Franklin stuns Roxborough, 16-13

You do realize, North Catholic, Cardinal Dougherty and Kennedy-Kenrick were not the only schools to go poof last June?

Though it might return later, after refurbishing, William Penn also vamoosed, and that meant Anwar "Huddy" Mathis had to scramble.

Hey, good thing he's a quarterback.

"I live pretty close to Penn, at 11th and Norris, but it's not like Ben Franklin is far," said the 5-11, 140-pound Mathis, a senior. "Lots of the Penn guys went here, and a pretty good number are playing football, so everything's cool. I played last year with maybe half the guys - or at least a third- on this team."

And, Thursday, after a Public AAA contest that wound down in stunning fashion, every guy wearing blue and yellow was flashing a smile as wide as Broad Street (Franklin's at Green, Penn's at Master).

With his team up by five, Roxborough's Tyler Renninger dropped back to punt from his 24. Alas, the snap sailed over his head and, while being swamped, he could only cover the ball at the 5 with 1:39 remaining.

And then, at 18.1, there Mathis was, burrowing into the end zone on a 2-yard sneak (with a conversion pass to Willie Battle to follow).

Franklin 16, Roxborough 13. A 1-4 team had shocked a 4-1 team.

"I was so happy when I saw that snap go over the punter's head," said Mathis, who watched from the sideline. "I was like, 'Here's our chance! We're gonna win the game!' "

Not quite in easy fashion.

On first down, Jeremiah Kendrick and Bernard Avery combined to stop Battle for no gain. A procedure penalty - somehow, the tight end went in motion - pushed the ball back to the 10. Mathis then hit Jonathan Parker on a slant for 6 yards to the 4. Then, Roxborough was guilty of offsides, advancing the ball to the 2.

Mathis took it from there.

Soon, Roxborough's last gasp was failing and Demetrius Town, Franklin's star two-way lineman, was looking toward the stands for sounds that were no longer coming. Maybe 20 Roxborough kids had been razzing the Electrons pretty hard.

"I can't hear y'all any more!" Town yelled. "Wait. I'll turn around . . . Nope, can't hear you in this ear, either!"

Said Mathis, of Roxborough's offsides penalty: "That was our plan, to draw them across with the hard count. We knew we could do it. We had the discipline.

"On that drive, we just had to pull things together. Every time I go in a huddle to start a series, I tell the guys, 'We can do this. We can take it down and score.' I want them to believe. That's the kind of thing a quarterback, a leader, has to say."

Mathis said the other prominent ex-Lions on Franklin's squad are Parker, Malik Harrison, Richard Underwood, Alvin Skinner, Chris Sullivan and Safir Dixon. Parker and Sullivan are juniors, and the others are upperclassmen.

"I'm still kind of mad, really, about not being able to graduate from Penn," Mathis said. "You don't want to be forced to go somewhere else for your last year. I loved that place, and the relationship I had with our football coaches, like Mr. [James] Ockimey.

"Coming over here, I hoped to be the quarterback and that worked out. But more than that, I'm happy about the respect I'm getting as a captain, as someone who can lead the team."

Mathis scored Franklin's first TD on a fumble recovery; he'd bobbled, and lost, the ball on a sneak from the 1. That occurred 3:11 into the second quarter after Roxborough had stormed to a 13-0 edge on its first two series - passes of 42 and 28 yards from Nick Butts to Adrian Johnson-Pope and Dre'von Williams, respectively. Rasheed Bailey recovered a fumble in between.

Later, Franklin's defense regrouped. Parker and Pontell Wright picked off passes. Harrison and Wright pounced upon fumbles (forced by Underwood and Town).

And then, Mathis was winning the game, with lots of help from new and old friends.

In this one, the Electrons truly needed his Lion's share.