All-Delco Football Player of Year: Interboro’s Abu Kamara worked to make county history
PROSPECT PARK — Sometime soon a college football program will sign the steal of a lifetime.
His name is Abu Kamara, he owns a 4.4 GPA at Interboro High, and he is coming off one of the greatest individual seasons in the history of Delaware County football.
The first chance for prospective college football players to sign National Letters of Intent began Wednesday and lasts through Friday. Kamara may not be a part of that first wave of Division I-bound athletes, which suits him just fine. He is in no particular hurry to make a decision.
He said last week the list of interested programs is “medium sized.” It includes Iowa State, Penn State, Georgetown and Villanova. Ivy League schools are in contact, too. And, of course, every PSAC school is salivating at the idea that Kamara could come to their campus for the next four or five years.
Kamara picked up his first official offer last week. It’s from Yale.
“As of last year, before this season I was mainly trying to go to school for defense,” Kamara said. “But after this year, I’ve seen what I can do at a high level and … I realized that, on my film, if I can show colleges that I can run, show them my speed with my running back clips, and then also show them my technical defensive clips, it will be able to either offensively or defensively get me recruited.”
Kamara had the best season of any running back in Delaware County history. And one could argue that, as a defensive back, no one player had a better year. He set single-season records with 2,832 rushing yards and 42 touchdowns. In the defensive secondary, where he initially hoped he might get some recruiting notice, Kamara recorded 10 interceptions.
He had five games of 200 or more yards rushing, including three 300-yard efforts during Interboro’s memorable run to the District 1 Class 4A championship. He shattered every Interboro record by a running back along the way.
Those electric performances became routine, something that every Interboro fan came to expect from their superstar. And so, it should come as no surprise that Kamara is the Daily Times Player of the Year for the 2022 season. He is only the second Player of the Year from Interboro. Sean Wasson, who coached Kamara all four years with the Bucs, was the 2004 Player of the Year.
Joining him on the All-Delco offensive team are: quarterback Tommy Wright (Haverford); running back Anthony Crawford (Strath Haven); receivers Cymeer Brown (Chester), TJ Cadden (Episcopal Academy) and Ethan Mahan (Haverford); linemen Thaibri Rogers (Bonner & Prendergast), Matt Wiesendanger (Garnet Valley), Matt Pante (Haverford School), Matt Galanaugh (Interboro) and Tyler Klambara (Springfield).
The All-Delco defensive team includes: linemen Mylachi Williams (Bonner & Prendergast), Kiernan Gallagher (Garnet Valley) and Bill Brosko (Haverford School); linebackers Isaiah Session (Bonner & Prendergast), Noble Thompson (Chester), Drew Van Horn (Garnet Valley) and Louie Atkinson (Haverford School); and defensive backs Elijah Beaty (Bonner & Prendergast), Jack Westburg (Garnet Valley), Amir Byrd (Radnor) and Sam Milligan (Strath Haven).
Episcopal Academy quarterback Na’Rome Rayborn and Ridley wide receiver/defensive back Khameen Powell were selected for their all-purpose abilities, while Bonner & Prendergast punter Austin Cannon made it as a specialist.
The All-Delco teams are selected after consultation with area coaches.
Kamara is a native of Clifton Heights. He made his way into the Interboro School District at a young age and got his first taste of organized football with the Glenolden Indians. He eventually became a Prospect Park Termite, where so many of the great Interboro players throughout the years developed their games at the youth level. Interboro head coach Dennis Lux was the freshman head coach when Kamara arrived in 2019.
“Those first two years of high school, to me, it was just wanting to play football,” Kamara said. “I always had aspirations to play in college, but once I got exposed to more and more ways to be able to put myself out there, I realized my potential and then I took off with it ”
Kamara saw time at quarterback during the 2021 spring season, which was his sophomore year. By his junior season Kamara became the Bucs’ go-to player at running back while his good buddy Julian Bulovas became the starting QB full time.
From his first day as a Buc, Kamara understood what was required of him. He learned the “Buc Way” and how it came to define him as a person and player. Hard work and good attitude, that’s what Kamara is all about.
“Coach Lux and Coach Wasson, they were my freshman coaches and they would teach everybody the culture,” he said. “Everything they preach now, they preached when we were freshmen. For four years it stuck with me and meant more to me as I grew older.”
Kamara emerged as a leader by his junior season. As he became the best player in the program, Kamara set an example for everyone on the team, regardless of age or class.
“You have to have the mental and physical toughness if you want to play on our team,” Kamara said. “In the offseason in the weight room, we’re going at it. When I see the guys slacking, I push them and when I push them I use all of the things that Coach Lux and Coach Wasson and the whole coaching staff has been teaching us.”
Kamara embraced his star status. He was cognizant of all of the recognition and weekly accolades he garnered state-wide this year on social media platforms. Ultimately, though, his drive to be the best would only matter if his team was winning games. And after several down seasons on South Ave. in Glenolden, the Bucs went 10-4, won a District 1 title and played in the PIAA tournament.
The individual records and awards are fun. But Kamara is most proud of what the team accomplished in 2022.
“Everybody around here will want to tell you what they think of Interboro … but they don’t understand the work that those guys put in every day at practice,” he said. “They don’t understand that. So for us winning a district championship shows that it’s not just me, it’s all the other guys who have to be good for us as a team to win the district championship.”
