Standouts from Steelton-Highspire vs. Imani Christian
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After watching Imhotep Charter’s dominant 87-0 victory over Life Christian Academy, Saturday’s second matchup between Steelton-Highspire and Imani Christian was quite a nice matchup. After Steelton took a two-score lead early, making it look like the Rollers would roll to…
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Continue ReadingAfter watching Imhotep Charter’s dominant 87-0 victory over Life Christian Academy, Saturday’s second matchup between Steelton-Highspire and Imani Christian was quite a nice matchup. After Steelton took a two-score lead early, making it look like the Rollers would roll to a victory, Imani Christian made this a close one, giving Steelton everything they could handle before the Rollers were able to seal the win late.
Here are six players that I thought who were the most impressive on Saturday.
Erby had a fantstic showing in the opening game of his senior season, making some really nice throws including one pass in the first quarter that may have been one of the better thows I’ve seen the signal caller make in his career. Alex remained calm throughout the game and showed his leadership ability, never looking frustrated or panicked even when things weren’t going the Rollers way offensively. His decision making throughout the game was also solid, not making many, if any decisions, we deemed “turnover worthy”. He finished the game with over 300+ all purpose yards and three total touchdowns. He continues to look like an FBS quarterback.
Highlights
Continue to be impressed by Ceasar. The6-foot-1, 180-pound athlete is just such a dynamic playmaker and can make anything happen when the ball is in his hands. He showed great vision in his run after the catch against Imani while also showing off his high-end speed and great elusiveness. The challenge for opposing defenses will be wrapping up Ceasar quickly after he makes a recption, because if they don’t, he has a chance to make those opposing defenses pay for it every time.
Highlights
Burnette Jr. might be on the samller side at 5-foot-9 but he is a tough and electric ball carrier for Steelton-Highspire. He showed the ability to make plays happen both between the tackles and off the edge – overall, he’s a prospect that looks quite a bit better than he was a season ago. Excited to see how he continues to progress this fall.
First opportunity I got to see Burnett play live and I came away impressed. The 6-foot-3 lienbacker looks every bit of that frame and his 205-pound weight and its easy to see how he can continue to add weight to his frame as he continues to develop. He was all over the field as a defender, he flies around and has great closing speed while being a leader of the Saints defense. Showed strong football IQ throughout the game as well with quick read and react skills.
Highlights
Wow.
Is really all I have to say about Vandiver’s performance on Saturday. I’m not sure what the final stats looked like when it comes to attempts, completions, and such but whatever they are, they probably don’t do justice in how impressive he was on Saturday. What a tremendous improviser at the quarterback position, Imani Christian’s offensive line had a tough time keeping the Rollers pass rush in check at times, and Vandiver never once panicked. He extended plays, kept his eyes down field, and made good decisions throughout the game. He has a nice arm as well, the ball comes with a good zip and the accuracy was solid throughout the evening as well, throwing the ball into some quite small windows at times. There was a ton of talent on thje field but I’m not sure I was more impressed with anyone else than I was with Vandiver. All in all, it was a 386 all purpose yard performance including 267 passing yards and 119 rushing yards.
Davis showed a lot of promise and flashes as a freshman and this was a good followup to that freshman season. Davis looked good on both sides of the ball as a running back and then a member of Imani’s secondary, he was especially good when playing close to the line of scrimmage defensively. We saw flashes of his speed and athleticism throughout the game on both sides of the ball though Steelton-Highspire did a great job overall of trying to keep the Imani run game in check.
Overall thoughts:
Steelton-Highspire – The Rollers started fast before going through some struggles on both sides of the ball, but what you saw as the game got later and later was their veteran leadership and experience in big games worked to their advantage. As long as the Rollers play as they did for most of the first quarter and fourth quarter, they’ll once again be competing for another state championship.
Imani Christian – This team has improved a lot from last year. They don’t have the numbers that Steelton-Highspire has, but coach LaRoi Johnson has this team moving in the right direction; there’s no doubt about that. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re competing at a high level this year, but I do expect them to be a force to be reckoned with in 2024 and beyond.