PPL Spring Season Week 3 Recap: Bartram/Lincoln Heating Up

Week three of the PPL/PCL Spring Football season is in the books! A good amount of prospects have stood out in just three weeks, many of which were not on our radar. It’s our pleasure to help provide some exposure and spotlight to those who may not receive it, yet are deserving. Teams are beginning to separate themselves from the pack as we progress through this condensed season. Every team has got talent in the Pub, but this is where winners begin to make their names known. Let’s dive into who stood out, whose stock is rising, and what teams we expect to continue dominating. Boys Latin 20 West Philadelphia 7 We continue to struggle to find film on Hudl and Twitter profiles for prospects on Boys Latin. Gathering information on the 2-0, underrated Boys Latin team has been tough. Nonetheless, pulled out a great victory against a talented West Philly squad who hadn’t lost entering this game. Seniors, Jibril Jones, and Faheem Carter stood out this game, Jones toating the rock for the BL offense and Faheem Carter providing some play-making ability, scoring on a 40+ yard pass in the second half. We will keep our eye on both players to our best ability as the season progresses. As for the Speedboys, the usuals showed up. Zaire Brown continues to leave his mark on offense as he provides consistent splash plays at wideout. Mujaheed Muhammad continues his aggressive play-style from his safety spot, accumulating tackle after tackle. A couple of new names have emerged despite the loss. Quarterback Carlos Rivera and running back [player_tooltip player_id="91831" first="Nasir" last="Gooden"] are flashing ability after three weeks. Rivera accounted for the lone score of the game for WP, a 25+ yard run that the QB made look easy. Northeast 34 Olney 18 We want to start by sharing our deepest condolences to the family, friends, and players of Coach Richard "Wave" Williams who passed this week. We at Prep Redzone had just begun building a relationship with Coach Wave as he provided info to get his Olney kid’s much-needed spotlight. Coach Wave impacted the youth in Philadelphia in ways we cannot describe. As for the game. Northeast continues its dominance over the Public League but this week, the win was without ease. Finally, a team was able to score on this unearthly defense. Props to Olney for putting up a formidable fight against the Pub powerhouse. Steven Oaddams, the 6’5" junior defensive end did his part to halt the NE run game, penetrating and recording numerous TFL’s while also forcing a fumble and recording a sack. His stock is steadily rising as are teammates Zahfir McCullough and Cyncere Hennix. Olney put up the best fight yet against [player_tooltip player_id="27559" first="Ken" last="Talley"] and [player_tooltip player_id="66046" first="Kion" last="Wright"]. Still, it wasn’t nearly enough as the Penn State commit proceeded to record his SIXTEENTH sack in THREE games. The caps are needed! Elite strength, elite awareness, elite get-off, elite pursuit. You name it. Hand in the dirt or off. The PPL’s number one defensive end through three games isn’t without help along the same defensive line. [player_tooltip player_id="66046" first="Kion" last="Wright"] has recorded nine sacks in the same span. The sophomore has solidified his place on our rankings and has made the case to rise. He recently participated in the USACombine. [player_tooltip player_id="27738" first="Ronel" last="Nukah"], trust us, we see you too! This stud sophomore also recorded 4+ sacks on the night. Geo Fabian, and Keino Salmon all played their parts, as did Terail Greene. We hope complacency doesn’t set in. Central 21 Frankford 11 Another week and another tough time finding tape on Frankford or Central. We are aware of Nadir Mitchell and Saron Banks, as well as Frederick Fulmore II and [player_tooltip player_id="27302" first="Balansama" last="Kamara"] for Central. Hopefully Central can get the ball rolling with this big win over rival Frankford. <img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-26586 aligncenter" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/redzone/uploads/2020/06/kamara-1-300x254.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="254" /> Bartram 16 Martin Luther King 0 The Bartram Braves are steadily improving week by week and now shut out an MLK team full of talent. The Braves have outscored opponents 60-0 in their opening two weeks of action and have road the backs of Quarterback Jaquon Givens and ATH Markel Morgan, both of which may find themselves on our upcoming Mid-season Stock Risers report dropping next week. Let’s shine some light on other Bartram players who have made an impact and who have caught our eye. We mention Kasan Johnson-Townsend and Aamir Pender both for the first time on this site. They deserve mention. Pender was productive on offense and defense, blocking to the whistle, running hard, as well as recording a sack on the speedy Lamir Kitchens. Johnson-Townsend looks and plays the part of a big, long-limbed defensive back who has experience locking down outside-lane wideouts. We want to see more out of these two, we are all about exploring new names and finding hidden talent. Don’t worry, more on the explosive Jaquan Givens and Markel Morgan soon. As for MLK, the Cougars are