Rogers, Brown lead Academy Park to blowout over Gratz

PHILADELPHIA — Defensive lineman Isaiah Rogers scored a rushing touchdown for Academy Park Friday night.

Weird, funny things happen when you’re battering a team. 

The Knights defense recovered three fumbles and racked up nine tackles behind the line of scrimmage. The special teams unit blocked two punts and returned one to the house.

The offense flashed some high spots, too, led by senior quarterback Barry Brown.

It added up to a 44-6 shellacking of Simon Gratz at Marcus Foster Memorial Stadium.

Academy Park coach Jason Vosheski pointed out that Rogers’ unlikely touchdown run should have never happened. Rogers more or less ripped the ball away from second-string quarterback Anthony Rodriguez in the third quarter. He might pay for it at practice this week, but Rogers doesn’t mind. He lined up at fullback in a jumbo package on first-and-goal, grabbed the ball and rumbled into the end zone like a mini William “Refrigerator” Perry.

OK, so the ball was supposed to go to the tailback instead of the 6-4, 255-pound Rogers. But the mistake didn’t spoil the big man’s first career touchdown.

“Stuff happens,” Rogers said, grinning. “I’ll get yelled at during film tomorrow. It was an exciting moment, definitely, but I still messed up…”

Two blocked punts in the first quarter — one each by Malik Johnson and Ibrahim Sanogo — led to 10 points for the Knights (4-0). Brown had a rushing score and the Knights picked up a safety to make it 10-0.

Later in the half, Brown connected with Malik Johnson on a wide receiver screen and Johnson raced 47 yards down the Simon Gratz sideline for a touchdown.

After another woeful possession, the Bulldogs at last punted the ball with success, but it skittered 20 yards and into the waiting arms of Alphono Hayes, who raced 35 yards to paydirt to give the Knights a 30-0 cushion.

“We played horrible last week (in a 17-14 win against Truman), but we stepped up this week and played the way we’re supposed to play,” Brown said. “We can still play better, though.”

Senior running back/safety Devon Covert said the Knights had their best week of practice and it paid off.

“Last week we came in thinking we were going to blow Truman out,” said Covert, who ran for a touchdown. “We can’t do that and take anybody lightly anymore. We have to stick together as a family, play hard and do what we’re supposed to do.”

Brown finished 6-for-8 with 154 yards and a pair of TDs. The second scoring strike was a 66-yard bomb to Hayes in the third quarter.

Despite some big plays by Brown and the AP offense, this was a defense and special teams game. The Knights swarmed to the backfield and made life miserable for quarterback Arnold Paramore and the Bulldogs, who managed only 58 yards of total offense in the first half. Five of their six first downs were gained in the second half after AP had the game well in hand.

On defense, Rogers, Utensee Nankay and Skylar White were excellent on the line. Sanogo, Brian Daniels and Brian Erskine flourished at linebacker while Covert and the rest of the Knights’ secondary allowed only one pass on eight attempts.

“As a defense we want to confuse them a little bit, show them different positions because everybody can play more than one position,” Rogers said. “On every play we want to apply pressure. We know it’s going to be difficult for anybody to stop us.”

By the end of the night, Simon Gratz was whistled for two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties late in regulation. A near-brawl almost ensued, but the Knights kept their composure and backed away.

“They were mad because of the score and I think any team would be,” Covert said. “I mean, you’re losing that bad on your home field, you’re going to want to fight. I know I got to tell my team to keep their cool. We’re going down to West Virginia next week (to play Martinsburg) and I don’t want to lose nobody (to suspension). We have to all be together, every week.”