Category: High School Sports

Four of the six defending PIAA state champions from last season were part of the Philadelphia Catholic League, which included West Catholic (Class 3A), Devon Prep (4A), Neumann Goretti (5A), and Father Judge (6A).

Those schools are still filled with basketball talent this season, and more public-school programs, like Imhotep Charter, Coatesville, and Plymouth-Whitemarsh, also have returning premier players who could be in contention for a PIAA Class 6A state title.

Here are some of the area’s top boys’ basketball players to watch during the 2025-26 season.

Logan Chwastyk

Malvern Prep, 6-foot-10 sophomore center

Chwastyk, the No. 2 ranked sophomore in the state, is a big defensive presence, and has great court awareness. He possesses unlimited growth coming off a great summer. He knows where to be on the court and how to set up his teammates. He needs to get stronger, but that will come in time as his body matures. He will be a factor in the Inter-Ac League this season.

Korey Francis

Bonner-Prendergast, 6-4 junior guard

At 6-4, 196 pounds, Francis is a strong downhill guard who is fast and physical. He plays through contact and can score driving the lane or with a mid-range jump shot. He has received scholarship offers from St. Joseph’s, Albany, Temple, Florida Gulf Coast, Hofstra, and East Carolina. In the Friars’ first two games this season, he is averaging 22 points and could arguably be the best guard in the Catholic League. He was a first-team all-Catholic selection as a sophomore, receiving a vote from every team in the league.

Silas Graham

Haverford School, 6-5 junior guard

Graham averaged 16 points, seven rebounds, three assists, and three steals as a sophomore. He can dribble-drive, pull up from the mid-range, and hit three-pointers consistently. He is a scoring threat that can tilt a defense. He actually started at Haverford School as an eighth-grader, which is permitted in the Inter-Ac League. He makes everyone around him better, and is receiving mid-major interest.

Colton Hiller

Coatesville, 6-6 sophomore forward

Considered one of the best players nationally and locally, Hiller played for the Team USA U16 team in the June FIBA AmeriCup tournament, won by Team USA against Puerto Rico. He finished with a team-high 23 points. In the first three games this season against District 1 Class 4A champion Bishop Shanahan, Catholic League contender St. Joe’s Prep, and traditional Central League powerhouse Lower Merion, Hiller is averaging 27 points.

He can score from anywhere, and has already received offers from Alabama, BYU, Louisville, Kansas State, and Maryland, but not yet Duke, his dream school. Hiller is rated by numerous recruiting services as the No. 3 sophomore in the country.

Sammy Jackson

Roman Catholic, 6-7 senior guard

A Virginia Commonwealth pledge, Sammy is the son of former Roman Catholic and Temple star Marc Jackson. Sammy can score on all three levels, and averaged 16 points, seven rebounds, and six assists as a junior. He is a matchup problem as a guard, and is primarily a facilitator, which may change this season, considering Roman now has Imhotep Charter transfer point guard RJ Smith, who’s committed to La Salle.

Jaydn Jenkins

Archbishop Wood, 6-10 junior center

Jenkins has received offers from Georgia, Mississippi State, Oklahoma State, West Virginia, and Old Dominion. Pittsburgh and Penn State have shown interest. Jenkins has added some weight, moving up to about 210 pounds. He can control the glass, block shots, and rebound. He’s coming off a sophomore season where he averaged 8 points, eight rebounds, and 4.5 blocks, shooting 52%. This season, he is projected to average a double-double.

Ethan Johnston

Hill School, 6-7 senior guard

Johnston, who’s heading to Marquette, is a dynamic player who has added an inch and 10 pounds since last season. He is a 1,000-point career scorer. His best attribute is his length, and possessing good vision as a passer. He can be selfless to a fault, and can score a triple-double at any time.

Latief Lorenzano-White

Imhotep, 6-4 senior guard

A Drexel pledge, Lorenzano-White is averaging 10 points, six rebounds, and two blocks so far this season. He can get to the rim, and is a shutdown defender, who is usually assigned by Imhotep coach Andre Noble to cover the opposing team’s best player.

Owen Kelly

Springside-Chestnut Hill Academy, 6-5 senior wing

Kelly, who will play at Lafayette next year, is a lefty shooter who can score on all three levels. He averaged 18 points and nine rebounds as a junior. He is coming off an elbow injury over the summer, and his length and wingspan make him a stout defender, one of the best in the Inter-Ac League.

Derrick Morton-Rivera

Father Judge, 6-3 senior guard

Morton-Rivera is committed to Temple, and he’s considered one of the better shooters, if not the best shooter, in the area. He averaged 17.7 points last season, reaching the 1,000-point career plateau, and led the Crusaders to their first PIAA Class 6A state championship in school history and first Catholic League title since 1998. He can shoot over defenses or score driving to the basket.

Zaahir Muhammad-Gray

Imhotep, 6-6 junior forward

Muhammad-Gray lost his sophomore year in the second game of last season to a torn ACL. He has come back this season at 220 pounds, almost 30 pounds heavier than he was last year, and is making up for lost time. He’s averaging a team-high 15 points, eight rebounds, and 3.5 assists so far this season.

He is a strong rim protector, and what makes him unique is his constant energy. Colleges backed off due to the injury, but interest is starting to grow again.

Marquis Newson

Neumann Goretti, 6-4 junior guard

Newson is an electric, above-the-rim finisher with the ability to dominate games. He joins the Saints this season, transferring in from Academy of the New Church, where he helped lead the team to a Friends’ League championship.

This is his third school in three years, after originally playing as a freshman at Sanford School in Delaware. He has received offers from Arizona State, Virginia Tech, St. Joes, and Penn State.

Rowan Phillips

Westtown, 6-6 sophomore guard

A transfer from Archbishop Wood, Phillips came off the bench and was among the Vikings’ leaders in scoring, averaging 19 points in 25 minutes of action. He is a three-level scorer, up there with Hiller in his ability to knock down shots from anywhere on the court.

Mani Sajid

Plymouth-Whitemarsh, 6-4 senior guard

Sajid, a Towson pledge, averaged 19 points last season, and is an exceptional shooter, with an explosive first step. Though listed at 6-4, his length and wingspan enable him to play more like he is 6-7. He can get shots off anywhere on the court, and against taller players. A natural scorer, his three-point shot is becoming more consistent.

RJ Smith

Roman Catholic, 5-10 senior guard

Smith transferred into Roman this season. He carries a poised, steady hand that comes from experience starting as a freshman at Imhotep. He has an uncanny ability to play much larger than his size. He’s quick on his feet, and will handle the point for the Cahillites this season. Because of the transfer, Smith will not be eligible to play in the PIAA state playoffs.