on a losing skid. This team is too talented to let the short season get away from them. It’s time to focus and get back in the win column. Additional names on MLK that have caught my eye are junior defensive back Tyron Bryan, senior linebacker Lance Dawson, and freshman LB/RB Shyne Roberts. There’s more to uncover with MLK, they need to regroup fast! Overbrook 54 Vaux 0 Vaux continues to struggle to score early on this season, being shut-out for the second straight week. Let’s highlight three defensive backs at Overbrook who helped seal this shut out in spectacular fashion. Two new names, Christian Bibb and Wakee Brannon, both of which have little Hudl/Twitter presence. Little presence didn’t halt big play, however, specifically from Bibb who secured two interceptions on the night, one of which he returned for a touchdown on an electric run to the house. Plays like this get you spotlight on our site. Dechaune Jackson, who we’ve previously highlighted on this site, was active on offense and defense for Overbrook. He accounted for 8 of Overbrook’s 54 points and was head-hunting on defense all night. Highly productive tackler who showed good read and react ability playing with space in front of him from his safety spot. This wasn’t much of a test for the Panthers. We hope Vaux-BP can get some type of offensive production next week to help out their defense, and vice versa. [caption id="attachment_126778" align="aligncenter" width="300"]<a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/redzone/uploads/2021/04/overbrookvaux11-crop-540x355-1617338959.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-126778" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/redzone/uploads/2021/04/overbrookvaux11-crop-540x355-1617338959-300x197.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="197" /></a> Photo: Suvisuals, Suvisuals[/caption] Washington 16 Belmont 0 Sophomore quarterback and safety [player_tooltip player_id="123524" first="Kyle" last="Schumann"] continues to lead Washington into the win column week after week. The young stud showed off impressive toughness as he was a constant challenge to bring down when taking off with the football. We continue to scout his development to see where his game best translates when thinking about the next level. We are a long way from that, however. Let’s give senior running back and defensive back Darryl Johnson Jr. some love, toating the rock 16 times for 85 yards and a score. The stout back showed solid acceleration through the trenches while showing the ability to get skinny inside to make defenders miss. Washington now stands at 2-0, we want to see how this team handles the PPL’s best. <img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-126782 aligncenter" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/redzone/uploads/2021/04/Ex5LCq4WYAc9A5z-crop-1536x1009-1617339061-300x197.jpeg" alt="" width="300" height="197" /> Lincoln 28 Kensington 0 Lincoln High School has impressed, much like Bartram and Washington, all three of these teams have posted 2-0 records while maintaining shut-outs throughout. Lincoln, held off Overbrook 18-0 and now does the same to Kensington 28-0. The defensive secondary for the Railsplitters holds a talented sophomore who has intrigued me. Dan Gardee. The kid is just under 6’1 and plays bigger than that. He’s got solid ball skills and plays with the awareness you’d expect from a premier safety in the making. Let’s hope to see more from this kid, he’s been a huge factor in keeping offenses from scoring in these games. As far as offense goes, another young sophomore prospect has blossomed into a serious threat at quarterback for Lincoln. Khani Knight accounted for a whopping four passing touchdowns on the day. The feat was impressive in itself despite hitting four different receivers during a windy afternoon as well. Consider Khani Knight and this young team on the map. <img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-126784 aligncenter" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/redzone/uploads/2021/04/ExRCGHEWQAAsAaJ-crop-828x544-1617339101-300x197.jpeg" alt="" width="300" height="197" /> Ben Franklin 20 Roxborough 8 We finish off this piece with the first win of the season for Ben Franklin. We want to highlight Lamir Molina, a giant junior defensive end who also contributes on offense at tight end. This kid is as underrated as they come as his physical gifts were on display against a lackluster Roxborough team. He displays a solid combination of strength and speed that allows Ben Franklin to align him in multiple areas if need be. Want to see how Molina would handle top-rated tackles around the area. Get him in some camps! Speaking of underrated and tackles, let’s speak of Donavon Williams, senior left tackle for the Electrons. This kid is raw but the traits are easy to see. Athletic and STRONG. If the kid was 6’5 instead of 6’2 we’d be speaking about an elite-level prospect. Again, the senior is raw but there’s no doubt in my mind he can be shaped into a solid guard/right tackle at the D3 or D2 level. Nafis Smith was productive, the quarterback scored twice to get BF out ahead early in this ball game. Roxborough has gone down twice this early spring season. We still noticed the play of Zamir Beck and Josh Corbin. Hope they keep it up despite the losses.