PHILADELPHIA, PA — Amahj Gowans can sometimes get lost darting around the edges, squeezing through the large mass inside and coming out the other end. The Cardinal O’Hara senior tailback is generously listed at 5-foot-6, 166-pounds, but he plows forward like a runaway freight train and has been the engine O’Hara’s offense has latched itself to this season.
On Saturday, Gowans ran through, ran over, and ran by West Philadelphia for 195 yards rushing on 25 carries and three total touchdowns, two rushing, one receiving, in leading the Lions to a 34-6 victory in the District 12 championship at Northeast High School, achieving the first District 12 Class 4A title and the first-ever state playoff victory in program history.
The Lions (9-4) will move on the PIAA Class 4A state quarterfinals against undefeated District 2 champion North Pocono (13-0) on Friday at 7 p.m. at Whitehall High School, Saquon Barkley’s alma mater. The Speedboys dropped to 4-6 with their annual Thanksgiving Day game ahead against Overbrook.
In the meantime, O’Hara will be preparing to make more history towards reaching the state semifinals.
“We were aware of the history,” Gowans said. “This means a lot. I wasn’t here my freshman year, but I do know that this is something that the seniors who have been here for four years were working towards. I’m more so happy for the seniors. We knew West Philly was a good team and that they were not going to lay down for us.”
Much of that success had to do with his large friends up front, Davonte Ferrigon, Jay King-Gant, Musa Bangura, Jake Steigerwalt and Mike Davis, who sometimes did not allow Gowans to get touched until he was 10 yards down field. By halftime, Gowans had 119 yards rushing on 14 carries, and touchdown runs of four and eight yards. He finished with 244 all-purpose yards, which included a 40-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter.
Defensively, O’Hara’s Hakim Allah, Sammy Dantonka and Jalen Patterson were gobbling everything up. On West Philly’s first drive of the second half, Allah alone had two tackles for minus-13 yards in losses.
This victory had a special meaning to Allah. He was a four-year starter who was on the Lions’ 1-9 team three years ago.
“I always had a feeling this would turn around, and as a player, you could feel the love when the coaches are yelling at you, because it showed their commitment and investment,” Allah said. “I don’t think in my four years here anyone yelled at me, and I feel upset (laughs). But when you have coaches that care, you feel committed. I love the team itself and the amount of time the coaches poured into turning the program around.”
O’Hara controlled the game from start to finish, though the Lions did make problems for themselves. O’Hara committed five penalties for 40 yards in the first half and turned the ball twice on its side of the 50.
It was enough to make Lions’ coach Mike Ewing wince.
“We have to practice like the culture that we built,” said Ewing, who has done an amazing job resurrecting a once powerhouse program into contending status. “We were coming off a big emotional win (24-3 over archrival Bonner-Prendie in the Catholic League 4A championship), and it was an ugly first half. It’s what I was afraid of. We were coaching against ourselves all week. We went into halftime and talked. No one yelled or screamed, we set a standard and no one was meeting that standard.
“The guys had a decision to make. Were they going to come out and play the way they were capable of playing, or were going to have another ugly half? The guys responded.”
O’Hara stopped West Philly’s longest drive of the game and responded with the Gowans’ 40-yard TD reception, and then scored on its next two drives.
The Speedboys were without starting quarterback Ahmeir Green, who was ineligible to play due to PIAA transfer rules, and instead, Xavier Howard stepped in and did a good job. He moved the Speedboys and kept the game competitive, until the second half.
After the game, the teams did not participate in the traditional postgame handshake. O’Hara said it was a District 12 decision.
“No, it was my decision,” said West Philly’s highly respected coach Karl “Bubb” Patrick. “O’Hara is a great team, and we could have shook hands, but I made that decision not to shake hands. My players wanted to shake hands, but you can put that one on me. I’m okay with getting blown out. I was blown out by Imhotep worse than this and we shook hands afterward. I thought it was disrespectful keeping their starting quarterback in there throwing a bomb when they were up 34-6 in the last two minutes.
“Right now, we’ll build on what we did this year. We lost a little not having Ahmeir Green. I do need to say this. O’Hara is a great team, a well-coached team. My hats off to O’Hara. They are very well coached.”
Scoring Summary
West Philadelphia (4-6) 0-0-0-6-6
Cardinal O’Hara (9-4) 6-7-7-14-34
1st Quarter
CO – Amahj Gowans 8 run (kick failed), 8:47
2nd Quarter
CO – Gowans 4 run (Gavin McLain kick), 1:53
I – Kassan Chappelle 15 run (Joey McLeish kick), 5:12
3rd Quarter
CO – Gowans 40 pass from John Welde (McLain kick), 1:18
4th Quarter
WP – A’Kir Archer 50 pass from Xavier Howard (pass failed), 11:49
CO – Welde 6 run (McLain kick), 8:56
CO – Braylon Harris 30 pass from Welde (McLain kick), 3:52
Jordan Smith 100 INT return (McLeish kick), 6:16
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.