Pen Argyl. Bulldog Community Stadium. Slatington, PA. 1pm kick-off. All of those remained the same from last week to this week.
Unfortunately for the Green Knights, the game was totally different.
On a brisk and misty Saturday afternoon in Slatington, Imhotep Charter (14-0) defeated Pen Argyl (11-3) by a score of 54-7 to advance in the state playoffs and end the Green Knights’ season.
Imhotep dominated in every aspect of this contest, but they really won with their running game as they amassed over 250 rushing yards collectively. Their attack was led by senior David Williams, who rushed for 198 yards himself.
They didn’t just run the ball however as sophomore quarterback Andre Dreuitt threw the deep ball a few times. His very first completed pass was a 58 yard bomb to senior Brandon Smith.
Throughout the game, especially in the first quarter, the Panthers of Imhotep were hurt by penalties. Having 12 total penalties tallying 70 yards barred them from scoring even more early on. Despite that high amount, head coach Albie Crosby, isn’t too worried about it, “I have to take it. As coaches this is what we talk about. I have to take the bad with the good.”
Sophomore Nasir Bonner echoed the talk about the Panthers hurting themselves in games, “We are our worst enemy. We have a motto that we can only hurt ourselves.”
After punting on their first drive, the Panthers scored a touchdown on their next three possessions. Coupling that with their stellar defense gave them a 21-0 lead with 9:45 left in the first half.
On Pen Argyl’s next drive, the Green Knights pieced together their only scoring drive of the afternoon. Going 60 yards in two minutes and 21 seconds capping it off with a 26 yard touchdown pass from junior Nick Oyer to senior Scott Beltz. The scoreboard now read 21-7.
Right before the half the Panthers pick off an Oyer pass attempt and set up shop on the Green Knights’ 43 yard line. The clock told Dreuitt and company that they had only 1:25 to score before halftime. Determined the Panthers, behind the legs of Williams, drove the ball to the 7 yard line and capped off the drive with a seven yard rush by no one other than, Williams.
As both teams hurried in to the much warmer locker rooms, the score was 26 to 7 favoring Imhotep Charter. Williams already rushed for 160 yards in the game at that point which was more than Pen Argyl ran for in the entire game as a team.
To begin the second half, the Green Knights received the ball and saw their drive stall as they fumbled and had it recovered by Imhotep. The Panthers immediately capitalized on the blunder as they only needed one play, a 37 yard scamper by Williams to score a touchdown and make it 33-7.
After the game, Crosby talked about how his team has the advantage in the 3rd quarter, “One of the big things we have is numbers. We only have one kid [playing both offense and defense]. We have been fortunate this year that the 3rd quarter is the time that we get up on people.”
During the entire second half the Green Knights compiled decent drives that went somewhere. The issue was that somewhere wasn’t the end zone. Pen Argyl’s closest chance to score again for the rest of the game was midway through the fourth when they had the ball all the way down on Imhotep’s 1 yard line. Imhotep called a timeout, regrouped the defensive troops and stuffed the Green Knights who tried to punch it in on the ground every down, but found themselves going backwards with the Panthers eventually taking over on downs.
With the victory in sight, Imhotep drained the already speedy game clock due to the mercy rule all the way down until it was fourth down and they punted. With a booming punt high in the gray sky descending downward, the Panthers hustled down the field to find that it was muffed by Pen Argyl. Senior Kadmiel Kelome picked it up and ran it in for the eighth and final touchdown for Imhotep on the afternoon.
Pen Argyl received the ball and just watched the final seconds of their 2012 season whisk away. With it coming to a close Pen Argyl head coach, Paul Reduzzi, told me how his team battled this year, “The things that happened coming out of loses was a lot of unity…they are a big surprise. We thought we would compete. I told Tom [Housenick] after a scrimmage that I thought we would be pretty good. I didn’t know pretty good was going to be 11 wins.”
Imhotep Charter advances to the PIAA AA Eastern Final against Wyomissing. That game will be Saturday, December 8 at Ben Johnston Stadium in Philadelphia. That game is slated for a 1pm kickoff.
Scoring
1st Quarter
IC- 3:51 Dreuitt 58 yd pass to Smith. PAT by Moore good. 7-0
IC- 0:39 Williams 12yd rush. PAT by Moore good. 14-0
2nd Quarter
IC- 9:58 Williams 79yd rush. PAT no good. 20-0
PA- 7:18 Oyer 26yd pass to Beltz. PAT good. 20-7
IC- :4.6 Williams 7yd rush. Conversion no good. 26-7
3rd Quarter
IC- 10:24 Williams 37yd rush. PAT by Moore good. 33-7
IC- 7:49 Dreuitt 15yd pass to Young. PAT by Moore good. 40-7
IC- 2:15 Bonner 2yd rush. PAT by Moore good. 47-7
4th Quarter
IC- 1:05 Fumble return 35 yd Kelome. PAT good. 54-7
PA 0 7 0 0 -7
IC 14 12 21 7 -54
36 Responses
@CT Coach I would bet dollars to donuts that Jim isn’t from the inner city
Jim what are u whining about are u from the inner city? Why does Imhotep charter football team bother you so much?
