Collins leads defense as Bonner tops Upper Darby
When a guy says he's a 3-year starter on a high school football team's defense, your first inclination might be to think he's something of a lone wolf.
When a guy says he's a 3-year starter on a high school football team's defense, your first inclination might be to think he's something of a lone wolf.
But listen to Marcus Collins . . .
"I think there are six or seven us who started as sophomores," he said. "We came up from the freshman team together, received good support from the older guys, kept working hard and now, here we are as seniors, ready to have a good season."
Win No. 1 is in the books, folks.
With the 6-foot, 215-pound Collins making a gamelong impact, Monsignor Bonner High Friday night bested its up-the-street neighbor, Upper Darby, 20-9, in a nonleague game.
If Collins had merely made eight tackles, he could have considered it a good evening. But he also recovered a muffed punt, thus setting up the game's first touchdown, and forced another late in the third quarter (recovery by Dan Dougherty at the 8) to assure the Friars would retain a 14-7 lead.
Of the first key play, Collins said: "I was gunning on that one. I ran down and thought, actually, that I was going to make the hit. But one of my teammates [Brendon Garrison] came out of nowhere and really wrecked the guy, then I just made the recovery."
Here's his take on the second: "They ran a power give on that one, and our coaches were yelling to make sure we held strong. I was surprised to force the fumble on that. I wasn't sure what was going to happen. There was some discussion among the refs about whether the fumble [came after the whistle]. I was happy the call went the way it did."
In all, Bonner forced five regular turnovers - UD's final three possessions resulted in interceptions by James Murphy, Dougherty and Vince Dalderio - and John McGilligan even recovered an onside kick.
"We're going with a new defensive system," Collins said. "We've gone from a 3-4 to a 4-3. I like it more. It's working out better. There's a lot more room for the linebackers to roam and be creative. The linemen do a great job, then we just fly up to the ball. It's like you can bash guys. Hit 'em right in their face."
Valderio holds down the middle linebacker spot. Collins and Murphy are on the outside.
"I was always a defensive tackle in weight ball," said Collins, who hails from Sharon Hill and also clears high hurdles for Bonner's track team. "Then I got taller, and I've been playing linebacker ever since."
Quarterback Sean Quarterman scored Bonner's TDs on a trio of 1-yard forge-aheads.
Quarterman finished 7-for-20 for 128 yards as a passer, with all of his completions and yards coming before intermission. John Pontarelli ran 12 times for 53 yards and his 27-yard burst set up Bonner's final score. McGilligan added three snags for 61 yards.
In college, Collins intends to major in marketing and someday open a business. He's thinking restaurant, and that doesn't mean McDonald's (not that there's anything wrong with that).
"Some of my friends from last year's Bonner senior class have gone on to culinary schools," he said. "They're going to be learning that craft, which I think is neat. I like to go to nicer restaurants to see how they put everything together."
Friday night, thanks in large part to Marcus Collins, the Friars had the right recipe for defensive success.
In another game:
* Gratz 66, Fels 36: In this nonleague Friday evening tilt, host Gratz roared to 522 yards of total offense. Spencer Moses led the way, rushing 13 times for 240 yards and four TDs (53, 79, 19 and 8), while Jamir Anderson added 141 yards and two scores on 14 rushes. Khalil Brown passed 4-for-63 yards and a TD to Anderson. Terence Roseboro made two interceptions. For Fels, which totaled 280 yards, Tyree Rucker passed 7-for-25 for 109 yards and two TDs to Jared Hines (5-84) and tallied two scores of his own (12-64). Fels' longest TD was Terry Brown's 66-yard run. *
