Furness retires Smith's No. 1 after win over Prep Charter

Sharif Smith made sure the ceremony was immediately preceded by a celebration.

At the north end of the South Philly Super Site on Wednesday, Smith burrowed 1 yard for the decisive touchdown, then combined with Bor Bor Kessley to make the seal-the-deal tackle as Horace Furness topped Prep Charter, 20-14, in overtime, in the teams' first holiday meeting.

Minutes later in the same locale, with coaches and current/former teammates enjoying every moment, Smith's No. 1 jersey (the white version), in a glass frame, was presented to him by coach Anthony Pastore and athletic director Dave Connolly.

Yes, it has been retired.

"This means a lot," Smith said. "Coach Ant put a lot of love and care into me. My hat's off to him and all the coaching staff."

As a quarterback, tailback and Wildfalcon snap-taker, Smith rushed 28 times for 169 yards and three TDs. He finished the season with 185 carries for 1,068 yards and 15 TDs, while passing 31-for-95 for 707 yards and 10 more scores.

Careerwise, he rushed 755 times for 4,457 yards (No. 5 total in city history) and 51 TDs en route to 338 total points. Also, he passed 39-for-129 for 938 yards and 14 TDs and made 11 catches for 101.

He'll most remember that last tackle, however.

"That gave me the best feeling of my career. By far," Smith said, getting emotional. "We gave up two late touchdowns [to Jovan Matthews] to put it into OT. I was telling the o-line and d-line we had to buckle down, and we did that. We got that win. We had a very young team. I'm really proud of these guys."

Online high school coverage at philly.com/rally.