense with a speed- by-committee approach with backs like Donzo, sophomore Charles Goldsborough, and juniors Emilio Martinez and Simon Horta, the Lions are proving to be once again formidable contenders for the PIAA Class 4A state championship.

On Friday night, it was Donzo’s turn to carry the freight against his former high school.

“It was all love after the game, I love my guys, on the field it is different, off the field, it is all love,” said Donzo, whose older brother Abu went to O’Hara. “I’m close to Emilio and he talked me into going here. I came to O’Hara for academics and I wanted to see what it was like being part of a new culture. I started playing football in eighth grade. I’ve only been playing (organized) football for two years before coming here.

“I remember sitting in the classroom last year hearing the guys talk about their games, thinking I could have been out there with them. I had to work basically and couldn’t make practice. There is no animosity.

“This is a new team and a new beginning.”

What also was lost in a brilliant display of stubborn defense and Donzo’s career-best accomplishments was an O’Hara football first: In the decades of the storied program, no O’Hara team ever had two pick-sixes in one quarter until Friday night.

Martinez’s 69-yard interception touchdown return launched the Lions with the first score of the game early in the second quarter, followed by Horta’s 50-yard interception return five minutes later for a 19-0 O’Hara lead.

Back in the 2005 Catholic League Red Division semifinals against La Salle, O’Hara linebacker Scott Taylor returned two interceptions for touchdowns, but they came in the third and fourth quarters, respectively, of a 35-14 O’Hara victory.

“That’s something I had no idea (about making history),” said Martinez, who started on last year’s state semifinal team. “On my pick, I read the play and took off. I’ve been looking forward to this season. I walked off that field (after last year’s semifinal) in tears, because I thought I was the reason why we lost. I’m the one who let up that one big catch at the end of the game.

“After that, I’ve been in revenge mode ever since. Our ego is right where it needs to be. We know what needs to be accomplished. We’re posting doughnuts.”

Martinez was influential in getting Donzo to play again and come to O’Hara. None of Donzo’s success is a surprise to him

“He just needed that boost,” Martinez said.

For the game, O’Hara held West Catholic to 38 yards rushing, 126 yards of total offense and one first down in the second half. The Burrs did not help themselves, either. They were rolling early, entering O’Hara territory on the first drive of the game, before getting hit with three successive penalties, one a holding call that negated a 33-yard reception on a third-and-17 play.

The Burrs never got beyond the O’Hara 43-yard line the remainder of the game.

“O’Hara is a good team and they had the better day,” West Catholic coach Don said Richardson, who directed West Catholic to its first 3-0 start since 2013. “We have a young team and this is their first time playing varsity football, and they are doing this for the first time. But you can’t shoot yourself in the foot. O’Hara came with the energy and we didn’t match it or exceed it.

“We need to execute and grow together. We can’t let this game derail us. It hurts, but we’ll have to learn from this.”

Lions’ coach Michael Ewing has resurrected a traditionally rich program that was on the scrapheap for years before his arrival. He’s attracted players like Martinez and Donzo to Springfield. He got the Lions off to undefeated 4-0 starts the last two years.

“We acknowledge last year with a lot of starters back on defense, but this is a new team that still has a lot work ahead of us,” Ewing said. “We spoke this week about ego going into this game. Defensively, we are where we want to be, we just need to build some consistency on offense.

“We made mistakes tonight that are correctable. We’ll fix it in practice. We challenge these guys not to walk around as if we’ve won something. We told them this week to watch their egos, and decided to their egos go tonight. They flipped the switch. I’m really proud of them.”

Scoring Summary

West Catholic (3-1) 0 0 0 0-0

Cardinal O’Hara (4-0) 0 26 6 6-38

2nd Quarter

CO – Emilio Martinez 69 INT return (run failed), 11:03

CO – Morris Donzo 50 run (Devon Creighton kick), 7:57

CO – Simon Horta 50 INT return (kick failed), 6:50

CO – Charles Goldsborough 1 run (Creighton kick), :59

3rd Quarter

CO – Donzo 1 run (kick failed), 9:45

4th Quarter

CO – Donzo 13 run (kick failed), 8:54

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter who has been covering high school football since 1992 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow EasternPAFootball.com on Twitter @EPAFootball.

Chester’s Kanif Doward

Once Doward hit high school, it has been solely football, suiting up and getting varsity time his freshman year before starting this season.

Doward may have made the right choice.

His interception with 3:49 to play secured Chester’s 32-30 victory Friday night over Northeast High School, at Northeast, in a highly entertaining game that easily benefitted both teams.

