Nothing robotic about Luke White

LUKE WHITE is used to creating things under pressure. The 5-8, 150-pound running back for Simon Gratz is actually a junior at Engineering and Science, which doesn't field a football squad.

So it should come as no surprise that the Logan resident has his heart set on mechanical engineering. In fact, he's already made his own robot and worked on several other robotics programs when he was younger.

However, in Gratz' 24-8 quarterfinal playoff victory last night against Northeast High, White had to make something out of nothing during a critical third down with about 3 minutes left in the fourth quarter.

With the Bulldogs (9-1, 6-0) nursing a 16-8 advantage, sophomore Ahmir Lewis took a pitch on the left side from quarterback Musa Al-Sulaimani. The play was a designed reverse with White sprinting from the right to accept a handoff from Lewis. Problem was, the Vikings were hip to the hoax.

Hemmed in and moments from being corralled, Lewis flipped the ball to White, who caught, danced and then pranced down the left sideline for a 47-yard score with just 2:48 left.

"Musa pitched it to Amir and they had him," White recalled. "I stood right there. I looked at him, he looked at me, and then he pitched it to me. So I got it, started running and I saw my quarterback making a block for me, then a lineman made a good block for me and opened it up. It was a good play."

So, before the pitch was White thinking, "No, no, no, don't pitch it!"?

"Naw, I was thinking, 'Yeah, pitch it!' '' he said. "They got him, so we had to make the best out of it. If he could get it to me, get it to me, and I'll try to make something happen."

The victory at the Marcus Foster Supersite means a semifinal matchup with Martin Luther King High, which defeated Frankford, 28-20, last night.

Early on, the Vikings (4-6, 3-3) seized momentum with an effective ground game. Seniors Asa Manley (quarterback) and Rushawn Grange (running back) led the attack. Manley finished 87 yards on 18 carries despite fumbling or bobbling several snaps. Grange finished with 77 yards on 15 carries and a touchdown.

However, the Gratz defense, led by junior linebacker Shawn "Woozy" Jenkins, was in bend-don't-break mode.

"We wouldn't be here without our defense," said White, who White finished with 76 yards on 13 carries. "Our offense, we had some mess-ups and we couldn't drive as much as we wanted, but our defense didn't give up on us. They stopped them, they held them and they kept it going for us. They're the reason we stayed in this game."

Jenkins finished with 13 tackles and a fumble recovery. Junior two-way lineman Raquan Thomas added a late sack and was dominant in stretches. Sophomore Kenneth Bennett intercepted the Vikings' final heave that essentially ended the game.

Javon Whitfield, a junior defensive back, nabbed a pass near the end zone as time expired, which preserved the Bulldogs' 8-0 lead at intermission.

The Vikings' defense also gave Gratz, the top seed in the AAAA Liberty Division, problems. Senior defensive back Travon Williams had an interception for Northeast, the fourth seed from the Independence division.

With Northeast senior defensive end Gladimir Paul (Virginia) and Co. stifling the Bulldogs, a blocked punt by Gratz junior Laquan Solomon with 31 seconds left in the half was recovered by junior Cameron Brown at the Viking 1. A play later, Shawn "Megatron" Williams (two TDs) dived into the end zone.

Williams plunged in again from a yard out before White created under pressure, where he's no stranger.

A robotics competition at Temple as a youngster forced White to build with teammates under a tight deadline.

"The pressure is in getting it done and within a time limit," he said. "You don't have all day to make the robot."

The 3.2-GPA student said he also built a robot on his own as an eighth grader heading into freshman year.

"There are a lot of fields in engineering," he said, "but I'm kind of good at electronics and making robots, so anything in robotics, engineering or computer science, that's what I'm striving for."

Building robots solo is one thing, but for White, there's nothing like winning as a team.

"I was just on the sideline saying, 'I love y'all,' " he said. "I wouldn't have scored without them. They saw me with the ball and they didn't stop and stand there. They started making blocks so I could get free. That's what I love about my team. We play until the whistle blows."