Comm Tech romps to victory over Future

Rasheed Brown looked at Future and saw the past.

As in, the 2009 football season, when Communications Tech never had enough players for an intrasquad scrimmage and routinely struggled through practices with as few as 15.

But just because his school's situation has now improved, vastly even, don't expect Brown to express sympathy for a downtrodden opponent.

"They wear equipment, just like us," he said. "They're football players. That's what they do."

Softening ever so slightly, he added, "All they have to do is keep working hard, and they'll get better."

Brown, a 6-1, 287-pound senior, is a guard and defensive tackle, and Friday his workday was limited to 24 minutes. That was because CT, en route to a 48-0 triumph over School of the Future in a Public AA mess at 11th and Bigler, owned a 40-0 lead by halftime, meaning the the final 24 were played with the mercy rule in full effect.

Future dressed only 20 players. On the roster handed out by coach Henry Hunt, 14 more were listed as unavailable because of injury (five) or academic ineligibility (nine). Five others have flat-out disappeared.

"We're trying to clean things up," Hunt said. "It's an ongoing process. One of the kids has failing grades in an advanced-placement class. How does that happen?"

Meanwhile, how does this? CT is hardly an upper-echelon squad, yet stormed to such an easy victory, even though franchise rusher Rolando "Ro-Ro" Ransom (3,810 yards, 38 TDs), who was limping noticeably, was unavailable because of an injured right knee. (He did see action, for only two plays, at cornerback.)

Despite Ransom's absence, the Phoenix stormed to scores on its first four possessions, while mixing in two more on defense.

The fourth-quarter TD also came on defense, and two more during the course of the game (one apiece on offense/defense) were lost to penalties.

In all, the teams combined for 25 flags (worth 175 yards) and, yes, this game set football so far back, it was a miracle the players weren't ordered to switch to leather helmets.

"Going into the game without Ransom, that was a concern," Brown said. "But we also knew we had other good players, and the courage to win. I believed that because of our hard work and discipline.

"When you do your job so well that you get the this-is-easy feeling, you really like that. It should be easy, really, when you're playing a team like that. Most of their guys never leave the field. Fatigue sets in."

Though coach John Gossett sees Brown as an important force, he does think the grunt's work ethic needs some improvement.

"He wants to play college ball, and I believe he can," Gossett said. "But when he gets there, he'll see 20 guys just like him. It takes a full-time commitment. All the big guys are somewhat lazy. They think the spots are automatically theirs."

Brown said he knew all along he'd find a way to thrive in sports. His dad and uncle, Raymond and Dennis Miller, played football and basketball, respectively, at John Bartram. Since Rasheed never could quite get the hang of hoops, he opted for the gridiron.

"Sometimes I wish I had the ball in my hands," he said, "but I'm big, so I love being a lineman. It's fun to hit people.

"Though I love the contact, I also love that football's a mental game. You constantly have to outthink your opponent. I dreamed of playing football from the time I was a little kid. I never could play Pop Warner, because I was too big, but then I got to play middle school ball for the Southwest Jaguars [based at Pepper, next door to Comm Tech] with the same coach I have now, and my dream started."

Brown's weighty partners included center Shamere Blanford, guard Chris Stanly and tackles Herron McBride and Tiler Wright. The offensive TDs were two runs by Diquan Gilbert (8-50) and a pair of passes by Zaki Jamison (60 yards to Tikir Trent, 23 to James Brunson). Defensive scores: interception return by Devon Brunson (53 yards; he's James' brother), fumble return by James Brunson (39 yards; strip by Abdur Saaba), blocked-punt return by Tylik Guilford (8 yards; he also did the swatting).

CT's front four - Gilbert and Tommy Godwin at end; Brown and Chris Miller - exterted relentless pressure, and 10 of the Firebirds' 31 plays lost yardage. If not for a block in the back, sub Jahmeer Faulcon would have posted a 35-yard pick-six in the final moments. The offensive TD lost to an infraction was Jamison's 69-yard, second-quarter run.

At least one Firebird left the premises with a hint of happiness . . . Shahiyd Wilson made two interceptions.

While discussing Brown, who lives on 54th Street near Chester Avenue, and the game itself, Gossett did veer elsewhere momentarily. He pointed out that the school district briefly forced CT to drop its program as last school year wound down and form a cooperative sponsorship with John Bartram, also in Southwest Philly.

"We even had some workouts with them," Gossett said. "Our principal wasn't having it, though. Wouldn't let it happen. We disproved everything they were saying about us last year, when our numbers were respectable, and now, well, they're great [50 on roster; 35 in uniform]."

Future can only hope to achieve the same feat.

In other games:

In Public AAAA Gold, Fels rallied from a 22-0 deficit and saddened Overbrook, 36-30, on Messiah Mitchell's 5-yard pass to Nijay Kelly with 1:43 left. Jamiel Hines' interception sealed the deal . . . Xavier Cornish (54 yards) and David Bennett ran for TDs as Edison topped Olney, 14-6, in Public AAAA Silver to snap a 17-game losing streak. Also, the Owls had dropped 34 of their last 35. Sam Fortune (11-107) ran 75 yards for Olney's score . . . West Philly moved to 8-0 as Anthony Johnson and Desmond Sams scored two TDs apiece in a 26-6 Public AAA win over Boys' Latin. Each posted one score on a run and the other on defense (Johnson interception; Sams fumble return) . . . Still wearing a cast to protect an arm he broke two months ago, Curt Hunt intercepted two passes, recovered a fumble and made a tackle (of seven total) for a safety as Gratz bested Franklin, 22-6, in Public AAA . . . Jalil Shoatz and Dalvin Newell scored on punt returns to highlight West Catholic's 39-0 win over Neumann-Goretti in Catholic AA . . . Daquan "Day-Day" Brown accounted for 207 yards of rushing/receiving and one TD (air) as Dobbins muffled Roxborough, 20-8, in Public AAA . . . After earning a reprieve when an encroachment penalty erased a miss from 30 yards, Howard Lynn hit a 25-yard field goal (second of game) with 17.9 seconds left to lift Northeast over Imhotep, 13-12, in a non-league game . . . Marquise "Marty" McFarland (9-117) and Josh McClam (8-91) ran for two scores apiece as Lincoln humbled Mastbaum, 40-12, in Public AAAA Silver . . . King, 0-6 going in, stormed to a 40-12 Public AAA win over University City as QB Khaleel Stewart ran for three short scores, hit Seth Fields for a TD and made two interceptions (as did Andre Shirley). Malik Paulk added 130 yards and a TD on 23 carries.