MECHANICSBURG, PA — Eyan Stead Jr. blamed himself. The Roman Catholic 5-foot-10, 180-pound senior two-way star carried it with him for months. It bothered him to the point where he lost sleep over the pass that glanced off his hands in last year’s state championship that would have been a touchdown.

Stead also knew something else. He would get another chance. Fortunately, on Friday night, he did, against the same team, in the same stadium, in the same game.

This time, Stead made it right, and was a big part in making Roman Catholic football history, catching a game-high nine passes for 102 yards and a touchdown in leading the Cahillites to their first PIAA state football championship, beating District 3 champion Bishop McDevitt, 28-6, in the Class 5A championship at Cumberland Valley High School.

Late in last year’s state championship, won by McDevitt, 34-31, in overtime, Stead was wide open down the middle of the field when Roman quarterback Semaj Beals unfurled a bomb. It looked like Stead would run right under it when it bounced off his hands.

The drop plagued Stead for a while.

“Every day, every day after that game last year I thought about it,” admitted Stead, who’s bound for Temple. “I beat myself up over it. That stayed with me for two months after that game. I had to make it right. I started to stack days and prepare. I lost sleep over that play. I lost weight. I didn’t eat for two weeks. I didn’t start letting it go until late January. I put it on me. I let my team down, and it bothered me.

“I believe in second chances. I believe in third chances, and when this chance came to play McDevitt again, in this game, I wasn’t going to let anyone down this time.”

The state championship was the culmination of what Cahillites’ head coach Rick Prete had been building since he was named head coach in 2019. He built the program up from scratch, taking considerable time to take players to summer seven-on-seven camps, vanning them to various skills camps, and gradually building the talent of the program.

“I have to process all of this,” Prete admitted. “It feels great being the first to do this. We’re going to celebrate on Saturday, and I may not feel one bump on the turnpike on the way home. I want to make sure I tip my cap to [McDevitt] coach [Jeff] Weachter and his team. I learned a lot from him.”

Prete’s supreme find was Beals, who is heading to Akron and has thrown for over 12,000 yards as a four-year starter.

Beals completed 18 of 26 for 231 yards and three touchdowns, getting Roman out to a big first-half lead before McDevitt scored.

“I was on a mission, we were on a mission, and we were all motivated from what we went through losing last year,” Beals said. “I know Eyan went through. I know he blamed himself for the drop, but we were all to blame. And we all took it on ourselves this offseason to get back here and do something we felt we should have done last year — win the state championship. It feels great making history as the first Roman team to ever win a state title in football, but this is a brotherhood, and it’s something we all did together. No one was going to stop us this year.”

Roman had the game won at halftime, holding a 21-0 lead. The Cahillites scored on three of their first five possessions, outgaining McDevitt, 197 to 120. The separation should have been more, with Roman only converting one of McDevitt’s three first-half turnovers into points.

Beals scored on Roman’s first drive with a seven-yard run. Beals found Hanif Sheed on a short, seven-yard touchdown pass early in the second quarter for a 14-0 advantage. The score was created by a fumble recovery by Roman’s Julian Enoch at the McDevitt 33.

Roman squandered a second-quarter interception by junior linebacker Walter Hudson, who brought the ball back to the McDevitt 22. But a fumble, which was recovered, pushed the Cahillites back to the 24, followed by an illegal shift flag that put the Cahillites in a fourth-and-13 at the McDevitt 25.

Defensively, Hudson came spearing through to stop a McDevitt fourth-and-one at the Roman 46, which the Cahillites turned into a 40-yard touchdown pass from Beals to Ash Roberts to take a 21-0 lead with 1 minute, 53 seconds left in the first half. Hudson led all defenders with 11 tackles, which included four tackles for losses.

“We had to stop the run, and we knew our defensive backs would stop their pass game,” Hudson said. “On the fourth-down play, I knew what they would do by watching film. I ran through the A-gap and I stopped it. On the interception, I dropped back in my zone, and I knew the ball would come to me. I tried to score, but everything started giving up. We didn’t do last year, and were determined this year to finish the job.”

It was Stead who tacked on the last score, when Beals hit him with a short 1-yard pass with 1:16 left in the third quarter.

“Eyan beat himself up over last year, but we made sure he knew we would not have been in that position without him,” Prete said. “He made sure. Eyan, he will always be our guy, and I keep saying it, he’s the best player in the state. He showed it tonight. I’ve been pounding that table for two years now how good Eyan Stead is. There is not a better football player in Pennsylvania than Eyan Stead.”

Ash Roberts remembers the dark. Some nights he would sob in a pillow, wondering if he lost his one love, football.

The 5-foot-10, 175-pound senior receiver at Roman Catholic never wanted anyone to hear or see him during those restless moments alone that kept him up burdened by self-doubt. He was the only one, he thought, who would forge through it.

Three years ago, major college recruiters would flock to see Tyseer Denmark, now at Penn State, work out when he was with Roman. But someone else also caught the scouts’ attention — a skinny, fast-twitch freshman. That’s when Roberts began receiving scholarship offers from programs such as Penn State, Alabama, Pittsburgh, and Michigan.

Something happened along the way. He broke his left collarbone before playing a down his freshman year, wiping out the season. Six games into his sophomore year, he snapped the same collarbone again. After 10 months of recovering, looking forward to a breakout junior season, he lost another year when he tore a meniscus in his right knee. The attention slowly dissipated. He found himself in a recruiting wasteland.

Roberts had only his senior year to prove himself — and he did just that. In Roman’s second game, Roberts scored three touchdowns in the Cahillites’ 49-35 victory over Cardinal Newman (Fla.). Against Catholic League champion and PIAA Class 6A state finalist La Salle College High School, he scored three touchdowns on two TD receptions and an 81-yard kickoff return. In Roman’s 39-36 win, he had 225 all-purpose yards, 130 yards receiving, and 95 return yards, looking arguably like the best player on a field filled with Power 5 recruits like La Salle’s Joey O’Brien, a Notre Dame signee, and Gavin Sidwar, who is heading to Missouri. In Roman’s 48-20 Class 5A state semifinal victory over Springfield (Delco) last Saturday, he had two touchdowns and a game-high five catches for 114 yards.

Temple football coach K.C. Keeler was not about to let a talent up Broad Street slip away from him, and on Wednesday, Roberts signed to play for Keeler and the Owls.

, Roberts will play a vital role Friday in Roman’s quest toward its first PIAA state football championship. The Cahillites (11-3) face District 3 and defending state champion Bishop McDevitt (12-2) at Cumberland High School in a rematch of last year’s Class 5A title game, won by McDevitt in overtime, 34-31.

