Francis to wrap up high school football career at 20th annual Valor Bowl
UWCHLAN – Dillon Estes remembers a bunch of times trying to tackle Avon Grove teammate/bulldozer/running back Kevin Francis during practice, but one encounter sticks out.
“One time we were doing a goal line drill. I went to tackle him and I ended up with my helmet turned the other way,” said Estes, a linebacker/fullback with the Red Devils. “I was looking out of the ear hole and I had three buckles undone.”
When it comes to Francis, those kinds of stories are commonplace. Throughout the 2017 football season, he was described as a ‘battering ram,’ a ‘throw-back runner’ and a ‘tough guy.’
“You can’t arm tackle that kid,” said Downingtown East head coach Mike Matta. “And at the end of the game, he is still running at the same speed, and everyone else is worn out.”
Francis’ remarkable senior season assured that he will go down as one of the toughest runners in Ches-Mont history. And on Thursday, Francis — and 80-plus others — will wrap up their high school football careers in the 20th Annual Valor Bowl All-Star Game. Kickoff is set for 7:15 p.m. from West Chester’s Farrell Stadium.
“Just being able to hang out with a lot of the guys I played against has been amazing,” said Francis, who lives in Lincoln University.
In the last dozen years, the Valor Bowl has raised nearly a half million dollars for Special Olympics, and there will be plenty of Division I prospects on both the West and East rosters. But nobody had a final high school season quite like Francis, who is headed to Division II Bloomsburg as a preferred walk on.
“I like Kevin because he runs very tough and physical. You know it’s coming, but he still has success with it,” Matta said.
“It’s obvious he’s a kid with a lot of heart and desire,” added Downingtown West head coach Mike Milano, moments after Francis ran the football 50 times for 390 yards and five touchdowns in a win over the Whippets last fall.
That performance shattered school records and his attempts and yardage were second all-time in the Ches-Mont. In all, Francis went on to gain a mind boggling 1,818 rushing yards in an equally stunning 285 carries.
“I was surprised with the totals, to be honest,” said his coach Harry O’Neill, who will serve as the head coach of the West squad on Thursday. “But I thought Kevin would be real good. I told our guys he would have an opportunity to lead the league in rushing.
“We are an I-back team, so he was going to get his 18-20 touches. Not the 50 he got against Downingtown West, but I thought if he got 200 carries, he’d get about 1,200 yards. I didn’t think he’d go off for 1,818.”
Francis wound up averaging 28.5 attempts per game, led the Devils to a 4-2 mark and a third place finish in the rugged Ches-Mont National. And if the league MVP was awarded to the player that was irreplaceable to his squad, Francis would have won it with ease.
“We saw a lot of nine man fronts,” O’Neill recalled. “Opponents knew he was getting the ball, but the thing about Kevin is that he is not a dancer. He is going to bang it into the hole to get three to six yards, and if he busts it into the secondary, there aren’t a lot of guys who want to tackle him.”
Despite starting on the varsity as a sophomore and junior, Francis entered last fall completely under the radar to just about everybody except his teammates and coaching staff. He was an unsung fullback and a second-string tailback behind Nate Jones. But when Jones graduated after the 2016 campaign and headed to Kutztown, Francis got his chance.
“I surprised a bunch of people,” Francis said. “I don’t think anyone knew what I could do because I was behind Nate Jones.
“It surprised me. I didn’t think I’d be able to push myself to get that many yards, but it wasn’t just me. It was my blockers and the whole offense.”
In addition, Francis isn’t all that imposing for such an effective power back, but he packs a rock-solid 190 pounds on a 5-foot-9 frame.
“He’s not the biggest kid in the world but he brings a load,” O’Neill said.
“I asked (O’Neill) the other day if Francis was at practice because I didn’t realize it was him,” said Matta, who is an assistant for the West squad. “He has things you can’t coach like great vision and great instincts.
“He definitely delivers hits, and he knows who he is. You see guys that are similar but they try to be nifty. He is who he is. He owns it and does a very good job.
“He is the kind of guy we look for in a back. When Avon Grove really started giving him the ball, that’s when they started winning.”
A common theme last season was that Francis was a classic overachiever, who wasn’t all that gifted athletically and was very good at doing one thing: running the football. But that isn’t necessarily the case.
“You hear that he’s slow, but if you watch him on film, you notice that he never gets caught,” Matta said.
“We didn’t throw a lot to Kevin last fall but as a sophomore and junior he caught a lot of passes,” O’Neill added. “He is a lot more versatile than people think.”
The secret to Francis’ non-stop motor and his incredible durability was that rather than taking a lot of big hits from defenders, he routinely dished them out. According to Francis, he started running that way as a youngster and it’s always worked.
“We learned that Kevin will do whatever he sets his mind to,” said Estes, who is headed the Division III Lebanon Valley. “We loved blocking for him. He is a great teammate.”
He isn’t, however, Superman. Francis acknowledged that the day after going for 390 yards on 50 carries against Downingtown West, he was the sorest he’s ever been.
“I didn’t want to get out of bed the next day,” he said.
But, of course, he did, and was back on the practice field a day later.
