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Edison football team garners Players of the Week honors

The Owls defeated George Washington for the first time insce 1964.

PERENNIAL football powers put on impressive - even record-breaking - displays last week, but a relative newcomer to gridiron glory gets the recognition for Week 6.

Thomas Edison High, which hadn't beaten George Washington since 1964, defeated the host Eagles, 6-0, on Friday, in a victory dedicated to a late teammate.

That performance was significant enough for the Owls - who arrived late for the game - to be named our Players of the Week.

"I think it was a big boost for (us)," said second-year head coach Joe Gifford. "For years, Edison has had a reputation that we were not competitive and that people who played us could put the 'W' in the win column before the game even started."

Years ago, according to TedSilary.com, two different stretches illustrate why that reputation may have existed.

From 1978 to 1982, the Owls went scoreless in 27 consecutive games. Then, from 1984 to 1991, Edison went winless in 58 straight contests.

Friday's soggy success was the first this season for the Owls (1-4).

Tymiir Alls, a 5-5, 147-pound running back and defensive back, scored the game's only touchdown, a 12-yard run through the middle of Washington's defense.

"It felt good," said Alls, a senior who transferred from Roxborough after he and his mother, Monique Burton, moved near Edison. "It was a good feeling, but we should have scored more than once. We made it to the red zone again, but we just didn't score."

Desirous of more than one win, Gifford hopes Alls' mentality is contagious in the locker room.

"The fact that we were able to beat them," Gifford said, "regardless of the conditions, I think it's a feather in our hats, because we sort of know now that if we play well we can stay with anybody."

Washington, which has favored the pass at times this season, managed only 37 total yards of offense in the quagmire.

"The weather was horrible," Alls said. "It was raining hard, and it was cold, but once I fell in that mud one time, I was cool."

The weather also slowed Edison's journey, which began late because the bus scheduled to take them to Washington was parked in an unexpected lot on the school's Luzerne Street campus.

Not far from that location is where the Owls' late teammate, Tyrone Tillman, was struck and killed in a hit-and-run accident as he rode his bike in July.

Before every game, Edison typically brings Tillman's No. 2 jersey with them for the coin toss. On Friday, however, the Owls didn't because they were tardy.

It didn't seem to make the victory any less sweet.

"Some people were happy after the game," Alls said, "but they were also emotional because we won the game for (Tillman)."

Others considered

Imhotep Charter's Mike Waters broke a single-game school record with 264 rushing yards, and needed only six carries (averaging 44 yards per attempt). Waters also added five touchdowns. Malvern Prep stunned St. Joseph's Prep, 33-21. O'Shaan Allison and Zac Fernandez ran for 163 and 103 yards, respectively. Prep Charter's Quadir Strothers set a single-game school record with 228 rushing yards. Archbishop Wood's Anthony Russo finished 15 of 18 for 378 yards. His teammate, Mark Webb, caught four passes for 139 yards. Martin Luther King's Paul Sanchez caught three passes for 119 yards. St. Joseph's Prep's D'Andre Swift made five catches for 118 yards.