De George: Academy Park’s championship past not enough to finish job

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CHELTENHAM — On one side Friday night was a team making its first deep postseason run in decades. The other side held an established power, vying to finish the decade with its fourth District 1 title. Those pedigrees, even more than seedings, tend to hold sway this time of year.

But as Friday’s District 1 Class 5A final progressed, the newcomer Cheltenham had plenty of chances to fall back. Could’ve happened when it trailed by two scores in the first half. Or when Academy Park, a program that’s become accustomed to playing in the late-November chill, threatened to erase a momentum-shifting score in the final minute of the first half. Or when AP grinded out half of the third quarter on a scoring drive to restore that two-score bump.

Academy Park’s Brian Erskine, left, and Malic Patterson embrace after the Knights dropped a heartbreaking 43-42 decision to Cheltenham in the District 1 Class 5A championship game Friday night. (Pete Bannan/MediaNews Group)

And if there was anything in the football world that could prepare a team for the insanity that was the final two minutes Friday — a three-score (and many-penalties-more) bonanza that capped a 29-penalty slugfest — you would think it might be the experience of having been there before.

It wasn’t, Cheltenham made sure.

“We wanted it more,” said Cheltenham receiver T.J. Harris, after a 43-42 barn-burner. “They thought they were going to come in here and walk all over us, but we didn’t let that happen.”

Some years, AP’s fearsome reputation might do that. Some seasons, a defense that simply wouldn’t give an inch wouldn’t allow it to lose (and certainly wouldn’t surrender 43 points to any opponent not named Archbishop Wood). Or a transcendental playmaker would will it to victory. There’s plenty of evidence of that in the historical record under Jason Vosheski.

But for whatever reason, this year’s team didn’t have that magical alchemy. Or maybe the hungry Panthers forced it out of them.

Some of the shortcomings were enforced on them by injuries. Starting running back Devon Covert and starting receiver Alphonso Hayes were in street clothes Friday. The Cheltenham offense took such a toll that Nafees Fox and Damir Simmons, the latter in a sling, watched the final drive from the bench.

Add in a half-dozen other regulars who had just come back, and it almost worked out for the Knights – they almost mixed the return of veterans with the growth of the reserves who’d replaced them.

“We just put a lot of trust and a lot of faith in all of the guys to make plays,” linebacker Brian Daniels said. “We had a great season. … It’s no different. It’s the next-man up mentality. We think our ones are as good as our twos.”

For a while, that was the direction the Knights were heading in, thanks to a pair of sophomore receivers. Last week, Jalen Allen played the hero with two touchdowns in a one-point win over Rustin. This week, Eric Willis stepped to the fore. He ran for a score in the first quarter, then caught at 21-yard TD from Barry Brown on fourth down in the third quarter, capping a nearly seven-minute drive for a 28-14 lead.

“I’ve been happy to be able to contribute to my team,” Willis said. “I’m just going out there, giving it my all, 110 percent effort.”

Willis was Brown’s only target for the first 47 minutes, accounting for seven catches for 76 yards. He hauled in a 14-yarder on third-and-14 in the fourth, then scampered 11 yards for first and goal on the next play. That set up Brown’s seven-yard QB draw and Brown’s jet-sweep two-point conversion to put AP up 36-35 with 1:48 to play.

Most years, with AP’s defense, that would be game, as the proclamation rang from the sideline.

Friday, it was just the beginning.

Cheltenham quarterback Adonis Hunter orchestrated a 10-play drive in seemingly no time. He converted a pair of fourth downs, first on an 11-yard bootleg, then a connection with Jamir Barnes. Then with 28 ticks left, Hunter found Harris across the middle, a 25-yard touchdown to put the Panthers up, with the two-pointer to Harris, 43-36.

“Me and Adonis have been playing together since eighth grade,” Harris said. “We came up here and five years later, we have the same chemistry. We ran that play right on point, and the put the throw right on point.”

AP wasn’t done, thanks in part to three Cheltenham penalties backing up the kickoff. Malik Jackson returned it 27 yards, then hauled in a pass from Brown on the first snap to cover the final 18. The two-pointer, though, fell short, a wildcat snap that Glister Threadgill kept, with Brown used as the decoy in an identical play from — what seemed like a lifetime, but in reality was only 90 seconds of game time — earlier.

There were plenty of mistakes for AP to rue. Fifteen penalties for 155 yards are a good place to start, though Cheltenham had 14 for 130 walked off against them. One in particular, a Willis offensive pass interference in the final minute of the first half to wipe out what would’ve been a sensational 17-yard touchdown grab by Jackson, comes to mind first.

They lost the emotional battle, especially in the third quarter. Despite appearing to have a stranglehold on the game after the Willis touchdown, up 14 points with 17 minutes to play, they didn’t close the game, allowing Cheltenham to roar back and tie by the time 62 seconds had elapsed in the fourth quarter.

“No one had their head down,” Harris said. “And if someone had their head down, someone picked it right back up for them.”

Brown did his bit, running for 225 yards and three scores, throwing for 94 yards and two TDs. But with a line that didn’t consistently win the battles up top, a defense that didn’t create a turnover and a special teams game that didn’t produce game-shifting plays, this wasn’t the vintage AP teams of the past.

“It was heartbreaking because I thought we could pull it out,” Willis said. “But things just didn’t work out at the end.”

That, as much as the destination of the District 1 trophy, are proof.

To contact Matthew De George, email mdegeorge@delcotimes.com. Follow him on Twitter @sportsdoctormd.

Matthew De George

Matthew De George
Matthew De George is the Asst. Sports Editor and the lead Union writer for The Daily Times.

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