2018 Valor Bowl West Team roster
1 Kevin Sheehan 5’8” 155 K Avon Grove
2 Julian Nadachowski 6’1” 215 LB Oxford
3 Kahtero Summers 6’3” 190 WR Coatesville
4 Tyler Boyd 6’1” 200 DB Avon Grove
5 Mekhi Alexander 5’8” 175 DB Coatesville
6 Ronnie Grizzanti 5’9” 175 DB Downingtown East
7 Nick Sicila 5’10” 180 DB Downingtown West
8 Chandler England 5’11” 175 QB Oxford
9 Josh Brockson 6’3” 215 TE Avon Grove
10 Brandon DeShields 5’9” 170 WR Oxford
11 Jake Dilcher 5’11” 170 QB Kennett
12 Shane Wolford 6’4” 185 QB Avon Grove
13 Chris Brooks 5’11” 170 WR Kennett
14 Bryce Lauletta 6’3” 185 QB Downingtown East
15 Brassir Stocker 6’1” 185 RB Downingtown East
16 Trent Pawling 5’10” 165 DB Octorara
17 Donte Crews 6’2” 180 DB Coatesville
20 Dylan Lapham 6’0” 170 WR Avon Grove
21 Brandon Jackson 6’1” 205 LB Octorara
22 TJ Simmons 5’8” 180 RB Downingtown West
23 Trent McNally 6’2” 200 LB Downingtown East
24 Kevin Francis 5’9” 190 RB Avon Grove
25 Kevin Wessells 6’0” 200 LB Kennett
28 Brandon Holz 6’0” 180 RB Oxford
33 Zach Hillard 5’11” 180 LB Coatesville
34 Andrew Ciliberto 5’10” 180 RB Downingtown West
35 Josh Willenbrock 6’0” 190 LB Downingtown West
43 Dillon Estes 6’1” 210 LB Avon Grove
44 Johnny Clifford 6’1” 180 LB Coatesville
45 Nicolas Hesel 6’3” 190 DE Downingtown East
52 Ricky Rodriguez 5’9” 180 OL Coatesville
54 Alex Raimondo 5’10” 220 DL Coatesville
55 Joey Janick 6’2” 235 DL Downingtown East
56 Joel Mogaka 5’11” 250 OL Avon Grove
61 Andrew Hibbs 6’1” 240 OL Downingtown West
68 Jared Tweed 5’10” 240 OL Oxford
71 Garrett Farmer 6’5” 280 OL Downingtown East
72 Nate Pizzini 6’1” 280 OL Kennett
73 Donnie Black 6’1” 225 OL Octorara
75 Josh Havrialk 5’10” 215 OL Owen J. Roberts
77 Phillip Hurtt 6’3” 215 OL Oxford
78 Carter Regitz 6’3” 280 OL Downingtown East
Head coach: Harry O’Neill, Avon Grove
2018 Valor Bowl East roster
1 Garrett Reilly 5’7” 170 P/K Malvern Prep
2 Damien Carter 5’9” 145 WR/DB Great Valley
3 Kevin Boyle 5’6” 160 RB Malvern Prep
4 Roshaun Christopher 5’10” 175 DB Conestoga
5 JT Hower 5’9” 170 WR/DB Unionville
6 Nate Graeff 6’2” 230 TE/DE Great Valley
7 Ian Tracy 6’0” 185 WR WC Henderson
8 Joe Saulino 6’3” 175 DB WC Henderson
9 Dan DiBeneditto 6’0” 175 QB/DB Bishop Shanahan
10 Bobbt Bosch 6’1” 180 K/P WC Rustin
11 Joe Zubillaga 6’1” 210 WR/LB Unionville
13 Sam Ross 6’0” 190 TE/LB Unionville
14 Tom Waite 6’1” 190 WR/DB Bishop Shanahan
15 Alex Gorgone 5’11” 170 QB Unionville
16 Andrew McMahon 5’9” 165 WR/DB WC East
17 Steve Sweeney 6’1” 170 RB/DB Bishop Shanahan
18 Charles Jacobs 6’3” 235 TE/DE WC East
20 Mark Neri 5’8” 150 WR/DB Great Valley
22 Ty Pringle 6’0” 185 RB WC Rustin
23 Nick Benoit 5’11” 175 RB/DB WC Rustin
24 CJ Preston 6’0” 215 RB WC Henderson
25 Cory Nowlan 6’1” 170 DB Conestoga
26 Dante Graham 6’0” 180 RB/DB Unionville
33 Alex Crouse 5’7” 175 RB/LB Great Valley
43 Parker Wolf 6’2” 220 LB Great Valley
44 Liam Dearing 6’0″ 190 FB/LB Bishop Shanahan
50 Matt Dempsey 6’2” 235 OL/DE Conestoga
51 Xander Utecht 6’2” 270 OL/DL Great Valley
52 Gonzalo Delgadillo 5’10” 200 LB WC East
53 Rudy Ricutti 5’9” 225 OL/DL WC Rustin
55 Sean Heckler 6’2” 240 OL/DL WC East
58 Pablo Aviles-Bernal 5’10” 185 OL/LB Unionville
59 Nick Joerger 5’11” 200 LB WC Rustin
61 Joey Hagan 6’2” 230 OL/DL Unionville
66 Grayson Jenkins 5’8” 205 OL/LB Great Valley
67 Mac Barry 6’2” 265 OL/DL Bishop Shanahan
70 Dan Shoop 6’1” 255 OL/DL WC Rustin
72 Malyk Tucker 5’8” 230 OL/DL WC East
74 Kevin Jones 6’7” 295 OL/DL Bishop Shanahan
80 Carson Jones 6’2” 210 TE/DE WC Rustin
81 Tom McGovern 6’3” 210 TE/DE Conestoga
Head coach: Dan Ellis, Great Valley
