West Philly blanks Overbook for record 11th victory

IN TERMS of greatness, West Philadelphia High's 2011 football squad could be challenged as early as next season.

You see, the school's colors are orange and blue, and a full-contact, keep-busy scrimmage was held last Friday. The seniors wore orange, the juniors settled for blue, and here's Desmond Sams to tell you what happened.

"The rule was, whoever got to seven touchdowns first would be the winner," he said. "We beat them, 7-0. I scored four times, all on runs."

You know what's coming, right? The 5-10, 190-pound Sams, a tailback-fullback (depending) and outside linebacker for first-year coach Paul Noon, is a junior. He's also a good teammate.

"The seniors were hurt, because they were missing 'T.O.,' " he said, referring to star wideout Eric Leslie. "He couldn't play because of a stomach virus."

Yesterday, everybody suited up and marched into history.

Thanks in large part to Sams, who rushed seven times for 100 yards and the first two touchdowns, West (11-1) muffled Overbrook, 26-0, before an overflow crowd at 48th and Spruce, thus taking a 12-11 lead at holiday time and upping its overall series lead to 53-26-7.

The Speedboys have been playing football since 1910. This is their first 11-win season, eclipsing the total of the 1927 squad (10-0).

"For years and years, anytime people talk about the most wins in West history, they're going to have to point right to us," Sams said. "It's a great accomplishment, and I'm really happy to be a part of it."

Sams' TDs covered 48 yards, then one. Naturally, the former provided a shade more excitement.

"It was a left-side toss," he said. "We had three runners in the backfield with Brian Davis at fullback, then me and Anthony Johnson at running back. Anthony and Brian gave me great blocks to get me to the outside. After I made my two cuts, I knew I had the safety, because he was out of position. Plus, I knew I was faster than him."

What Sams didn't know, as the season began, was that West had anything close to a powerhouse.

"I thought the other teams were going to outsize us by a lot," he said. "But after we got through the scrimmages, our talent started coming out. We kept getting better and better.

"It hurt us a lot losing like we did [to Boys' Latin Charter in a Public AAA semifinal]. That made us angry. We got together and promised ourselves to finish the season strong. We talked about hard work and dedication. Coach kept saying, 'Practice the way you play . . . Practice the way you play.' Everybody kept showing up. Kept putting out the effort."

Leslie, on a 55-yard pass from Ricardo Streams, and Johnson, on a 4-yard run, scored the other TDs. Sams had six tackles, and William Monaghan recovered an untouched squib kickoff at the 35, thus giving life to the drive that made it 13-0.

Overbrook was limited to 83 yards total offense. Marice Tillman managed 40 on nine rushes.

Meanwhile, Sams, who lives on Webster near 54th, is not headed into sporting mothballs.

"Now I'm ready for basketball," he said.

After a bask-in-the-glory weekend.