As the days wind down toward his final high school game, Roberts said his injury ordeal sometimes causes him to pause and reflect on where he might have been if he did not encounter adversity.

“There were a lot of nights I was up and emotional, where I would question myself, ‘Why me, why is this happening to me?’” Roberts said. “I didn’t want anyone to hear me or see me like that. I had to stop feeling sorry for myself. I was not about to quit. I had people there for me, but you can only do the work and get through it yourself.

“I kept telling myself, ‘Everyone is going to see soon, everyone is going to see soon.’”

They are seeing.

Once a 5-foot-7, 140-pound freshman, Roberts found the weight room — with a little push from former teammate and current Duke freshman linebacker Will Felder, one of the Cahillites’ team captains last season.

“I couldn’t even lift 95 pounds when I started,” Roberts said, laughing. “I can hit 245 pounds for a couple of reps now. I never liked lifting. Being around Will, I wanted to put in the work and gain that confidence. I would do anything to get out lifting. I would go in there and just do leg presses and try to avoid the coaches.

“I wanted to play football and didn’t think I needed to lift. I would lock myself in the bathroom stall and get on my phone. The times I got caught in the bathroom, I would tell my coaches, I’m studying plays on my phone. They never believed me.”

He’s added three inches and 35 pounds.

In March 2024 when he was working out, he felt discomfort in his right leg. He had a torn meniscus, which could heal through rest, doctors told him.

It was another setback, after building himself up to squat 405 pounds, and power clean 265 pounds.

“Ash always had the talent, he needed to put the work behind it,” said Felder, who is getting playing time as a true freshman and carrying a 3.6 GPA at Duke. “We only live about five minutes away from each other, and I would take him to school every day. We would have long talks, and I think that helped him. Ash is like my little brother. I’m really proud of him, because he hated to lift. The biggest thing I wanted to reinforce to Ash was he’s still ‘that guy,’ and God would not put him in a situation he could not handle.

“Ash was so talented [that] he did not feel he had to lift. I stressed to him that if he got bigger and stronger, he would be a better player. I finally convinced him to do the work. Now look at him.”

Roman coach Rick Prete said he could have played Roberts late last season, but knowing he would be back his senior year, he was not about to risk Roberts’ future. Prete saw him tiptoeing around the weight room to become one of the team leaders there.

“It all came together, and a lot of college coaches are beginning to see what we knew about Ash here at Roman,” Prete said. “I think Ash is a great fit for Temple and Coach Keeler. Coming out of high school, considering Ashdan’s path, this has been great for him. Ash is on the quiet side, but with his teammates, that changes and he is outgoing. Beyond the shadow of doubt, Ash is the best wide receiver in Pennsylvania. He is bringing a level to his game that I love to see, adding something physical to the receiving room.”

That manifested in the state semifinal game when Roberts caught a pass on the sideline, lowered his shoulder and rammed through a couple of Springfield defenders during the second quarter. That showed the trust Roberts has in himself. It showed he conquered the doubts of whether he could withstand a hit. He woke up at 5 a.m. three days a week throughout the summer and into September to work out, a routine he built with Felder.

Though he sat out his junior season, Roberts was on the sideline last December when Roman lost to McDevitt in overtime. He remembers seeing the tears stream down the senior’s faces, strengthening his resolve to come back the next season and make an impact.

“I know what it is like having football taken away from me,” he said. “It’s something I took for granted. I took my talent for granted. I took my health for granted. I don’t take anything for granted anymore. With the breaks and tears, I learned something you love can be taken away from you in a split second. I want more. If I didn’t go through the injuries, I would not be as hungry as I am. I’m looking forward to working out with Will this summer. I want this state championship for him, for every senior who lost last year.

“Winning this state championship will be for them. We’re going to get the job done. We cannot let the work we put into this season go to waste.”

Roman Catholic has never won a PIAA state football championship. La Salle College High School has not won a state championship in 16 years. Both stalwart Philadelphia Catholic League programs will get their chance to make their respective marks this weekend in the PIAA Class 5A and Class 6A championships at Cumberland Valley High School.

In a rematch of last year’s 5A championship, Roman will face Harrisburg’s Bishop McDevitt, the alma mater of former Eagles LeSean McCoy and Ricky Watters, at 7 p.m. Friday. La Salle will follow on Saturday at 7 p.m. in the 6A final against Pittsburgh’s Central Catholic.

As both programs near the title game, neither Roman Catholic coach Rick Prete nor La Salle coach Brett Gordon have brought up winning a state title to their teams.

“We haven’t even mentioned the words ‘state championship’ all year,” Gordon said. “We want to stay on message. It’s been more of, ‘Let’s get into November playing our best football.’ I think we’re close. But I don’t think we’ve peaked. We hold a high standard.”

Prete has stressed constant improvement all season.

“Our message to the kids is that we didn’t play our best game in the state championship last year,” Prete said. “It bothered the coaching staff. It bothered the kids. It’s why our focus is playing a strong, clean game. We want to see what that looks like. The seniors this year want to do it for those kids who were in that game last year.”

PIAA Class 5A final

• (District 12) Roman Catholic (11-3) vs. (District 3) Bishop McDevitt (12-2)

In last year’s Class 5A championship, Roman rebounded from a 21-3 deficit early in the third quarter to tie it in regulation before losing, 34-31, in overtime. McDevitt is on a 12-game winning streak, last losing in August. The Cahillites are on a seven-game winning streak, and have been so dominant that they have not played their starters for an entire game since their 40-39 overtime loss to St. Joseph’s Prep on Oct. 10.

McDevitt has a first-year starting quarterback, junior Sebastian Williams. He has done a solid job filling the void left by the graduation of Pennsylvania’s all-time leading passer, Stone Saunders, now at Kentucky. Williams has thrown for 2,179 yards and 19 touchdowns against eight interceptions this season. He showed considerable poise in leading the Crusaders in the final minutes to a walk-off 31-28 victory over Peters Township in the state semifinals.

Roman runs a no-huddle, up-tempo offense, ignited by Akron-bound senior quarterback Semaj Beals, who has passed for more than 12,000 career yards. He has two Temple-bound receivers in seniors Ash Roberts and Eyan Stead Jr., and a capable ground attack centered around sophomore tailback Trey Montgomery. Much will come down to the time Roman’s offensive line can provide Beals, who gets the ball out quickly.

Senior tight end Giovanni DeSimmone, senior right tackle Gustavo Gomez, junior right guard Malik Cochran, senior center Khalif McNear, senior left guard Dom Ramos, and junior left tackle Sebastian Waddell believe they have a mission to accomplish since losing to McDevitt last December.

