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.