Football Preview: Dorsey, Delco Christian want to build on winning tradition

NEWTOWN SQUARE >> The clapping in unison after reps, the thud of pads, the encouragement flowing from veterans to young players, it all composes the late-summer soundtrack at football camps the nation over.

Optimistic excitement is very much in season this time of year, and it’s usually only hindsight that reveals when those qualities are direly scarce.

At Delco Christian practice, though, you can’t help but feel that all those preseason rituals take on a slightly different connotation.

The Knights, for one, are still ticking items off their agenda of firsts as they embark on the program’s sixth campaign. Last season, they claimed the District One Class A championship, advancing to the first round of the PIAA Tournament.

The exuberance stems from simple nuance: As the Knights attempt to blaze a trail deeper into the Pennsylvania football consciousness, the next steps are so clearly elucidated that it’s tough not to be excited by them. It’s heightened for a group of seniors who can trace the program’s trajectory almost all the way back to humble beginnings and own such a large share of the growth the squad has enjoyed.

“We always say, ‘tradition never graduates,’ and I think that’s a really big saying here,” senior running back Amir Dorsey said at a recent practice. “Even if we graduate, we still want the tradition of hard work and full effort to continue with the underclassmen.”

This season’s leadership crusade entails imparting the foundation of last year’s effort to the new corps hoping to duplicate it. The Knights pushed into states, where they gave District 11 champ Pius X a run for its money in a 29-22 setback.

Many of the pieces that made that bit of program history possible return, part of a well-populated roster that numbers well into the 30s, no small feat for a school of Delco Christian’s modest size.

The backfield duo of Dorsey and Nazim Trammell-Wells will again shoulder much of the load in the option offense. The quarterback battle remains up for grabs — with experienced juniors Jake Allen and Dan Poirer vying with Devin Hill, who brings more aerial acumen but is shorter on seasoning — but coach Drew Pearson is confident that any of the three can execute the fakes, steps and handoffs the ground game requires.

Whoever gets the nod, they’ll have the security of a veteran offensive line that is among the team’s most distinct strengths entering the season. The unit is back nearly intact from last year, led by seniors Kyle Winters, Giho Park and Stephen Mitchell and junior Jake Gutowski. Senior tight end/linebacker Jack Grim, who represents one of the select few passing targets, will throw plenty of blocks as well.

“We lost a lot of good people, but we still have some good returning guys that have been putting in work in the offseason, putting in work in the weight room,” Grim said. “We want to build on the momentum that we’ve had for the last year and continue to strive for the district championship and the BAL championship and just keep pushing as hard as we can.”

The Knights also should be sound in the kicking game, with senior kicker/punter Ford Harvey returning to shore up that position.

Though the faces have changed, the excitement underpinning the Knights’ preparations remains the same. And the desire to perpetuate their recent progress is a gauntlet the new group has willingly picked up.

“We’re trying to go hard, and coach always talks to us about enthusiasm,” Grim said. “It’s the hard work we put in and the results will come afterward. So if we give everything we have and just put as much of our energy and our power into it and put enthusiasm into it, we think the results will come.”

“We’re building the groundwork,” Dorsey said. “How do you want to be remembered this year? That’s a big thing for us. We (are) remembered as the first team to win a district championship. We want to be remembered as the first team to make state quarterfinals. And I think that’s a really big thing driving us.”

This story appears in the Delco Times Football Preview, available on newsstands Friday.