Tagged under: District 12, News, Playoffs
Anthony Franklin | December 8, 2022
Imhotep Charter Panthers
Head Coach Devon Johnson
Imhotep Charter is a small school in the Germantown section of Philadelphia. They don’t have a stadium on campus, they use the Germantown Supersite for home games, they don’t have their own practice facility, so they use the local recreation center field that has very little grass and not in the best of neighborhoods so at any given moment gunshots can be heard in the background in between coaches blowing their whistles. Despite those disadvantages the Panthers have become a powerhouse team in the state.
The Panthers are led by 3rd year HC in Devon Johnson who sports a 25-4 record while sporting a 10-1 post season record. His lone loss was a 17-14 OT loss in last year’s state championship game to Penn-Trafford. Gone from that 2021 team are stud defensive players like Enai White (Texas A&M), Maurice Beverly (West Chester), Giovante Graham (WCU), Keon Wylie (Penn State) and offensive stars Tre McCleod (Cheltenham) & Emir Stinette (Rutgers). As Associate Coach Cyril Woodland has stated plenty of times before, Tep doesn’t rebuild they reload. The Panthers reloaded this offseason with a great freshman class & brought over from Wood stud LB Semaj Bridgeman (Michigan commit) and after two early season non-league losses they’ve reeled off 9 straight wins including 4 shutouts and no team has scored more than 20 points on the Panthers this season. They’ve won with tough defense spearheaded by the defensive line lead by Jr. DT Jahsear Whittington (Pitt commit), So. DE Zahir Mathis, Jr. DT David Johnson and Sr. DL Mysir Mayo. The Panthers are relentless getting in the backfield tackling quarterbacks and ball carriers. The secondary is equally strong and deep led by Sr. S Rahmir Stewart (Nebraska, Jackson State, Maryland, Syracuse offers), and Jr. CB Kenny Woseley II (Cincinnati, Maryland, Jackson State, Stanford offers). Offensively they’re led by Jr. QB Mikal Davis, So. RB Jabree Coleman (Georgia commit), Sr. WR Corey Downing with Stewart filling in as the power back in the short yardage situations.
The Panthers tested themselves with 3 very tough non-league games to open the season, winning the opening game on the road over Bishop McDevitt. before falling at Archbishop Spalding (MD) by 7 and Malvern Prep by 4 points. They have given up only 88 points (7 points per game) while scoring 427 points (35.6 points per game). Quarterback Mikal Davis is a dual threat signal caller who has found success putting the ball in the air trusting his guys to come down with the ball which makes the offense dangerous coupled with a stingy defense. Jabree and Rahmir split the carries in the backfield fairly equally and are a potent 1-2 duo. The offensive line is huge and loves to impose their will in the running game which opens up the passing game later in the game when the defensive linemen aren’t as fresh and active.
The Panthers have had no trouble making the state title game as they’re preparing for their 8th appearance however, they’ve only come away victorious once back in 2015 in which they finished the season 15-0 with a resounding 40-3 win over Cathedral Prep. With many key contributors to last year’s runner up team now being key starters they look to bring back the trophy to 21st and Godfrey. They face a tough task at hand as they’ll play Pine-Richland (12-3) who has scored 455 points this season. The Panther’s defense has already played Upper Dubin which prior to their game had scored 476 points prior to their game and Tep was able to hold them to 14 points. The Panther’s defense is a dominant unit and will look to be the key cogs who secure a state championship and end their 4-game championship losing streak.
2022 Schedule
OVERALL
PCT
LEAGUE
PCT
HOME
AWAY
STREAK
10-2
0.833
2-0
1.000
7-0
3-2
W9
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