Sa’Mham “Showtime” Williams, Chester’s explosive freshman tailback, is proving to be the real thing, scoring three touchdowns and rushing for 145 yards and picking up 235 total yards, the Clippers’ Demir Hatchett had an interception and completed a pass for a first down on a fake punt, and Kenjai Gatling seems to be settling in at quarterback, tossing two touchdown passes.

Overall, it appears Chester is back in strong contention again for the PIAA District 1 Class 5A championship after the graduation of generational talents Daron and Jalen Harris.

This time, under a whole new crew, led by players like Doward, Williams, Gatling and Hatchett.

It was Doward, however, who made the pivotal play with the Clippers teetering on losing a game in which they once led 20-7 early in the second quarter.

“At halftime, we had to make sure everyone stayed focus and maintained the same intensity,” said Doward, who caught a two-point conversion in the first quarter. “We knew there were questions about us, but during the summer, we all locked in. We came together and were convinced we could do this, we can make a run (at the District 1) championship.”

The 3-0 Clippers certainly can behind the talent of Williams, who on his six touches of the game ran for a 90-yard touchdown on a kickoff return, and scored on 80- and 26-yard touchdown runs. He had 215 total yards by halftime.

But there was one thing missing from the Chester arsenal—tackling. You could have heard Chester coach Dennis Shaw through the Northeast stadium brick walls at halftime letting his team know about it.

“This was not a game that was to our standard,” Shaw said. “We won, but it was a very, very disappointing brand of football for us. Giving up 30 points for our program is unacceptable. We missed tackles. We dropped passes. This is a program that has high expectations. I like how our QB came alive tonight and we did some good things, but obviously it is back to the chalkboard for us.”

Gatling is getting the rust off. He showed promise as a freshman at Bonner-Prendie, then transferred to DeMatha (Md.) seeing little time as a sophomore and junior, last year hampered by injuries.

He has not played meaningful live downs in two years, yet threw a good ball Friday night with great touch in crowds and found senior Sekai Brown Murray for TD passes of 16 and 30 yards.

“I think I’m adjusting well to the program and it’s a great experience for me,” Gatling said. “Each game is getting better. It helps having great running backs. My sophomore year I was behind Denzel Gardner (now at Memphis) and my junior year I was supposed to start.

“I got hurt the last two weeks of training camp and that set me back. I’m home now. I feel comfortable. I feel great being here and there is no pressure. I know who I am and I know what I can do.”

Northeast lost, but the Vikings may have found they know what they can do. Nick Lincoln has built a Philadelphia Public League contender in three years, and that centers around do-everything senior quarterback Jayden Boyd. He was simply amazing in escaping groups of Chester defenders, one time scrambling away from the grasp of seven Clipper defenders to get a pass off.

Boyd makes the Vikings serious Public League title contenders. Northeast seemed dead 10 different times during the course of the game, but Lincoln and his staff found a way to shut down Williams in the second half and make it a game until the final minutes.

Part of the reason why Chester was having such a tough time tackling was because Northeast ran off 35 plays to Chester’s 14 in the first half and for the game ran off 56 plays to Chester’s 30—almost two to one. Part of the reason why there was such a disparity in plays was Chester’s quick-strike ability to score.

Boyd was a big reason, extending plays and engineering long drives, add the fact the Clippers scored on a kickoff return and two one-play drives, one made possible by Hatchett’s first-quarter interception and Williams’ 80-yard run, and it makes for a long night on defense.

“Hats off to Chester, this was a great game, both teams made plays on special teams, and Jayden made plays,” Lincoln said. “He leads and is getting better. I love the resiliency of my guys. Chester is very good, and we knew this was going to be a game. The Williams kid is special. We had to coach up the defense and change the game to stop him.

“Our kids believe. These were the type of games we haven’t been in.”

Northeast may have lost, but the Vikings proved a point—they are going to be a dangerous team to contend with in the Public League.

Chester also proved a point—the Clippers are once again serious threats to do something no other Chester football team has ever done and that’s win the District 1 Class 5A championship.

Scoring Summary

Chester (3-0) 14 18 0 0-32

Northeast (1-2) 7 16 0 7-30

1st Quarter

NE – Jayden Boyd 13 run (Jeremiah Tellus kick), 4:47

Ches. – Sa’Mham Williams 90 kickoff return (pass failed), 4:33

Ches. – Sekai Brown Murray 16 pass from Kenjai Gatling (Kanif Doward pass from Gatling), 3:18

2nd Quarter

Ches. – Murray 30 pass from Gatling (pass failed), 7:34

NE –Amear Miller 77 kickoff return run (Tellus kick), 7:23

Ches. – Williams 80 run (run failed), 7:00

NE – Ronell Word 7 run (Carsen Giddeons run), 2:19

Ches. – Williams 26 run (run failed), :48

4th Quarter

NE – Tellus 1 run (Tellus run), 10:12

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter who has been covering high school football since 1992 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow EasternPAFootball.com on Twitter @EPAFootball.