“I know Roman is well-coached, Rick Prete does a great job, and I know they have a lot of guys back from last year,” said McDevitt coach Jeff Weachter, who has more than 300 career victories in 23 years. “They are explosive offensively, and they do a lot of different things on defense. They are physical. They run well. We have an idea what we’re up against with their up-tempo offense. They go fast. From what I understand, they are going even faster this year. That will be a little bit of an adjustment. It takes a little bit to get a feel for that. …This will be a great game.”

Prete likes the experience his team has going into the title game. Last year was a mountain of firsts for the Cahillites, who accomplished their first state playoff appearance, first state playoff victories, and first appearance in the state title game.

Roman was up 21-0 in the first quarter against Springfield in the state semifinals and was leading District 6 champion Hollidaysburg 48-0 in the first half of the state quarterfinals.

“This is a group that knows what to expect and we know how to conduct ourselves; we are not just happy getting to the state championship again,” Prete said. “Starting with the offense, we are not forcing anything. Defensively, scheme-wise, we have been good at figuring out the strengths of other teams and what our strengths are. This is a young group that is playing very maturely.”

Senior defensive back Justus Gaskin and junior linebacker Walter Hudson have been defensive standouts, and Stead has been a big contributor on the defensive side, too.

Roman’s inherent bonus is getting great preparation for this stage during the regular Catholic League season against stellar programs, like St. Joe’s Prep and La Salle.

“The Catholic League is the best in the state,” Prete said. “You have great coaches and great players, and your sense of everything is heightened. Playing great teams exposes your weaknesses. La Salle had the ball with a minute-something left down a score, with the ball in a Missouri quarterback’s hands [Gavin Sidwar] and a Notre Dame-bound receiver to throw to [Joey O’Brien]. We got a big stop. … As talented as McDevitt is, playing in the Catholic League allows us not to be surprised by the talent that we are going to see. McDevitt is a very formidable opponent, obviously the defending state champions.”

PIAA Class 6A final

• (District 12) La Salle (12-1) vs. (District 7) Central Catholic (13-1)

Neither team has won a state championship under the Class 6A system, installed in the 2016 season. La Salle’s last state championship was in 2009 (24-7 over State College at 4A) — when the Explorers became the first Philadelphia Catholic League team to win a PIAA state football championship under late hall of fame coach Drew Gordon, Brett Gordon’s father.

Central Catholic has not won a state title since 2015 (21-18 over Parkland at 4A). The Vikings are 0-4 in state championship games against Philadelphia area teams (losing to North Penn and St. Joe’s Prep three times, including a 35-6 defeat last year).

This is a rematch of the season-opening game, won by La Salle, 23-6. Gordon and Central Catholic coach Ryan Lehmeier stressed that their teams are far different from the ones that faced each other on Aug. 22. The Vikings have an offensive line that averages 284 pounds. La Salle’s offensive line averages 283 pounds. The difference is, Central Catholic has won on the ground, and La Salle wins through the air, featuring Sidwar, O’Brien, senior receiver Jimmy Mahoney, junior receiver Owen Johnson, and senior tight end John-Patrick Oates, who is now heading to Virginia Tech and new Hokies coach James Franklin.

In Central Catholic’s 32-14 win over Harrisburg in the state semifinals, the Vikings plowed ahead behind their massive front and sophomore tailback Chrys Black Jr., who rushed for 216 yards and three touchdowns. That template may be repeated, keeping La Salle’s potent offense off the field, and wearing down the Explorers’ defense.

“From an overall health standpoint, I like where we are, but what I didn’t like is that we put the ball on the carpet three times, losing two [in La Salle’s 49-14 state semifinal win over North Penn last Saturday],” Gordon said. “It is not characteristic of who we are. It is safe to say, I like where we are going into this game. We were pressed by Prep and Imhotep. Central Catholic is good at every position. I told people all year long that Central Catholic was the best team we played this season. When you turn on the film, there is no one you can look at as a weakness. ”

La Salle is receiving good interior work from 6-foot-2, 275-pound senior defensive tackle Jemel Williams, and Oates has blossomed into a quality edge rusher, where he may now play in college. Williams was disruptive in state playoff victories against run-oriented teams, including Easton and North Penn, while senior defensive end Ryan Fandozzi has been consistent all season.

Since La Salle lost to Roman in late September, Sidwar has completed 78% of his passes, with 24 touchdowns and no interceptions.

Since the opening loss to La Salle, Lehmeier said his team matured this season.

“Anytime you get this deep into a season, it means you pretty much have had success in all three phases of the game, and the point of emphasis against La Salle on Saturday is to play our style of football,” Lehmeier said. “Whether it’s the quarterback [Sidwar], or their young kid [Johnson] coming on, because I know Joey O’Brien gets a lot of press, they are pretty good. Their ability to spread the football and anytime you have a quarterback like that, it allows you to run that type of offense, which is hard to stop. They are obviously very impressive there. They do some great things on defense, too. They have tremendous football players.”

There are days when Brett Gordon is driving down Route 309 toward La Salle College High School and he’ll think about his late father Drew, the Hall of Fame coach who died on Sept. 4, 2023, at the age of 73. Memories of his dad, Brett admits, have become more vivid, especially these last couple of weeks.

The Explorers are on a special journey this season. So is their second-year coach Brett Gordon, who learned everything about football — and life — from his dad.

The only time La Salle won a PIAA state football championship was 2009, when the Explorers won the Class 4A title with Drew as their head coach and Brett as their offensive coordinator.

Drew and Brett are on the brink of doing something no father-son duo has ever done in the 36-year history of the PIAA football state playoffs — win state championships as head coaches. But first, one game stands in the way of accomplishing that. La Salle (12-1) will face Central Catholic High School (13-1) of Pittsburgh in the PIAA Class 6A final on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Cumberland Valley High School.

“I know how much my father would have loved to be a part of this,” Brett said. “I think about him all the time. If my father was with us and he was in good health, he would have been around here coaching in some capacity. I wouldn’t have a choice. The thing I admired the most about my father was that it never was about him. He grew up in a generation of serving. He never cared about any recognition. He was direct. He was there to coach. He cared about the kids. That was all that mattered. That was how he operated.”

After La Salle beat St. Joseph’s Prep for the first time in 10 years for the Catholic League 6A crown on Nov. 1, Brett, 46, a 1998 La Salle and 2002 Villanova graduate, received a long, congratulatory text from former St. Joe’s Prep coach Gabe Infante, currently Duke’s assistant head coach, special teams coordinator, and defensive tackles coach. When Infante was first hired by The Prep in 2010, he was not exactly embraced by the area football community after taking over for the popular Gil Brooks.