My buddy Jim, I see you have continue your disgraceful racist comments towards Imhotep on another thread. Well, I’m here again to counter your perception with solid facts! Listen and read closely:
1. on the other thread you claim you had a problem with Imhotep’s Mission Statement. This forces us to research the statement and find out why. My research found that the statement mentions its mission as an AFRICAN centered educational community. Why do you have a problem with this? There are numerous ethic educational institutions throughout the country including the current #1 ranked NCAA football team. Tell us why do you have a problem with this and this will explain why you had the problem in the first place.
2. You gave us Imhotep’s offensive line average height and weight. Awesome, guess what, they all return next year (no seniors). Also, everyone of them came to Imhotep as freshmen (no transfers). If you check Imohotep’s 2010 roster –> http://www.tedsilary.com/imhotepFB10.htm you will see they are all there as freshmen and guess what, they were smaller kids. As matter of fact, their two 6-5 Jr Offensive tackles were just 6-3 & 6-2 back then. Can you believe that? Can you believe the 6-3 kid who grew to 6-5 in 3 years didn’t start for JV last year? Wow! If you were a coach, you would understand every kid has a light in their head and when that light comes on…WATCH OUT. Also, Imhotep’s RT, Center (team captain), and their LG all started for Imhotep as freshmen… They are all straight ‘A’ honor roll students! It’s there Jr year Buddy, that light came on and they are dominating every opponent they line up against because of it! Oh, and colleges are noticing it! You did mention a story for a movie right?
3. I gave you a copy of all the rosters for the last 4 years and you saw all of this year starters except for two has been with Imhotep since freshmen or sophomores.
4. Would you believe if I told you that over 90% of Imhotep’s players are from the Germantown, Mt Airy, and West Oak Lane communities? Imhotep serves these and two other neighborhoods. These communities has 4 youth teams currently playing for the National pee-wee football super bowls in Florida as we speak so the future looks bright for all the surrounding schools. So you can have your boundaries, they will still dominate.
5. You and CT Coach (my good friend) state Imhotep has no tradition? Tradition is functional and alive within the program. Their rich tradition and is rooted in the African culture. Watch their game and see what they do before and after each game and you will see tradition. Watch the Pen argyl game and you will see the tradition of sportsmanship and how they help players up off the turf after a hard tackle. That’s TRADITION, thats honor, thats coaching!
6. Jim buddy, you never heard of Imhotep? Did you know that #27, SS for the USC Trojans, was a graduate of Imhotep high and their all time leading rusher? Did you know #3, QB for Temple Owls, was a student and QB for Imhotep until he transferred to GW, oh…btw, he’s 6-3. Did you know Imhotep has players playing D1,D2,and D3 football all over the country? They been here for a while buddy..
7. Lastly, Imhotep did have two significant transfers this year. One had no choice and the other made his choice. I will not talk issues concerning kids on this forum but to rebuke your false statement about them having 15 new kids this year has to be challenged. Only 2 on-field producing kids transferred in last year! JUST TWO, not 15! These are the facts Jim, and you trying to ruin a raising inner city team’s success with tainted nonfactual lies is distasteful and without class.
In closing Jim, just tell us the real reason you may have a problem with inner city kids being successful in a game of football and then let us know why they you have a problem with their mission statement…. Time yours!
@ jimbo im confused when did i compare Comm Tech and any body those guys (LaSalle) have more staff than i have players I don’t recall comparing my program to anybodies my program is head together with threads please don’t pull
CT Coach, get real; do you really want to compare the Communications Tech staff to LaSalle’s staff? Let’s be real.
@ jim i just have to know where are you from that will explain alot for me
@ jiveturky9 shhhhhhh
Jim look there is only two new players on imhotep, they have a very good coaching staff period. To me u are crying over spilled milk relax its okay their just kids not penn state or the U of miami. Every body recruites from texas to Florida to pittsburg when it comes to high school football. Stop running for office the election is over.
@ Mikey thats not tradition thats recruiting go look up the word (tradition ) and get back to me the passing down of culture ,a time honored practice …harritage .The school dosent have tradition its a newer school far as the coach a person cant have tradition he can leave a legacy and have history .dont get me wrong i have friends on there staff and im rooting for them but there just starting tradition so kids are not floking to imhotep for football tradition great program great coachs excellent player selection lol notice i didnt say recruiting you cant recruite in PIAA
OK. Don’t count Imhotep…then its 10-6 public vs private. Agree completely with Jive and Tsaf77. Get over it. I don’t live in Philly nor Pen Argyl. I could care less if Pen Argyl’s been together since middle school. A high percentage of the Philly kids are likely single parent welfare families. Do you care about that? If you think charters “siphon” off the public schools you are nuts. That is the way school funding should be in the US…following the kid. Philly and Chester public schools have such a low standard of achievement those kids should be able to go where ever they want. And Imhotep is not a “recruiting machine”. Their 1st graduating class was in 2000…AND you would NEVER have heard of them this year if the Philadelphia diocese didn’t entertain closing West Catholic (David Williams previous school). I have no reason to like D12 or the PCL as I’m from D1. Most of the studly PCL schools (LaSalle and AB Wood) actually are not in Phila but sit in D1 (Wyndmoor and Warminster).
The facts do not support your argument at all.
tyler, 285 is the male enrollment @ Imhotep, amazing how if they don’t recruit they have a HS line averaging 6’2 277. I have not even discussed the skilled position player stats. It’s a joke and the PIAA needs to stop mixing public vs private in the playoffs. Whether they recruit or not? They are a charter school and look at the overnight success of theiur athletic programs, come on man, do some research. The world runs by statistics and metrics. Everything can be measured no matter what the subject.