WILMINGTON, DEL. — The lightning came bottled up in teasingly short bursts. It would begin with a quick survey of the field, spotting the creases and then blazing through. Often, Will Howard’s runs Thursday night in Springside Chestnut Hill Academy’s season opener at Salesianum would end in piles of defenders on his back in the fourth annual Mid-Atlantic Pigskin Classic at Salesianum’s Abessinio Stadium.

Howard, nor SCH, fared the way they had hoped in a 23-0 loss to the Sallies, though there was quite a bit gained.

Howard finished with a team-high 84 yards rushing on 20 carries and four catches for 42 yards. On 24 total touches, he picked up an average of 5.2 yards a touch.

Much is expected of Howard this season. The 6-foot-1, 196-pound junior tailback has received offers from Penn State, Kentucky, Syracuse and Pitt after he rushed for 1,521 yards and 14 touchdowns over 10 games, averaging 7.3 yards per carry as a sophomore last season—against defenses designed to stop him, like the Sallies were on Thursday night.

Howard, like tiny SCH and its coach, Rick Knox, is slightly overlooked.

The Blue Devils beat a powerful Malvern Prep team last season to share the Inter-Ac League championship.

“People seem to forget that,” Howard stressed. “Coming into this year, I think I have something to prove. I think we all do. There were some flaws I waitnted to address this year. There were times when I could have been more physical last year and run people over. I wanted to incorporate that into my game and want to show people I can do that. I want to be looked at as one of the (Philadelphia area’s) elite.”

Howard, 16, gained 13 pounds since last season and his bench press went from 240 pounds to 300. He is built for power, but he has considerable speed.

Howard will be tested. He and the Blue Devils get no breaks. They opened with perennial Delaware state contender Salesianum, have Bonner-Prendie next week and the 2025 PIAA Class 5A state champion Roman Catholic in Week 3—all on the road.

Watching Howard, you get the sense Thursday night was only the beginning. He has great balance, explosive speed, good vision, and is very strong. He said after the game, he is going to look back on the Salesianum tape and kick himself a little bit, because there were a few opportunities when he could have broken one for a touchdown.

The bursts, Howard promises, will be more sustained moving forward, because he is a threat to score each time he has the ball.

“That’s the mentality,” he said. “I want to score every time I have the ball. Even reviewing in my head right now, I should have taken some of those speed option plays to the house.”

Knox’s priority is to make sure defenses have to guess where Howard will strike. Knox, one of the area’s more underappreciated coaches who does a lot with a little, had moved Howard out as a receiver on occasion and it proved to be very effective, and potentially dangerous for future opposing defenses trying to stop Howard in the open field.

“Salesianum is a good, quality program, and like I said to my team, if we scored on our first series, that might have been a different game,” Knox said. “We didn’t come here to work all summer to lose, but we saw improvement, and Will has improved. I wish we could have sprung some bigger things for Will. What we saw last year is what we continue to see, he has tremendous vision, he has tremendous patience and what you also saw is he is tremendously tough. He gets the tough yards.

“We didn’t make the plays to the outside or deeper, which we didn’t do tonight, but when we do, that will free Will up even more.”

SCH did not start well, giving up an 80-yard touchdown on the first play of its season. But the Blue Devils adjusted quickly against a team that seemed to have as many coaches as SCH had players and whose sideline stretched between the 20s, while the whole Blue Devils team might have fit between the 40s. After the opening drive, SCH was stubborn defensively, before Salesianum’s Jaiden Moultrie burst through the middle for a 32-yard touchdown run with 5:11 left in the half.

SCH’s James Rothschild let go some booming punts, Joey Schreiber, a standout lacrosse player headed to Loyola, made a handful of tackles for losses, and had a fumble recovery, and sophomore quarterback Miles Yockus showed poise under considerable pressure all night. As for the mistakes, all correctable according to Knox, the Blue Devils missed more than their share of tackles, took wrong angles on outside runs, and allowed the Sallies to exploit the middle of the field.

“I know the score does not reflect it, but there was a lot to like against a quality team,” Knox said.

And that starts with Will Howard.

Scoring Summary

Springside Chestnut Hill 0 0 0 0-0

Salesianum 7 7 3 6-23

1st Quarter

Sal. – Jamar Taylor 80 pass from Brady Nabb (Giuliano Villa), 11:40

2nd Quarter

Sal. – Jaiden Moultrie 32 run (Villa kick), 5:11

3rd Quarter

Sal. – Villa 26 FG, 5:17

4th Quarter

Sal. – Tysir Jones 3 pass from Nabb (Villa kick), 5:00

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter who has been covering high school football since 1992 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow EasternPAFootball.com on Twitter @EPAFootball.

