Frankford dances to Public AAAA Gold title
AARON ALLISON is a pretty big guy, especially for a non-grunt, and he was sounding like a heavyweight champion.
AARON ALLISON is a pretty big guy, especially for a non-grunt, and he was sounding like a heavyweight champion.
"I won by unanimous decision," he said.
Not in the ring. In the run for Frankford High's senior class president.
"It was a popularity contest and since I'm cool with everyone . . . ," he said, laughing. "My theme was that I was going to bring peace back to the school.
"I'm taking baby steps so far, but it's my pleasure to have this responsibility. We're doing some recycling things, trying to make the school greener, and we're also doing a mentoring program for the ninth-graders. Oh, and we're trying to have more dances."
Did someone mention dances?
Saturday night, all of the football Pioneers were hopping and jumping and basically bogeying after they claimed the Public AAAA Gold regular-season title. The site was Northeast, the score was 21-20 and the victim was George Washington.
The 6-3, 240-pound Allison, a tight end who sometimes lines up wide, made seven catches for 77 yards. Two of those snags (the best covered 28 yards) came in the final drive, capped with 30 seconds left on a 14-yard pass from junior Tim DiGiorgio to classmate Renz "Rodeo" Compton. Eric Salguero's PAT broke the 20-20 tie.
On that classic advancement, which began at Frankford's 20, DiGiorgio went 8-for-8 while hitting Marquan Scott and Mike Brown in addition to Allison/Compton. In the latter moments, the Pioneers overcame a 15-yard penalty and a 6-yard sack.
"I grew up with Tim," Allison said. "We've been in that situation many times. Really, it felt like the 2-minute drills we do again and again in practice. Sometimes, the coaches even cheat and push us back on purpose. We still get to the end zone.
"We were getting all the clutch catches. We were so calm. Just keeping our continuity and rhythm. Sure, we fussed at each other a little after the penalty and sack, but we still had that confidence. Before that last play, it was, 'Everybody do your assignment. We'll get this done.' "
Allison's 28-yarder occurred on second-and-8 and he made the catch tight to the visiting sideline.
"I was so wide open! What a feeling!" he said. "I sold it as a deep post, then went to the side."
Long plays are not that common for tight ends, of course.
"That's the best part about being a tight end in this offense," Allison said. "I can show a lot of versatility. It's not like I'm out there just catching. I get to catch and block. We still run the ball a decent amount of time and I like knocking people over.
"But sometimes, maybe even 50 percent of the time, the coaches do put me wide. That gives us an extra dimension. Shows they have faith in me. I can create mismatches against little people. And if I'm out there really just being a decoy, that's fine, too, because it helps the other guys."
DiGiorgio, a lefty, passed 21-for-26 for two TDs and yet another school record of 304 yards. Scott (4-97) and Compton (3-69) also were highly productive while Brown contributed the other TD catch. The grunts were center Lorenz "Bubbles" Compton (Rodeo's brother), rotating guards Geoffrey Phillippe, Tyrone Tunnell and Darius Williams, and tackles Anthony "Juicy" Capers and Ronnie Parrish.
For Washington, Hakeem Sillman carried 26 times for 140 yards and two TDs.
Allison, who lives on Cottage Street, near Pratt, boasts a 3.6 GPA, tackles AP classes and ranks 25th among Frankford's seniors. Pittsburgh and New Mexico, among others, are showing preliminary interest and films are being prepared.
"I'm definitely sending this one out," he said.
Online high school coverage at philly.com/rally.