One of the first welcomes Infante received came from Drew in a letter sent to Paramus Catholic in North Jersey, where Infante was leaving to take the Prep job.

“I know people will not want to hear this, but Drew and I were very close, even after he stopped coaching [in 2014],” Infante said. “Drew welcomed me, and that showed me who Drew was. He was a true competitor. He showed tremendous class. I was definitely an outsider who was not welcomed when I originally went down to Philadelphia. I would not be where I am today without Drew Gordon and what he built at La Salle. He raised my level, and I would like to think Prep’s success raised La Salle’s level again.

“I was in Brett’s shoes. I could appreciate what Brett is doing there. I am a fan of people who are committed to sacrifice like Brett is. True competition brings out the best in people. When Drew got sick, I reached out to him. We had a really good relationship, and it all started with a very kind, simple letter welcoming me to the Philadelphia Catholic League and Philadelphia area.”

Letters from Drew

The notes fill a shoebox in a bedroom drawer. They came in the form of either a Hallmark card, yellow legal paper, or a simple scrap of printer paper or from a looseleaf notebook. They sometimes would be sitting in an envelope on the kitchen table, tucked under a door or stuffed in a mailbox. Brett still has most of them — letters from Drew.

Father and son share a lot in common. They always took a cerebral approach to football. They always were focused and intense about the steps in the process of preparing. Brett, a two-time Catholic League champ and league MVP at La Salle, says he tends to wear his emotions on his sleeve, probably more than his father, who was far calmer on the sideline and emotionally indifferent.

It’s why he communicated with his son and two daughters through letters.

Drew was a baby boomer born in 1950, the oldest of six. He was 12 when his parents separated, moving with his mother, Dorothy, and five younger siblings from Ohio to Glenside, Montgomery County. He was “the man of the house” who worked a paper route in Abington to help his mother pay the bills.

He was steeped in Midwestern stoicism and self-reliance.

“That was my dad,” Brett said. “He came from that generation when men did not show emotion. Verbal communication was not my dad’s strong suit. He had a very regimented way he did things. He built Gordon Truck Leasing from the ground up. We are similar in certain ways, and we are also very different. My dad was always about the process. I still use a lot of his old-school principles. But he came up in a different, authoritative generation. I’ll ask the players for their feedback, like what uniforms they want to wear. He would never have done that.

“The compliments he gave me came in letters. I still have a lot of them. He came from a different generation. He would put things down on paper.”

When Brett was inducted into the Hall of Fame at Villanova and La Salle, Drew left his son a letter stating how proud he was of him.

Sometimes letters were better.

After Brett threw for a Villanova single-game passing record of 460 yards (which still stands) and three touchdowns in guiding the Wildcats to a last-second 38-34 victory over rival Delaware in November 2002, he was greeted by Drew and his mother, Bernadette, outside the Villanova locker room. The first thing Drew said to Brett was, “Your footwork was horrendous today.”

“In a weird way, that was his way of complimenting me,” Brett said, laughing. “It was very hard for him to hand out compliments. I’m sure he told his buddies about the game I had. I always knew he was proud of me. I wouldn’t be where I am without him. Yeah, you could say it was the good, tough love. It is that constant reminder that there is always room to be better. That is my coaching philosophy today.”

This season is as much a homage to his dad as it is giving a group of dedicated seniors a year to remember.

An ‘emotional’ run

When John Steinmetz resigned after the 2023 season following nine years as Explorers’ head coach succeeding Drew, there was a groundswell of support from the La Salle community for Brett to take over. Brett, who was his father’s offensive coordinator from 2006 to 2014, dabbled in coaching after his father left La Salle in 2014. He joined Albie Crosby’s Imhotep Class 3A state championship staff in 2015 and helped occasionally at his alma mater.

Numerous current players were looking to transfer out of La Salle after their sophomore year. The Explorers had been competitive, though not exactly in the class of Catholic League foe St. Joe’s Prep. The Hawks had turned what once was a rivalry into a lopsided series. There is a standard at La Salle, a touchstone of success the football program had not felt since Drew left.

“It was not 100% that we were all leaving, but a lot of guys were talking,” said Gavin Sidwar, the Missouri-bound quarterback who has broken all his coach’s passing records at La Salle. “When we found out Coach Brett would be the head coach, it’s something a lot of us were happy to hear. Personally, I can’t say enough about what Coach Brett has done for me. He’s brought out a growth in me, and I am willing to put in 100% for him.

“He gave up his job for this. We know that. This run is going to be emotional for a lot of us. I know for me, being here for four years with some adversity, winning a state championship means everything. Knowing now the tradition his father has here and being the first father-son combination to ever win a state championship, it means more for all of us. We play our butts off for Coach Brett and the whole coaching staff. To get Coach Brett a state title, we are even more motivated.”

Brett received his business degree from Villanova and worked in the corporate world for 15 years, building a national reputation in the software industry. It gave him financial flexibility, he said, to do what he is doing now. He had to first check with Tanya, his wife, son, Luke, who is a sophomore quarterback for La Salle, and teenaged daughter, Grace, who follows her father everywhere.

“Tanya puts up with a lot, especially at certain times of the year like now,” he said. “In order to take on the role as coach at La Salle, I needed full support from not only Tanya, but Luke and Grace. This job impacts our entire family, so it was very important for me to have both Tanya and Grace involved so they feel a part of what we are building here.

“Tanya has gotten to know most of our players and has our son in the program, so it can be difficult being the head coach’s wife and being a parent in the program. She has done an amazing job balancing it all. Tanya and Grace often remind Luke and I at home when it is time to talk about something other than La Salle football.”

In 2009, father and son were robbed of their time in the sun, or in the Gordons’ case, that late-December Saturday, the snow. When the Explorers played State College in the 2009 Class 4A championship, the game was postponed for a day because of a raging blizzard. Luke had been born a few weeks earlier with a collapsed lung. His medical situation put the family on edge. Brett woke up at 7 a.m. on a snowy Saturday, Dec. 19 morning and had the roads to Hershey to himself. La Salle handily beat State College, 24-7, to become the first Catholic League team to win a state football championship.

The problem was Brett had no time to celebrate. He had to trek back home to be with Tanya and Luke.

Around 9 p.m. that night, Brett got a knock on the door. It was his dad, who drove through a snowstorm to get there, tossing aside the state championship celebration himself to see his grandson. He stayed in the guest room that night.

Drew never missed anything Luke or Grace did. To this day, Luke wears a silver chain his grandfather gave him.

There were more than 1,000 people who attended Drew’s funeral services, Brett recalled. It stretched over two days in September 2023.

