Germantown Academy holds off Prep Charter
On the football field, sometimes beauty is in the eye of whichever sideline you're standing on. On Friday, Prep Charter's Karamo Dioubate and Germantown Academy's Kwasi Ampomah clashed like titans, but neither coaching staff could agree on a winner.
On the football field, sometimes beauty is in the eye of whichever sideline you're standing on.
On Friday, Prep Charter's Karamo Dioubate and Germantown Academy's Kwasi Ampomah clashed like titans, but neither coaching staff could agree on a winner.
Dioubate is a 6-foot-4, 278-pound two-way dump truck committed to Penn State. Ampomah is a 6-foot, 210-pound defensive end built for speed.
Truth be told, both bested each other plenty. Ampomah and the Patriots, however, got the last laugh.
Thanks to Ampomah's three sacks - and Kyle McCloskey and Jimmy McAfee's offensive spark-Germantown Academy held off Prep Charter, 28-20, at the South Philadelphia Supersite.
Ampomah finished the game with a sack of Dioubate's brother, Mamud, who nearly rallied the Huskies from a 28-6 deficit in the second half.
It was Ampomah's first half, however, that was the subject of debate.
Early on, the Prep Charter sideline could be heard telling the Penn-State bound Dioubate that
Ampomah was "eating his lunch."
Meanwhile, the Patriots' coaches told a different story.
"I was missing a lot of tackles in the first half,"
Ampomah said. "I was getting yelled at for it. But, my coaches kept lifting me up and telling me to forget about it, and keep playing. And that's what I did."
Ampomah, a senior who has earned mostly Division III looks, consistently penetrated past the Huskies' line, but couldn't finish plays with tackles.
"No. 72 (Dioubate) is a player, man," Ampomah said. "That's the best guy I ever played in my life. Wow. I really had to dig deep for this one. I can barely walk right now."
Fortunately for the Patriots (2-0), McCloskey and McAfee were dynamic early. McCloskey finished 17 of 29 for 245 yards and four touchdowns. McAfee finished with seven catches for 143 yards and three touchdowns.
"Those guys fight for us all day," Ampomah said. "I just want to stay with them. I don't want to get left behind, so it's always a competition. Even though I wasn't doing my thing in the first half, I saw Jimmy just scorching the defense and I wanted to be like that."
But it was the Patriots' defense that got scorched in the second half.
For Prep Charter (1-1), Quadir Strothers (16 carries for 114 and two scores) and Mamud Dioubate (22 carries for 89 yards) carved through the Patriots' poor tackling.
Dioubate even scurried for three separate first downs after low snaps bounced on the turf.
That is until Ampomah notched a huge third-down sack in the fourth and another to end regulation.
"All the adrenaline was just surging," he said. "I was like, 'this is the one, this is the one.' If I want to be a leader on this team - even I have the role of captain - my first-half play wasn't the caliber of a captain. So, I had to step it up and make a big play for my team."
Prep Charter 6 0 8 6 - 20
Germantown Academy 14 7 7 0 - 28
GA: Jimmy McAfee 52 pass from Kyle McCloskey ( Vince Capone kick)
PC: John Davis 47 pass from Mamud Dioubate (kick failed)
GA: Mike Gilmore 13 pass from McCloskey (Capone kick)
GA: McAfee 8 pass from McCloskey (Capone kick)
GA: McAfee 31 pass from McCloskey (Capone kick)
PC: Quadir Strothers 30 run (Dioubate run)
PC: Strothers 6 run (kick failed)
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