PHILADELPHIA, PA — Subtleties to the naked eye can sometimes go unnoticed gazing down on a football field. Imhotep Charter’s Devon Johnson has produced so many winning teams through the years that it is sometimes overlooked just how good he and his staff are when it comes to in-game adjustments.

In the season opener Saturday night against defending New Jersey Group 2 state champion Camden, for instance, passing routes were shortened to offset Camden’s pass rush, and gap adjustments were tightened to close the inside running lanes, anchoring down on double teams.

It translated into a 29-8 Imhotep victory, lifted by sterling performances by senior safety Malik Drayton and national-level rising sophomore defensive star Tristan Alexander, listed at 6-foot-3, 190 pounds, though is actually 6-foot-4, 235 pounds, an inch taller and almost as large right now as Micah Parsons and Abdul Carter, who are both 6-3, 250 pounds.

Drayton had a career-best three interceptions, equaling the number of picks he had all last season, and Alexander simply played the role of game wrecker with eight tackles, including two sacks for minus-9 yards.

Alexander was lined up at the edge, played inside linebacker, outside linebacker, was the team’s long snapper, and played some tight end. He attacked from the right, left, and middle of the field. At times, it looked like he split into two to absorb a block and make tackle.

In only his second varsity start, Alexander was far from subtle. In fact, every time No. 11 was on the field, Camden—and everyone else watching—knew. He was either pressuring the quarterback from the middle or the edge, and when Camden tried running away from him, Alexander tracked the ballcarrier down from the backside.

Drayton made a game-deciding play on Camden’s first possession. On a fourth-and-goal from the Imhotep 10, Drayton stepped in front of a Camden receiver two yards deep in the end zone for an interception and returned it 76 yards to the Camden 26.

It was the first of four total turnovers the Panthers forced.

“That first interception I saw the quarterback’s eyes and I jumped on the pass,” said Drayton, who is getting college attention from Howard and Kutztown. “At halftime, I trusted our offense would come around.”

Quarterback Joey McLeish threw for 150 yards and a touchdown, junior tailback Yazid McCorkle scored twice, and nine different players received touches for Imhotep, which decided to shorten its passing routes in the second half, allowing McLeish to get the ball out faster.

“Tristan does a lot for us, and this is his first year really starting. He transformed his body, adding 20 pounds, and the crazy part is he did not play very well in the first half,” Johnson said. “He is super talented, and super athletic. The main thing is keeping Tristan hungry. I challenged him at halftime to do what he was capable of doing. He was overplaying things in the first half, and he was overhyped. Once he slowed down, he was making plays.

“Drayton played corner last year, and he challenged himself. We moved to him safety. He told me he wanted double digit picks this year—and he had three tonight. He is a dynamic player and we’re expecting big things from him. The difference we saw in him tonight was coming up and making tackles.”

Imhotep is a PIAA Class 5A team again. The Panthers finished 8-5 last year, an uncharacteristic finish for the Panthers, losing to a La Salle team for the ages, 34-16, in the PIAA District 12 Class 6A championship.

Three of the Panthers’ five losses were to state champions La Salle and DeMatha Catholic (Maryland state champions) and Malvern Prep (three-time Inter-Ac champions).

In 2023, Imhotep won the PIAA Class 5A state title.

This version of the Panthers looked just as good as that team.

“That’s the goal to get back and win (the state championship),” said Alexander, who just turned 15. “I was okay coming into this game. I put the work in. There was no need to be nervous. I watched a lot of film and was prepared. I was excited in the first half, and the coaches told me to play my game and slow things down.

“I may have over thought some things in the first half, but I adjusted.”

Johnson and his staff adjusted.

Now, it will be up to the rest of the state to adjust to the Panthers, who seem primed to make another deep PIAA Class 5A playoff run possibly into December.

The signs are there.

Scoring Summary

Camden 0 8 0 0-8

Imhotep 7 0 15 7-29

1st Quarter

IC – Brian Culmer 27 pass from Joey McLeish (McLeish kick), :25

Cam. – Yusuf Williams 20 pass from Greg Wyche (Jayden Boyce run), 9:05

3rd Quarter

IC – Kassan Chappelle 2 run (McLeish kick), 6:11

IC – Yazid McCorkle 40 run (McLeish kick), :52

4th Quarter

IC – McCorkle 7 run (McLeish kick), 9:58

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter who has been covering high school football since 1992 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow EasternPAFootball.com on Twitter @EPAFootball.