Roxborough Football Trounces Edison

With Hurricane Earl fast approaching, an eerie calm loomed over the AV Giampetros Sports Facility Sept. 3 as the Roxborough High School Indians hosted the Edison Owls.

Unlike the fizzled tropical storm, the Indians carried out on its promise of violence and routed the Owls in their home opener.

Led by quarterback Nick Butts and a pair of touchdowns from wingback Dre-von Williams, the Indians jumped out to a 28-0 first half lead on their way to a 38-0 drubbing of Edison.

It wasn't until the second half, though, that the real domination began.

After receiving the kick and running a few failed plays, the Indians lined up to punt. Much to the surprise of the Edison defense, the crowd, and his own coach, Williams took the snap and ran a sweep to the sideline to pick up a first down.

"That's not the play I called," said sixth-year coach Mike Stanley. "But [Williams] said he saw something in the defense and just ran with it."

The Indians then executed a series of forceful runs, each punctuated by a cloud of dust that evoked "Junction Boys" visions. Butts, who donned number five, let loose an impressive scramble, and elicited "McNabb" chants from the sideline and stands.

Fullback Bernard Avery punched it in for the score, capping off a drive that consumed the entire third quarter and the first two minutes of the fourth. A late safety topped off the blowout, and the Indians opened the year in the win column.

"We were sloppy in practice all week, arguing all week," Williams said, "but when the game started, we came together and played good football."

The same couldn't necessarily be said of the Edison Owls. "Don't think! Execute!" shouted an Edison defender during one of Roxborough's many scoring drives. The Owls turned the ball over, struggled to tackle, and on a handful of plays they failed to get the correct number of men on the field.

"Those kids played hard, though," Stanley said.

Roxborough continues its season Sept. 10 at the South Philadelphia Rams.

Notes and Anecdotes

• The McNabb chants directed at Butts were evidently complimentary.
• The run of the game came late in the second half and belonged to junior fullback Tymere Blue, who bruised, battered, and (insert adjective)ed his way to a 20-plus yard rush, where he seemingly broke a tackle for each Edison player on the field. That was nine missed tackles.
• Tight end Rasheed Bailey is a vocal leader on the field for the Indians. At one point, he even loudly encouraged the water boy to speed things up.