“I saw my dad cry once, after my last high school game on Thanksgiving against St. Joe’s Prep in 1997,” Brett said. “We lost, and I remember when I saw him after the game, I told him I was sorry. He just burst open and hugged me. I remember his younger brother, my godfather, telling me years later he never saw anything like that with my dad. … It won’t be easy on or off the field. I wish I could bounce ideas off him, but I also know how much he would love being a part of this. If we are able to pull this off, he’ll be the first one I think of.”

La Salle senior quarterback Gavin Sidwar has many admirers, including a fan who asked him to autograph a $5 bill on Saturday. But Sidwar also likes to consider himself just one of the guys, as he enjoys going out to eat all the time with those big lugs on the Explorers’ offensive line.

“He could call a handoff to me, and I would be confident in him,” said Grayson McKeogh, the mighty left tackle.

McKeogh, a 6-foot-7, 275-pound senior, will throw blocks next year at Notre Dame, but Sidwar, the offensive line and all of his La Salle teammates have one more week to play football together, culminating in the PIAA Class 6A state championship game this Saturday.

Sidwar, a 6-3, 190-pound senior with remarkable composure and impeccable touch, plans to play football at the University of Missouri next year. But that can wait. The Explorers (12-1) have not played for a state title in 15 years and have not won one since 2009.

With frightening ease, they powered to a five-touchdown halftime lead this past Saturday against District 1 champion North Penn (12-3) and rolled to a 49-14 victory in a state semifinal before an overflow crowd at Central Bucks South. Central Catholic (13-1) of Pittsburgh awaits La Salle in the state championship.

The Explorers opened the season by beating the Vikings in a nonleague game outside Pittsburgh, 23-6. La Salle’s season has included just one setback: a 39-36 Catholic League loss Sept. 26 to Roman Catholic (11-3), which plays Bishop McDevitt for the 5A state title on Friday.

Since the PIAA expanded to six classes in 2016, the Catholic League champ is 8-0 in the 6A state semis against the best team in the Philly suburbs. But all seven of those previous victories were by St. Joseph’s Prep, La Salle’s archrival. The Hawks won seven state titles.

But it is, finally, someone else’s turn. La Salle, whose 2024 season ended with a 21-14 loss to the Prep in the District 12 title game — the Explorers’ only loss — has rebounded this fall to beat the Prep twice: by 31-20 on Oct. 4, then by 24-14 on Nov. 1 for the district title.

Sidwar played only the first half against North Penn, completing 14 of 19 passes for 246 yards and four touchdowns, including a 40-yarder and a 72-yarder. He spent the rest of the afternoon on the sidelines, helmet off, his shaggy black hair tousled, cheering on the reserves.

“We’re going to play teams that are good, but we’re a good football team, too,” he said. “At the end of the day, we’ve just got to go out and play fast, play physical and play disciplined. Be us. Don’t press. It’s just a football game that we’ve been playing since we were kids. So play the game, not the occasion. Just go out and play football.”

La Salle is not quite unstoppable. Much to the displeasure of second-year coach Brett Gordon, the Explorers lost two fumbles against North Penn and were penalized eight times. He told his huddled team at midfield afterward, “I’m counting on you all to fix it.”

Sidwar threw a couple of passes Saturday that he’d like to have back. But Gordon said later that Sidwar has become even better after the Roman loss. In three state playoff games, he has completed 71% of his passes for 802 yards and nine touchdowns — and no interceptions. La Salle won those three games by a combined score of 129-35.

“Just when we think he’s got it all figured out, he figures out a way to continue to improve,” Gordon said. “He’s built for this, and he’s put in the work.”

It does help that Sidwar has a mountainous line and astonishingly talented receivers, including Joey O’Brien, the 6-3 senior who is also bound for Notre Dame. O’Brien, who is projected as a college safety, made two brilliant leaping catches on Saturday.

“He’s one of the best quarterbacks in the country, and he proves it every day,” O’Brien said. “You always get a clean spiral, every time. And he doesn’t get too high or too low. He knows there’s more to be done. If we play our game, there’s nobody beating us.”

Sidwar spreads it around. His 72-yard touchdown pass Saturday was to Jimmy Mahoney, a 5-8 speedster who missed the previous two games with an injury. Sidwar flipped a short pass to Mahoney, who scored with the help of a couple of downfield blocks.

“They make it really easy,” Mahoney said of his teammates.

Mahoney said of Sidwar: “He’s making big-time plays — especially at big times. Every single game, he’s getting better.”

Sidwar has clearly benefited from working with Gordon, 46, who led La Salle to two Catholic League championships as a quarterback before playing at Villanova and serving as a La Salle assistant. La Salle has won 22 of 24 games with Gordon as its head coach.

As he told his team after Saturday’s game, “We set out two years ago on this mission, to get right here, right now.”

This team won’t get a chance to avenge its loss to Roman, which also has a terrific senior quarterback, the Akron-bound Semaj Beals. La Salle and Roman, and Sidwar and Beals, are generally considered to be interchangeable, No. 1 and No. 2 in the state.

Gordon smiled when he said of his senior quarterback, “He has set his expectations so high.”

Before he posed for photos after the game on the field Saturday with a stream of friends, family, and fans, Sidwar said, “We’re not going to leave anything unturned at this time of the year. It’s all or nothing at this point.”

He said of North Penn, “We knew they were good. We knew they had a good coach over there,” in Dick Beck. “But if we executed our game plan, we weren’t going to get stopped.”

Liam Taylor has been bracing himself for this. It whirls through his mind that this will be the last time he will wear shoulder pads. It will be the last time he will put on a football helmet. The last time he will practice. The last time he will play football.

The 5-foot-10, 190-pound Haverford High School senior tailback admits he has been taking mental snapshots, trying to inhale each fleeting moment, before they fade past his eyes from light to shadow. The thoughts paralyze him sometimes.

Then he catches himself with this: He is on the verge of something special Thursday in the Fords’ traditional Thanksgiving Day game at Central League rival Upper Darby at 10 a.m. Only two players have ever rushed for more than 5,700 career yards in the long history of Delaware County high school football. Taylor is one of them. The other is former Cardinal O’Hara star Kevin Jones, the 2004 NFL first-round draft choice who now is a professor at his alma mater, Virginia Tech.

On Thursday, Taylor will need 79 yards to break Jones’ Delaware County career rushing record of 5,790 yards. Taylor enters the game with 5,712 career yards after establishing the single-season Delaware County record — previously held by Interboro graduate Abu Kamara (2,832) — when he rushed for 3,006 yards last season as a junior.

