Indians Football Improves to 2-0 on Season

With 20 seconds left in the first quarter and his team on the opponent's 3-yardline, Roxborough quarterback Nick Butts fumbled the snap, dribbled the ball clumsily on the turf before scooping it up, tripping sideways over his center and into a body pile that happened to be lying in the end zone. Touchdown Indians.

Rarely is a game so neatly—or sloppily—encapsulated in one play.

In a performance that wasn't pretty, but got the job done, Roxborough High School defeated South Philadelphia High School 35-0 Friday at the South Philadelphia Athletic Supersite on the strength of a smothering defense, an intermittently effective running game, and an opponent who couldn't seem to hang on to the football. The thing is, neither could Roxborough.

In the shadow of Citizen's Bank Park, which has housed plenty of ugly victories itself this season, the two teams combined for 14 fumbles—eight in the first quarter alone—two interceptions, a blocked punt, a safety, and an amount of false starts whose sheer quantity defied attempts to catalogue them.

"It was sloppy, but we'll take it," said coach Mike Stanley in the aftermath of the game that moved his team to 2-0 on the season.

"It was the best week of practice we've had all year," he added quizzically, struggling to reconcile the sharp practices with the sloppy play and the sloppy play with the final outcome.

The game's lone moment of kinesthetic beauty came on a 55-yard punt return touchdown by Dre-von Williams, his third score of the young season (he would score his fourth on a 7-yard rush later in the game).

Williams fielded the ball on his own 45, sprinted up the left sideline, cut sharply to his right—slicing through the teeth of the South Philly punting unit—and into the clear.

"I just saw my team blocking for me, then I saw green," Williams said modestly.

His coach did the bragging for him. "He didn't have much blocking, we went after [the punter]," Stanley said.

The Roxborough defense continued to play physical, punishing football. The unit forced 10 fumbles, intercepted a pass, and didn't allow South Philly a positive yard of offense the second quarter. The defense still hasn't yielded a point this year after a 38-0 trouncing of Edison last week.

The Roxborough running game, when they managed to hang on to the football, also provided its share of highlights. Running back Vince Bennet had a handful of long gains, and scored on consecutive possessions on each side of the half.

"My man Tymere [Blue] opened up that nice hole for me, and I just ran through it," Bennet said on his second score.

Stanley agreed with his young back that the blocking was a strength.

"Our line played very well today," the coach said, before adding that he was disappointed with a few quarterback-center exchanges.

Notes and Anecdotes

• The Indians have now outscored their opponents 73-0 on the season.
• Lined up at placekicker, Rasheed Bailey converted three extra point, each drawing loud cheers from his sideline.
• One man's opinion on the Indians fumble problems: The team is accustomed to playing on a dry, dirt field, which coats each of the balls they use in practice in a gritty dust patina. On turf there is no such patina, and the ball is a little more slippery. Not sure what accounts for the South Philly's problems.
• Fullback Blue is a hard, hard runner.