Live Off. Evals: Don Bosco, Roman Catholic, Imhotep, and DeMatha

This past weekend, I had an opportunity to check out some of the top football teams from the states of New Jersey, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. On Friday, I watched Don Bosco Prep defeat Roman Catholic. On Saturday, DeMatha came back from being down 13 points in the fourth quarter to defeat Imhotep Charter 21-20.   Here are some of the offensive players who made a big impact in the games they played in.    This was my first time getting a look at Grant in a DeMatha uniform, and he did not disappoint. He carried the football 17 times for 117 yards and two touchdowns and caught two passes for 20 yards. Grant's longest run of the day was 30 yards. He earned every bit of those 117 yards against an Imhotep defense that is one of the best in Pennsylvania. Grant ran with power and reeled off tough run after tough run in between the tackles. I was impressed with his quickness and ability to make people miss in closed quarters. This was a great measuring stick for Grant, as he made a strong case for being the No. 2 running back in the state.     Chappelle was responsible for both of Imhotep's offensive tackles. Both games featured red-zone runs where it looked like he was going to be tackled, but he found a way to score anyway. On the first run, Chappelle gets the carry off the middle, shakes off a would-be tackler, spins, and runs in the rest of the way for a touchdown from about 10-plus yards out. The other one, inside of the 15-yard line, he takes the handoff, goes to the right, spins, and breaks out of a tackle, reverses field back to the left to score the touchdown and give Imhotep a 20-7 lead late in the third quarter. I was truly impressed with the speed and power he displayed while running the football. Chappelle gets to top speed quickly, and he finishes his runs by punishing defenders who try to tackle him. I can see him easily cracking the Top 10 list for running backs in his class by the end of the season.     Thomas, one of the more versatile backs in the region, carried the football 23 times for 88 yards and one touchdown. Don't let the score fool you too much; Roman Catholic's defense didn't roll over. Early turnovers put them in a bad position way too many times in the first half. Don Bosco's game plan looked to revolve around running the ball up the middle of Roman Catholic's defense. Thomas kept the offense on time and was able to reel off 5-plus yard gains here and there throughout the contest. There were a couple of runs where he showed he could run with power (breaking arm tackles) and also beat defenders to the corner for extra yardage.     Schoen completed 9-of-15 passes for 93 yards and two touchdowns and also carried the football three times for 10 yards and another touchdown. The stats may not be eye-popping, but it was clear that DBP wanted to be physical against RC and run the football. On the first touchdown pass, he goes through his play-action fake to his left, rolls back to his right, and finds Isaiah Alaverez in the back of the end zone for a touchdown from 5 yards out. Schoen does the exact same thing on his other touchdown pass, except this time, it's from the RC 9-yard line, and he rolls the opposite way to hit Alvarez in the middle of traffic inside of the end zone. Nice, efficient performance for Schoen.     After not seeing too much action in DBP's first game against Armwood (1 catch, 41 yards), Alvarez proved to be Schoen's most reliable target in the red zone. He caught five passes for 55 yards and two touchdowns (one for five yards and the other for 9 yards). In both cases, the RC defense did not guard Alvarez tightly as he dragged across the middle of the end zone and caught both passes with no resistance. His longest catch of the night was for 19 yards. Not bad numbers against a solid Roman Catholic defense.    Honorable Mentions   [player_tooltip player_id='569820' first='Joey' last='McLeish'] | QB | Imhotep Charter | 2027   DeMatha has one of the best secondaries in the region, so I can see why they had McLeish throwing mostly short-to-intermediate passes throughout the game. In the second half, McLeish was able to take a few shots downfield and connected on a big pass play to [player_tooltip player_id='1366046' first='Brian' last='Culmer'] to put them in great scoring position deep in DeMatha's territory. I thought he did a great job of extending plays with his legs, escaping the pressure from DeMatha's talented front four. Both teams have ultra-talented defenses, and I can see why both teams relied heavily on running the football.   [player_tooltip player_id='1366046' first='Brian' last='Culmer'] | WR | Imhotep Charter | 2028   Culmer caught a few passes, including a deep shot downfield that put Imhotep in great field position on the DeMatha side of the field. He has some speed and quickness. As the season goes on, I'm sure we'll see him making explosive play after explosive play for The Tep.   [player_tooltip player_id='408306' first='Chace' last='Irvin'] | WR | DeMatha | 2028   Irvin caught a few passes, including two of the CLUTCH variety on DeMatha's game-winning drive. Simply put, if he doesn't get the first down on a fourth-down catch, this article is read a little differently, as DeMatha would've lost the game. Impact over stats gets Irvin on this list.   Tristan Saab | QB | DeMatha | 2027   Just like Imhotep, DeMatha was fine with being run-heavy this game. Earlier in the game, Saab made several plays with his legs on designed runs and from scrambling out of the pocket. He did complete mostly short-to-intermediate passes throughout the game. When the game was on the line, he delivered two clutch passes to wide receiver [player_tooltip player_id='408306' first='Chace' last='Irvin'] on DeMatha's game-winning drive. Once again, impact over stats.   DON BOSCO PREP OFFENSIVE LINE   It was clear what DBP wanted to do against the Roman Catholic: run the football team. As a team, the Ironmen ran the football 37 times for 360 yards and two touchdowns. Mission accomplished.

This past weekend, I had an opportunity to check out some of the top football teams from the states of New Jersey, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. On Friday, I watched Don Bosco Prep defeat Roman Catholic. On Saturday, DeMatha came back from being down 13 points in the fourth quarter to defeat Imhotep Charter 21-20.