Against eight- and nine-man defensive fronts designed to stop him this season, Taylor has been “held” to 1,950 yards rushing this year.

Breaking the record will not be easy, Taylor says. Not only will Upper Darby try everything to stop him from surpassing that mark, but it also will be his last football game. He has opted, despite recruiting attention from numerous colleges, to not play football beyond Thursday.

He realizes he will be saying goodbye to a part of himself.

“That’s the hard part,” he said. “I look forward to practice. I have been playing football for 10 years, since I was in second grade. When I think about it, other than going to school for 12 years, it is the longest thing I have ever done in my life. It’s why I am looking forward to this Thanksgiving Day game. This will be like a backyard game you play with your friends after school. When we lost to Council Rock South [27-7 in the opening round of the District 1 Class 6A playoffs on Oct. 31 in Newtown], that hit hard. I know we had one more game to play. But it was a long bus ride back. We didn’t play any music.

“I love football. I’m trying to savor everything right now. Last year and this year have been a lot of fun. I decided over the spring not to play in college. I’ll miss it, and I am not fully over it. I never really gave it a thought of playing college football. It was difficult to make the decision, but I definitely would not call it an internal civil war, because I knew what I wanted. Every Saturday morning waking up after games was a very sore day. It was definitely a part of my decision. It was not a huge part of it. It’s hard to let something you love go. I’m ready for it, though.”

Taylor said posting stats such as his does not happen without help. He noted he would not be going anywhere without senior tackles Rocco Kelleher and Oliver Clune, senior guard Brendan Walker, junior guard Joe McGinley, senior center Emmet Gillespie, and rotating senior tackle and guard Liam McCloskey.

Haverford coach Luke Dougherty has been the buffer for incoming colleges interested in Taylor. Dougherty, who is in his fifth season at the helm and eighth overall with the program, had to tell coaches his star player was not interested in playing college football.

After his junior year, Taylor, who carries a weighted 4.7 GPA, was attracting Patriot and Ivy League attention. As this season progressed, Taylor has only strengthened his resolve not to play college football, Dougherty said. It gave Taylor a newfound freedom on the field, playing without feeling the scrutiny of college recruiters.

“Liam can easily play college football at a lot of places, and when we revisited his decision in early October, he told me, ‘Coach, I am dead set on my decision not to play college football. I’m loving this,’” Dougherty said. “The Patriots and Ivys all liked Liam, but it never reached the formal offering process because by that time, when he did not go to any of the college camps he was invited to, word was out. Penn came here for Liam. Cornell came in three or four times. Bucknell came to the building.

“College coaches are a little different. They can’t understand someone as talented as Liam not wanting to play college football. Coaches are still coming in asking, ‘Is Liam still not interested in playing college football?’ It was shock for a lot of these guys.

“Penn’s [offensive line coach] Kyle Metzler, who recruits our area, probably said it best when he told me, ‘There are a lot of people who go to really good schools who don’t play football and make a lot of money in this world. God bless Liam, he knows what he wants, because we have too many guys at Penn who come here thinking that they have a meal ticket to the NFL and we try to convince them that they’re here for the four-year Penn education. This isn’t a transfer portal launching pad.’”

Many schools still left their information for Dougherty in case Taylor changed his mind. Taylor has not changed his mind. He wants to go to Georgia, his the alma mater of his father, Eric.

Special motivation

Taylor comes from special genes. His father, a former Haverford star, is the son of former Springfield (Delco) coach Rick Taylor. His maternal grandfather is Jan Stefanski, the brother of Eddie Stefanski, the former Bonner-Prendergast and Penn basketball star and 76ers general manager who is the father of Cleveland Browns coach Kevin Stefanski.

In January, Eric was diagnosed with cancer. It is under control. He received immunotherapy for three months. Progress has been made. He is still receiving chemo maintenance.

Liam entered his senior year with that on his mind.

Eric did not miss a game this season.

“I was mad because this is something I couldn’t do anything about, but my dad inspires me. He inspires me every day,” Liam said. “Thinking about it, I suppose I took his mind off what he was going through. My dad loves seeing me play. He is always on my mind. If playing helped him get through this, that’s all I care about. We talk about breaking the record all the time. My whole family is going to be there. I’ll be thinking about my dad. We get to gather around a high school football game and not think about real life.

“This won’t be easy. It will be good. Hopefully I break the record, and everyone will be happy. It will be sad because I’ll be taking off a Haverford uniform for the last time.”

Eric, a 1990 Haverford graduate and longtime Upper Dublin assistant coach and special education teacher, is bracing himself for the end of Liam’s football career, too. Because of the cancer treatments, he missed Liam’s lacrosse games last spring and could not travel to see his daughter, Emma, pitch for Yale’s softball team.

“For three hours every Friday night, I don’t know who was more excited for games, me or Liam,” said Eric, who has been on a medical sabbatical from Upper Dublin. “He inspires me, seeing the things he does on a football field and how well he plays. Our whole family was able to come out and watch games. I was never able to beat my dad at Springfield when I played at Haverford, but Liam beat them his junior year. Liam wants to go south, and he wants to enjoy his college experience.

“It is tough not watching him play in college. He is so good. He could play in college. We’re going to have to adopt another kid to watch. We have had that talk. He can come home from college and play in the local softball bar league. You can’t do that with football. This is it. He’s OK with it. It was tough. There were conversations. We were looking for him to change his mind.”

But Eric and his wife, Christa, raised Liam to have a mind of his own.

“That’s why he will be great at anything he does,” Eric said. “He is kind of special. He says I’m his inspiration. He’s my inspiration, too. But where the speed comes from, I don’t know. It’s certainly not from the Taylor side. I see my wife run, too, so I don’t know where he gets it.”

Then Eric recalled a story about Liam when he first began playing football.

Eric or Christa would drop him off and pick him up after practice was over. They had to shuttle their daughters around and rarely had time to sit and watch Liam’s practices. One time Christa, who is Haverford’s field hockey coach, happened to arrive at football practice just before it wrapped up one evening. The team was finishing its sprints, and she noticed something.

Christa recalls going down to the field and asking Liam, “Are you OK?” Liam looked up at his mom and said, “I’m OK, why?” Christa replied, “Because you’re last. Listen, you don’t always have to be first, but you can’t be last.”

After that, every time Christa and Eric picked up Liam, he was in front.

He’s been front and center, it seems, ever since.

Jayden Boyd texted a group of Northeast High School football players from his hospital bed in September.

“I got shot,” he wrote.

Jeremiah Tellus read it and thought the quarterback was playing a joke. A few hours later, Tellus saw his friend on a Zoom call as Boyd told the team what happened.

