PHILADELPHIA, PA — This is what La Salle coach Brett Gordon was looking for. It’s that gritty time of year, when the weather gets a little chilly, and a solid foundational ground game can be the difference from playing past November or not playing at all.
La Salle was not expecting this Saturday night. No one was. But that is where the Explorers were, up one score midway through the fourth quarter in a game that they once led 24-0 against Philadelphia Public League champ Imhotep Charter.
Leaning behind its offensive line, the Explorers staved off a furious second-half Imhotep rally to win, 31-16, at Northeast High to take the District 12 Class 6A championship and advance to the state quarterfinals.
The Explorers (10-1) will meet undefeated District 11 champion Easton (13-0) on Friday at 7 p.m. at Liberty High School’s BASD Stadium, while Imhotep saw a very successful season end with an 8-5 record.
“When you get into November and December, you have to be able to run the ball, and the most exciting part of today was our ability to run it, and also run it when we needed to run it,” Gordon said.
La Salle’s Ahzir Nelson finished with a game-high 183 yards rushing on 19 carries and a touchdown. It was Nelson who provided the play of the game, running behind 6-3, 285-pound senior right tackle Danny Lawyer, 6-2, 290-pound junior right guard Andrew Sorge, 6-2, 265-pound senior center Jacob Jackson, 6-3, 290-pound junior left guard Chris Bernesky and 6-foot-8, 285-pound Notre Dame-bound senior left tackle Grayson McKeogh.
After Imhotep’s Kassan Chappelle scored, followed by a Panthers’ two-point conversion, Imhotep had pulled within 24-16 with 7:39 to play. Up to that point, La Salle had run just five plays for 26 yards in the third quarter. The Panthers churned out an opening second-half drive of 18 plays, going 80 yards and chewing up 6:25. Imhotep controlled the ball for a total of 8:45 of the third quarter, pounding away again on a 14-play, 66-yard drive that resulted in Chappelle’s score.
That opened the stage for Nelson, who took a pitch 47 yards down the sideline on the Explorers’ first play after the Chappelle score. Later in the drive, on a third-and-10 at the Imhotep 16, Explorers’ quarterback Gavin Sidwar went off script and rolled right, where he found Joey O’Brien for his third touchdown of the game, sealing the La Salle victory.
“ (Nelson) running for 183 is the best stat I heard all year,” Gordon said. “That tells me we are playing the right way. Our offensive line was a strength of the team coming into this season. We have had our moments running well this year, but that is a formidable front that Imhotep has. But I am not happy. We had opportunities to get them off the field and we didn’t do it, and the next thing you know, we were in a football game.”
What also did not help was La Salle getting flagged eight times for 75 yards, while Imhotep was penalized four times for 45 yards.
The Explorers are primarily a passing team. Jackson makes the line calls, and he said he had absolute faith in his linemates.
“We kept working right and they could not stop it,” Jackson said. “X ran hard and broke arm tackles, which made our jobs easy.”
Sorge stressed entering the game rushing the ball was a priority. Sidwar finished completing 20 of 29 passes for 271 yards and three touchdowns. But 225 yards came in the first half, and he only threw four times in the second half.
“We only had the ball three times in the second half, and we knew we had to dominate the line of scrimmage. We did that,” Sorge said. “The statement we made is that we can run the ball and we are one of the best offensive lines in the state.”
Lawyer said Nelson’s runs right in the second half were by design, feeling “We came out with more energy and wanted to finish the game,” Lawyer said. “They were tired. People used to look at us as a finesse, passing team. Coach Gordon and coach (Mark) Schmidt changed that. They set a level for us being more physical.”
Imhotep coach Devon Johnson does not believe in moral victories. He was pleased with his team’s effort and how they responded being down 24-0. Imhotep’s second half was probably the best the Panthers have looked in years. But he was not about to find any solace coming within a score of tying the game.
“We have to figure out ways to get off to better starts,” he said. “Kids have to stop doubting their abilities. You try your best to block out the outside noise, because everyone thought we were going to get blown out. I heard some of that noise, too. We started slow, and against a team like La Salle, who are well coached, you can’t dig yourself a hole like that. I am proud of my guys for fighting back. We cut it down to a one possession game. We just didn’t make the stop when we needed it.
“We left a lot of plays out there, and we don’t believe in moral victories here. We don’t get that type of grace. But we do have a good amount of players back. We ran into a great 2025 class in St. Joe’s Prep last year, and another great class with the La Salle team this year. We just have to figure out the Class 6A landscape. Again, I am proud of my guys.”
Scoring Summary
Imhotep Charter (8-5) 0-0-8-8-16
La Salle (10-1) 7-17-0-7-34
1st Quarter
L – Ahzir Nelson 10 run (Chris Heck kick), 8:47
2nd Quarter
L – Joey O’Brien 6 pass from Gavin Sidwar (Heck kick), 9:36
L – O’Brien 7 pass from Sidwar (Heck kick), 2:56
L – Heck 31 FG, :00
3rd Quarter
IC – Syeer Coleman 3 run (Kassan Chappelle run), 5:35
4th Quarter
IC – Chappelle 2 run (Jordan Smith pass from Joey McLeish), 7:39
L – O’Brien 16 pass from Sidwar (Heck kick), 2:46
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. He can be followed on Twitter @JSantoliquito. Follow EasternPAFootball.com on Twitter @EPAFootball.