Cheltenham rallied from a 28-14 deficit early in the second half to defeat Academy Park 43-42 in a wild District One 5A final, capturing the program’s first ever district title. Photos provided courtesy of Geanine Jamison. Check back for a gallery of photos.
#1-1 CHELTENHAM 43, #1-3 ACADEMY PARK 42
WYNCOTE – It was all or nothing.
With 16.4 seconds showing on the scoreboard clock, the visiting Knights – on the short end of a 43-42 score in Friday’s District One 5A title game – lined up for the two-point conversion. Make it, and they most likely win their fifth district crown in a decade. Come up short and the Panthers win their first ever.
All eyes were on Academy Park quarterback Barry Brown who easily scored on a two-point conversion earlier in the game, but instead, senior Glister Threadgill took the snap and was met immediately by defensive end Darren Bennett and several teammates, who stonewalled the senior running back short of the goal line.
The Panther faithful who packed the stands and sidelines could exhale at last. The 2019 District One 5A title – the program’s first ever - belonged to Cheltenham.
“This is destiny,” senior quarterback Adonis Hunter said. “I said earlier in the locker room – it reminds me of the Patriots and Eagles (in Super Bowl 52).
“We never won - all these years, we never won nothing, and it’s just destiny. It was meant for us to win this, and we went out and did it. I love my team, I love my coaches, I love the community of Cheltenham. This was for them. This is bigger than us.”
“Words can’t describe,” senior Nate Edwards said. “We haven’t done this ever in Cheltenham history. The last time we won even a league title my older brothers were here, so it’s amazing to see the competition, and us being the better team out of every Cheltenham team is amazing.”
“This is great,” senior TJ Harris said. “It’s great for us, great for the community. Cheltenham never won districts before, and our names are in the book for the first district championship. We’ve been working toward this the whole season.”
The Panthers’ final defensive stop capped a wild and crazy two-minute span that saw the two teams combine for 22 points, but the stage for the you-had-to-see-it-to-believe-it finish was set a lot earlier, thanks to a gutsy Panther comeback.
Cheltenham 43-42 over Academy Park to win District 1 5A title. pic.twitter.com/8xevfpcWYa
— SOLsports (@SOLsports) November 23, 2019
Cheltenham trailed 28-14 after the visiting Knights marched 63 yards on a drive that ate almost seven minutes off the clock to open the second half. The Panthers needed just 68 seconds to answer with a 59-yard touchdown drive of their own that included a defensive pass interference call and a 33-yard touchdown pass from Hunter to Sam Sykes.
After a rare three-and-out for the Knights, the Panthers were back in business. On the first play of the ensuing drive, Edwards caught a tipped pass for a nine-yard gain, and an 18-yard Hunter to Sykes connection took the ball to the Knights’ 15. The Panthers, benefitting from a personal foul call against the Knights, knotted the score when Hunter punched it in from the one. The two teams were deadlocked 28-28 with 10:58 remaining in regulation.
An adjustment that paid big dividends in the second half was going to a no-huddle offense that allowed the Panthers to develop a rhythm.
“We just checked at the line and did our best to kind of run away from the pressure, and we had some success,” Cheltenham coach Ryan Nase said. “We were calling most of our plays at the line of scrimmage. I call them, and Adonis checks with me.
“He makes sure everybody is on the same page and putting us in the right direction. He is very, very rarely – if ever – wrong. Those are things that people don’t see that really makes him even more important than just his play in the field.”
Another three-and-out for the Knights set the stage for another Cheltenham touchdown drive. This one – a 67-yard drive – featured a whole lot of Jamir Barnes as well as a huge 16-yard Hunter to Sidiqq Williams completion to the Knights’ 20-yard line on fourth-and-one.
“We came into halftime and told our line to lock in because they weren’t doing the job, but during the second half, they started to progress more and we started finding open holes,” Barnes said.
On a huge third-and-goal from the eight, Hunter took it outside, turned the corner and willed his way into the end zone, giving the Panthers a 35-28 lead with 5:05 remaining.
That lead turned out to be anything but secure, and the Knights answered with a 60-yard TD drive that was capped with Brown taking it in from seven yards out. He also was successful on the two-point conversion, and the Knights led 36-35 with 1:48 remaining.
The Panthers were down to their final drive, and it looked like it was going to stall on the Knights’ 42 after an incomplete pass on fourth-and-14. But they got a reprieve when the Knights were called for holding, and they capitalized. On fourth-and-four, Hunter found Barnes for a clutch seven-yard completion.
“I told coach Nase – put the ball in my hands,” Hunter said. “I tell everybody all the time – I want this more than anybody, I swear I do. I just want it so bad.
“Even when we scored and they kept scoring, I never gave up. I always kept my head. After the fourth-and-14, I thought the game was over and I was upset, but when we got the fourth-and-four, I just had to keep a level head and keep the guys ready.”
Another five-yard Hunter to Barnes pass took the Panthers to the Knights’ 25 where – on second-and-five - Barnes found TJ Harris in the middle of the field. The speedy wide receiver raced into the end zone.
“I just had a post, and the safety came down, and it was one-on-one – me and the corner,” Harris said.
Harris also made a leaping grab of Hunter’s pass for the successful two-point conversion and a 43-36 lead with 28.6 seconds remaining.
“I knew if I put it on him he would be wide open because nobody – and when I say nobody I mean nobody in the country can guard TJ Harris,” Hunter said.
“That was easy,” Harris said of the two-point conversion. “He throws it to me at practice like that – every practice.”
In a game filled with big plays galore, the two catches by Harris were game-savers.