Some Northeast players were sleeping at an assistant coach’s house in Frankford so they wouldn’t be late to practice on Labor Day morning. They were playing video games when they heard gunfire around 1 a.m. outside on Adams Avenue.

Boyd dropped to the floor of the living room.

“Because, you know, that’s what people do,” Boyd said.

Police said several shots were fired through the living room window, and one struck the 17-year-old.

“People always say it feels like it’s burning,” Boyd said. “But I just felt like something went in me. I said, ‘I got shot.’”

Police rushed Boyd to Temple University Hospital, where a surgeon removed a bullet that fractured the quarterback’s spine. His football season, they figured, was finished. Doctors said it could have been worse.

“One more inch to the right, and I would’ve been paralyzed,” he said. “I try not to think about that.”

Boyd told his teammates in the morning that everything would be OK and reminded them to focus on their next game. He was recovering from a gunshot wound but was thinking about his team. He’s a true quarterback, his mother said.

Boyd returned to school three weeks later but missed Northeast’s next nine games and could only watch as the Vikings lost to Lincoln in the Public League playoffs.

“He kept saying, ‘I let my team down,’” said his mother, Bahisha Durbin. “I said, ‘You didn’t let anybody down. This is not your fault.’”

But Boyd’s season did not end that night in Frankford. Doctors told him last week that he can play again, clearing the quarterback in time to join his team for its Thanksgiving game against rival Central. On the night he was shot, the teenager underwent surgery to remove the bullet. He never lost the ability to walk. After he recovered, he underwent physical therapy at Children’s Hospital before he was cleared to play. Boyd practiced Monday afternoon, wearing shoulder pads for the first time in more than two months. It was surreal, he said.

And his teammates — guys like Tellus, who prayed that their teammate was still alive until he showed up on that Zoom call — could not believe it.

Boyd made it back for Thanksgiving.

“Thankful,” he said. “Thursday is going to be very emotional. I know we’re going to score when I’m in the game, so I’m probably going to shed a couple tears.”

Football brought joy

Durbin signed up her son to play football when he was 7 years old, hoping the sport would help his ADHD.

“It was a godsend,” she said. “It’s helped out so much. I can’t thank the coaches enough.”

Football soon became Boyd’s life. That’s all he cares about, his mother said.

“I’m, like, a physical person, so I wanted to be a part of that,” Boyd said. “It brought joy to my life.”

Boyd wanted to be a wide receiver like Odell Beckham Jr. but soon fell in love with playing quarterback. He spent his first two high school seasons at Archbishop Carroll before transferring to Northeast.

He leaves his home in South Philly each morning at 6:15 and takes two buses and a subway to get to school.

“He’s a great part of the team,” said Tellus, a running back. “He’s a great friend. He has great loyalty. He always has my back. He’s a great friend to have.”

Boyd dreamed of playing college ball and studying sports medicine. That felt impossible, though, after he was shot. Schools had been in touch with him, but Boyd knew he needed to show more on the field. His junior year was supposed to be his chance to display his talent as a dual-threat quarterback — “I can beat you with my arm and legs,” he said — and earn a college scholarship.

“Football was the last thought on my mind, but he doesn’t care about anything else,” Durbin said. “He was like, ‘Life is over because football is over and I can’t play.’ I said, ‘It’s OK, Jay. It’s not like your grades are messed up and that’s why you can’t play. You can’t play because you got shot.’ He’s just so passionate.”

Boyd was devastated to not play and soon became nervous in his own neighborhood. He spent weeks with a friend in Drexel Hill as the shooting made him afraid of being in Philly. Boyd figured if he couldn’t be safe playing video games, then where could he?

He had nightmares and flashbacks about that night on Adams Avenue and now meets with a therapist. His mother asked him if he wanted to switch schools. Boyd declined.

He wanted to stay at Northeast with coach Nick Lincoln, who was at Temple University Hospital that night and kept Boyd involved with the team while he was sidelined.

“It’s not something you necessarily prepare for when you get into coaching,” Lincoln said. “But being in Philly for about 15 years, I can’t say it’s the first time that something has occurred to my players off the field. It’s always disheartening and surprising. You just try to figure out how you can best support him and his family. We want these kids to use the sport to better themselves, become men in the community, and not become products of an environment.”

Reasons to be grateful

Durbin was sleeping when her son called that night.

“Usually, when Jayden is blowing my phone up it’s because he wants something from Wawa,” Durbin said. “I’m like, ‘I’m not giving this boy any more money.’ That’s usually what it is.”

So she didn’t answer. And then her other son ran into her bedroom to tell her what happened.

“I called Jay, and I was yelling at him,” Durbin said. “I hear him, but I don’t. It’s 1 o’clock in the morning, and we don’t play in the streets at 1 o’clock.

“I said, ‘What were you doing outside?’ He said he wasn’t outside. So I said, ‘How did you get shot?’”

Boyd told his mother the story, reminding her that he was sleeping at a coach’s house.

“He was loud but calm,” Durbin said. “That’s what helped me not get hysterical. Because he was calm. He didn’t call me screaming.”

She rushed to the hospital, fearful that her son would never walk again, and then was relieved to see he was OK. Durbin worried about the teammates who were there that night.

“I felt bad for the kids who had to watch and see it,” Durbin said. “These are good kids. They’re not in the hood doing crazy stuff. All these kids know is football. The one kid was shaking so bad because the coach was telling him to apply pressure on [Boyd’s] back. He was scared.”

Earlier this month, police arrested Nasir Johnson, 26, and charged him with aggravated assault, a firearms charge, and related offenses. Police said they had obtained surveillance footage of someone wearing blue jeans and a white T-shirt firing a gun on 4200 block of Griscom Street in the direction of the 1500 block of Adams Avenue, where Boyd was playing video games. Police said they recovered several items — including clothing that was consistent with what the suspect was wearing in the surveillance footage — when they arrested Johnson.

Lincoln called Boyd’s mother last week to say he wanted the quarterback to play a few snaps on Thanksgiving, just enough to give him a taste of being back on the field before next season. The series against Central, which dates to 1892, is said to be the nation’s oldest rivalry among public schools.

Boyd wasn’t able to show college coaches his promise this fall, but he still has another season of high school ball to prove himself. He can’t wait.

“We’re going to do something crazy next year,” he said.

His mother agreed to let him play Thursday but told the offensive line to “protect my baby.” She gave her son Psalms to recite before he takes the field, and she’ll be in the stands with an entire section of family and friends. Nearly three months after being shot, Boyd will be back on the field for one last game. His season is not finished.

“We’re just grateful,” Durbin said. “I’m grateful that he’s here. It’s Thanksgiving, for sure.”