Franklin's Boone has 'Rudy' moment

PASSING ALONG some city high school football tidbits . . .

One thing coaches love to do is reward their most dedicated players.

Thursday, Desmin Daniels seized that opportunity during Franklin's 39-14 win over Southern, and the beneficiary was the guy he considers his Rudy, junior Blair Boone.

Daniels said the 5-8, 148-pound Boone is always the first at practice and the last to leave, and now his name can be found among the offensive statistics - one catch, 1 yard. Might as well be 100 and 1,000, judging by the feeling it gave Boone, who attends Philadelphia Military-Elverson and plays for Franklin via a cooperative sponsorship.

"When we were doing our halftime warmups," Boone said, "coach asked me, 'How would you feel about catching a pass?' I told him, 'Sounds real good.'

"I got my chance in the fourth quarter. After I was out there for three plays, I looked to our sideline and [playfully] threw my hands up to say, like, 'When's my chance?' They called me over and asked if I knew what a 'zero hitch' was. I wasn't sure, but they told me. It's really like a screen pass. You take one step across the line, then come back and make the catch.

"The guys were excited in the huddle. When 'Huddy' [Anwar Mathis] called the play, they were happy I was getting my chance. I was happy, too. I was smiling on the inside - laughing, really - but I didn't show anything on the outside because then they would have known the play was coming to me."

Boone made the catch close to Franklin's sideline, and his teammates exploded in joy.

"I treated it like a normal play," he said, laughing. "Just went back to the huddle. I wasn't even nervous when the ball was coming at me. Wasn't time for that, really. I just wanted to make sure my hands did their job."

On special-teams duty, Boone also made his first two tackles of the season. One was even a solo.

When asked to explain his dedication, Boone responded, "I've got that urge to get better. I've got all next year in front of me. If I want to be out there, I have to work hard now, right?"

Under first-year coach Paul Noon, West Philadelphia is 9-0 for the first time since the 1928 squad finished with that same record. Wes Hackman was the coach; he'd gone 10-0 in his rookie campaign in '27 . . . Dobbins' Mike Jones scored on a kickoff recovery vs. Olney. Daquan "Day-Day" Brown hammered the ball deep, Olney's return man never bothered to field it despite suggestions from many (including Daily News statman Bill Wettstein) and Jones flopped on the ball after it was nudged from the 5 into the end zone . . . Thanks to Brown (three), Sharquill Farmer (two) and Trayvon Faison (one), Dobbins boasts six TDs on kickoff returns . . . In the six games played Saturday in rain/sleet/snow, passers combined to go 19-for-64 (29.7 percent) for 213 yards and zero TDs. Only Haverford School's James Chakey (5-for-8, 92) was remotely effective . . . With rain falling and a hint of chill in the air Thursday, late in a 34-0 loss to Del-Val Charter, University City's cheerleaders chanted several times, "I'm hungry! I'm cold!" . . . D-V's Rob Davis has to own this crazy city record: Most career conversion runs (11) before scoring his first TD (15-yard run) . . . Obviously, signals got crossed: Against Northeast, Central QB Ryan Dydak spiked the ball on third-and-2 at his own 18 three minutes prior to halftime . . . In the fourth quarter, Northeast went for it on fourth-and-1 at its own 10. An injured lineman yelled from the sideline, "Block like your life depends on it!" QB Harold Alexander burrowed for 2 yards. Joseph Shepherd Jr.'s winning 20-yard fumble return occurred on the next play . . . O'Hara had scored in 31 consecutive games prior to its 38-0 loss to Wood . . . McDevitt has posted no passing yardage in three of its last six games . . . Comm Tech owned interceptions in 14 of its last 16 games (22 picks total) before failing to get one vs. Imhotep . . . Engrid Bullock, who celebrated quite loudly after her grandson, Bok soph DL Mark Webb, scored on a fumble return vs. Prep Charter: "I thought I was going to have a heart attack, and could hardly catch my breath. [Nearby spectators] all thought I had lost my mind." . . . Vying for attention from a TV cameraman, SJ Prep's student rooters pressed against a railing in the stands at Plymouth-Whitemarsh, prior to the game vs. La Salle, causing it to collapse. No serious injuries.