Trammell-Wells’ new ground game working fine for Delco Christian
PHILADELPHIA — Nazim Trammell-Wells’ gaudy numbers Friday night hardly matched that of a kid playing in his second season of organized football.
The junior running back, who had his first taste of the sport in his sophomore season for Delaware County Christian School last fall, found himself playing a starring role in a battle of two of the Bicentennial Athletic League’s better squads.
He benefited from sturdy blocking up front amid steamrolling Calvary Christian for 338 rushing yards and four touchdowns in the Knights’ 44-34 win on the road.
“I’m still kind of new to this,’ Trammell-Wells said. “The (offensive line) did a crazy good job. (Senior) Jack Grim, (junior Giho Park), they came across and they just blocked safeties and backers for me, and just made it easy for me to read and just run. They make my job real easy.’
Having posted 44 yards on the ground through his first nine carries, Trammell-Wells found his first break with five seconds remaining in the first half. Seventeen seconds after the Cougars (6-3, 5-2 league) took their first lead with a 19-yard touchdown pass to senior Samuel Heath, Trammell-Wells scampered for a 40-yard rushing touchdown to boost the Knights to a 15-14 lead at the half.
A prolific second half that saw 49 combined points between the two teams featured more of the same from Trammell-Wells when he returned a kickoff for a 78-yard touchdown with 3:32 left in the third quarter. His latter two scores came off blistering runs of 73 and 81 yards, respectively, to help the Knights (7-2, 6-1 league) ice the contest in the fourth quarter and the Bicentennial’s runner-up spot outright.
“(Trammell-Wells) did great,’ senior linebacker/running back Alexander Linton said. “He played out of his mind. We always call him (Seattle Seahawks running back) Marshawn Lynch because he can never go down. He keeps pounding his legs and he showed that today.’
Linton compiled 56 yards on the ground on nine touches, and opened the scoring with a one-yard score in the first quarter. Quarterback Sterling Williams ran in for a nine-yard touchdown in the third quarter and finished with 32 of the Knights’ 396 total yards on the ground, much of it coming in the second half.
“There were a lot of jitters in the air (early) and we knew it wasn’t going to be easy,’ Trammell-Wells said. “(Calvary Christian is) a pretty good team, too. They’re a strong team and they don’t go down easy. They made a lot of tackles from behind, wrapping legs from the ground. They’re a good team.’
Until Trammell-Wells’ fourth-quarter scores, the two teams kept the game at a one-possession difference. Cougars junior quarterback Joshua Reichenbach amassed 256 yards through the air on 12-of-21 passing, and threw for four touchdowns. He added a 42-yard rushing score, finishing as Calvary Christian’s leader on the ground.
“He played pretty well,’ Cougars coach Mike Reichenbach said of his son. “He’s taken on a lot. He worked hard all offseason. We ask a lot of him and each week he’s getting better. That’s what I’m excited to see, that he’s starting to seem more comfortable out there throwing the ball and having fun.
“He’s afraid he’s going to make a mistake all the time because I’m his coach.’
Senior Samuel Heath led the Cougars with 165 yards receiving on five grabs, highlighting his statistical line with a late 60-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter.
While the Knights made an appearance in the District One Class A championship game last year, coach Drew Pearson made sure to note his team’s potential opposition in the tournament, which will start next weekend.
“We would love to take the next step in the program and win a district championship,’ Pearson said, “but there are some good teams in our district, and those guys are one of them. … We’re just going to have to take it one game at a time.’
