Senior Quarterback Is Ready To Lead Plymouth Whitemarsh High School

It won’t happen this year. Russhon Phillips vows the culture will be different.

He says it with such strong conviction that you can almost see the exclamation point in his words. There is that tendency to believe the 6-foot-1, 170-pound senior quarterback.

What won’t occur is the tense clenching anxiety that can sometimes grip a young team and spill over into the difference between making a great play, or squandering a last–chance opportunity to win a game.

“We were just learning the offense this time last year and by the end of the season, we started to get it down,” Phillips said. “We have the talent. We know system now, and where the reads are. What we need to do is change the attitude. We lost a lot of tight games last year, and when you’re so used to losing and not being on top, you don’t know how to respond."

The Colonials finished 6-5 overall last year, with four of their five losses coming within six points or less. It’s been a gradual process that’s seen Plymouth Whitemarsh go winless in 2008, finishing 0-11, the worst record in school history, to 3-8 in 2009, to last year’s 6-5 mark, missing out on the district playoffs by one victory.

Call this a warm front year for the Colonials, because there will be no more freezing in close games.

Phillips feels certain those tight losses won’t occur. He can support his argument with the amount of talent returning for the Colonials, including leading tailback Xavier Ellington, and receivers Kenny Williams and Alton Custus.

There was just one glaring fact Phillips left out—he’s also back.

Phillips passed for close to 1,200 yards and rushed for another 600 yards in a new option offense he had to learn as the season progressed. The Colonials lost two of their first three games last year, but finished their season by winning three straight. They gave district-playoff bound Cheltenham all it could handle in a 25-23 loss at Plymouth Whitemarsh on October 15, even leading at halftime 17-12.

“That’s what happened to us last year, we didn’t know how to handle tight-game situations," he said. "With the talent and leadership we have back, we’ll definitely be able to handle that this year. A lot of that will be on me, and I’m ready for it. I was more of a leader by example last year. This is our senior year, I have to be more vocal and that’s something I’m ready for. We’ve been working out all summer, and I know my guys know I have their backs, and I know they have mine.”

With Phillips leading the way, the Colonials are looking at a promising season. He’s intelligent—on and off the field, carrying a 4.0 GPA with attention Princeton, Cornell, Lehigh, Duke and Temple. He’s exceptionally fast, and it appears this season is exceptionally determined to lead Plymouth Whitemarsh to its first district playoff appearance since 2006.

“That’s the goal and I think we have the talent and motivation to do it,” Phillips said. “We refurbished the offense, and we know now what we need to do to win. It’s been a long time since Plymouth Whitemarsh won a league title (since 2005). That’s our first goal. Make Plymouth Whitemarsh a winner again.”