Nafeese Nasir, Plymouth Whitemarsh roll Springfield-Montco
WHITEMARSH >> Nafeese Nasir could not have imagined a better way for his final home game at Plymouth Whitemarsh to have gone. On Homecoming and Senior Night, Nasir totaled 246 yards and a career-high six touchdowns — in just one half of action — in a 56-0 Suburban One League American Conference win over Springfield-Montco Friday night.
“It’s like a movie script,” he said. “You can’t write that. It was just a surreal feeling having that happen and the euphoria feeling we have now, it’s amazing. I love these guys.”
Nasir carried the ball 12 times for 184 yards and five touchdowns, caught one pass for a 49-yard touchdown and completed one pass for 13 yards.
“He’s special,” PW coach Dan Chang said. “I’ve been saying it all year. He’s been a great player for us. With the ball in his hands he’s dangerous. He did what he did all year — he makes plays with his legs. He’s grown so much as a leader over the last three years — I think that’s what I’m most proud of — his maturity and leadership have really grown over the last three years.”
The 5-foot-9, 175-pounder scored on runs of eight, 77, 53, 11 and two yards.
Nasir credited his success — both against Springfield and throughout his career — to the big guys up front.
“I want to thank my whole line, all of them right there (pointing to his linemen),” he said. “They’ve been with me the whole year. That’s who I want to thank. I just try to do my best.”
The Colonials (8-2, 5-2) entered the weekend ranked No. 14 in the District 1-AAAA Power Rankings. The top 16 teams make the playoffs and now PW will wait until the final rankings are released Sunday morning to see if its season will continue.
“We had to take care of business and we still don’t know whether we’re in or not,” Chang said. “Depends on a couple things that happen (Friday) and (Saturday) night. We did our part and now all we can do is wait and kind of see where we go from there.”
“Coming in, we had to get playoff-ready,” Nasir said. “No matter what happens, we have to be ready for the playoffs — no matter what. If we’re out, we’re out. We balled our butts off and we did everything we could.”
Joe Stoberl threw the 49-yard touchdown to Nasir in the first quarter.
The other two touchdowns came in the second half and were both on the ground — a one-yard run by Kirk Bell and a nine-yard run by Anthony Mirabile.
Mirabile totaled 65 yards on the ground and Bell ran for 41 yards.
The Spartans (3-6, 2-5) were led by Ben Fisher and Brett Righter, who each ran for 50 yards.