Richardson, Leslie help West Philadelphia rout Boys’ Latin

There's one thing Larry Richardson knows each time football practice ends at West Philadelphia High.

His work is just beginning.

Blame that on T.O. Check that . . . Give credit to T.O.

The Speedboys' top receiver is not called T.O. because those are his initials. And not because he's a knucklehead. Eric Leslie goes by T.O. because of his work ethic and because he never stops working and, as a byproduct, never stops pushing Richardson, the 6-3, 175-pound senior quarterback.

After West skunked Boys' Latin Charter, 62-22, Friday in a Public AAA contest at Simon Gratz' Marcus Foster Memorial Stadium, Richardson said offensive coordinator Larry Bledsoe requires him to throw 60 passes at every practice.

And then he said with a laugh, "Then T.O. wants me to throw 60 more just to him."

And that he does, gladly.

"T.O.'s drive to be so successful really helps me," Richardson said. "I put in the extra work with him because I know that's what it takes."

Thanks to 38-8 halftime lead, West threw no passes after halftime and wound up running only six plays (two of its scores in that span came on kickoff returns). But before he mothballed his right arm, Richardson, who showed good mechanics and a nice touch, went 6-for-9 for 136 yards and three touchdowns.

Leslie made half of the receptions, and all three went for scores - of 26, 60 and 37 yards.

"T.O.'s the best receiver I've ever had. By far," gushed Richardson, who began playing QB as an eighth-grader. "And that goes for anywhere I've played. From the fields to the streets. He catches anything, and he's a workhorse."

In this one, the guys were quick operators.

The opening kickoff by West's Khalil Summers cleared the second line of returnees, and the back-line guys didn't rush forward quickly enough. William Monaghan recovered on BL's 26 and no time was wasted.

Richardson immediately stepped back, zipped one downfield to Leslie and West owned a 6-0 lead at 11:47.

So much for the idea of establishing the running game.

"That never happened to me before. It feels the best," said Richardson, referring to a first-play TD pass. "We did a pass on the first play vs. Martin Luther King, but I messed up bad. Threw an interception. Coach Larry said to me, 'We're going to do this again. I believe in you.' "

Richardson then mentioned that the Speedboys had run the play over and over all week in practice.

"Truthfully, it didn't work that often," he acknowledged. "We used a lot of different people. Ran it in a lot of different situations. T.O. wasn't running the pattern that much."

Christian Southern's fumble recovery set up score No. 2, the 60-yarder produced on a left-to-middle slant. Leslie made a great, leaping catch maybe 10 yards downfield and then outran the pursuit. The 37-yarder was posted 26.2 seconds before halftime.

In all, the Speedboys rang up eight TDs. Robert Andrews (15-96) posted three of them on rushes and another on an 81-yard kickoff return to start the second half and put the mercy rule into effect. Later, reinforcing his great-teammate status, Andrews made a crushing block to help Malik Miles post a TD on a 69-yard kickoff return. Desmond Sams contributed three successful conversion catches.

West's grunts were center Curtis Smith (normally a third-stringer), guards Brandon Ford and Alan Smith, and tackles Chris Brown and Frank Williams. The tight end was Summers, a 6-3, 235-pound junior who also plays linebacker.

Oddly, though it lost by 40 points, Boys' Latin ran 59 plays to West's 30. Dominique Williford and Ben Coulibaly ran for scores, while Erik Lark hit Terron Fuller with a 15-yard TD pass.

The well-spoken Richardson, who lives near 54th and Baltimore, has not yet generated college interest, but he'd love to go somewhere and later own a business.

Not surprising, he wants to take the QB thing as far as possible. (So far this season, he's 30-for-54 for 533 yards and seven TDs. Leslie has done major damage - 16-456-5.)

"I used to throw the ball around with my uncle, Robert Dune, and I always liked it," Richardson said. "He always used to say, 'The quarterback's the guy on the team with the power.' And I am someone who likes to take control.

"I like how my team looks up to me, and how I can fire the guys up to help get us wins."

Firing the ball downfield doesn't hurt, either. Especially to another T.O. *