“I don’t know what his stats were - he probably doesn’t have a ton of yards, but some of those catches he made – when you talk about somebody on offense or defense who just wants to go up and get a ball every time, I don’t know many guys who can go up like he can,” Nase said of Harris. “He did it a bunch of times today, and obviously to win the game at the end.”
The Panthers, according to their coach, were hardly newcomers when it came time to execute a two-minute drill.
“We’ve done it before,” Nase said. “We’ve practiced the two-minute (drill) twice a week, we have a plan, so we felt good. We have guys that can go get it.
“It’s just our job as coaches to make sure we’re spreading it around and giving them all the opportunities at the right time.”
Even with less than 30 seconds to play, the game was far from over.
The Panthers were assessed a double personal foul for excessive celebration after the Harris touchdown and kicked off from their own 12-yard line. An off-sides violation moved the ball back to the seven, setting the stage for an Academy Park TD on the short field when Brown connected with Malik Johnson from 17 yards out to make it a 43-42 game.
The Knights’ fate was sealed and Cheltenham’s spot in history was ensured when the Panthers’ defense delivered the stop on the two-point conversion.
“We never give up,” Hunter said. “We always fight, we trust each other, we keep going.
“Even when we were down 28-14, we always feel like we have a chance. We have so many great players – we always feel like we have a chance. If it was 35-0, I’m still telling everybody we have a chance.”
“It was amazing,” Edwards said. “We went in at half, we were down. Our coach gave us a pep talk, and we came out, and we had a better second half.
“Just staying in it – it was basically just a fight. They’re a great team. We had to prove that we’re better. Even if they go up – they swing at us, we swing back. We took the punches that came with it. We came back and won the game.”
“We always had that mindset to just never give up,” Barnes said. “We always depend on our team, we believed in our coaches, we believed in each other and never give up. We just had to keep our intensity. Intensity was what got us there.”
Cheltenham (13-1, 6-0 SOL) will take on District 3 champion Cocalico in next weekend’s PIAA 5A semifinal. Cocalico routed Cedar Crest 45-7 in Friday’s District 3 title game.
“This (win) feels great,” Hunter said. “We’re going to enjoy it tonight and maybe even enjoy it Saturday, but we have another game next week. It doesn’t stop. At this point, when we’re a game away from the state championship, why not go and get that one too. We’re back to work on Sunday.”
Academy Park 7-14-7-14 42
Cheltenham 7-7-7-22 43
Panther Pride – School spirit is alive and well at Cheltenham. Friday’s District One 5A title game was played in front of a sellout crowd, leaving some late-arriving fans literally out in the cold.
The Panthers’ student section was filled to overflowing and made its presence felt from start to finish.
“Just the intensity – I never played in a game like that before, and I could just feel that with the whole school backing us - we really played better with them backing us up,” senior Jamir Barnes said. “We made history tonight, and I just feel like it started back from December when we were practicing inside, going through walk-throughs and plays. Now it’s finally paying off.”
“Our fans are amazing,” Nate Edwards said. “We couldn’t have done it without them. They were a great part of this game, being loud, screaming defense. We love our fans and we want to keep it going as much as possible.”
Good to great – Listening to both the coach and players tell it - winning a district title was never a goal this season. Going from good to great definitely was.
“When we talked about what our goals were for 2019, we never talked about – we want to win Suburban One American, we want to win a district championship, we want to try and win a state championship,” coach Ryan Nase said. “Our motto all this year since last February has been to go from good to great.
“We never defined what greatness is. I don’t think it’s anybody’s job to tell you what you being great is. I told the kids – ‘Don’t ever let anybody try and take your greatness or tell you you’re not great. You define your own greatness, you define your own success.’
“The one thing nobody can ever take away from them – I’m going to be on Mr. (Suni) Blackwell that I want a district championship banner in that gym, and it ain’t ever coming down. We never really talked about championships or winning games. It was just being the best us that we can be. If our kids can take that beyond the field tonight into the rest of their lives, then I really did a good job as a coach.”
Friday’s district title – in Nase’s third year – put an exclamation point on a remarkable journey that began on a shaky note.
“Things didn’t go well for us that first year, but about halfway through the season – even though you’re 0-5, 0-6 and then 0-7, Adonis (Hunter) starts the last couple of games of the year, Nate Edwards finally comes back and starts the last couple games of the year,” Nase said. “Jamir was Jamir as a sophomore. You start to (see) some things from TJ (Harris). We had a really good group. It was bad, but we knew it was going to get better if we stayed the course and got the kids to buy in. People ask me all the time – what did you bring to change things? I think the only thing I brought was the kids trusted me.
“We don’t do anything super exotic. We know who we are, we do what we do. The kids trust me, I trust them, and we just go. To me, that’s been the biggest change and the coolest part of this turnaround.”
There’s no mistaking the fact that the Panthers bought into Nase’s philosophy.
“We really started from the bottom going from 2-8 to 8-4 and now to the district championship,” Barnes said. “We always believed in coach Nase when he said we would go from bad to good to great, and now we’re finally here.”
A district title that was on no one’s wish list has ensured this squad a spot in history.
“This was not our goal coming into the season – you could ask anybody that,” Harris said. “We came together, we have more chemistry.”
“To be quite honest, if anybody tells you our goal was a district championship at the beginning of the season, they’re a liar,” Hunter said. “Our first goal was to win the league – that’s what we wanted to do.”
Last year, the Panthers advanced to districts, defeating West Chester East 28-21 in the opening round but falling to eventual district champion Upper Dublin 27-0.
“We had an embarrassing loss in the second round last year, and we all talked about it,” Hunter said. “We didn’t want that feeling.
“Really, our goal was – we wanted to win the league and make it past where we got last year and see where we’d go from there, but when we got past the second and third round, you’re like – we might as well win it all.”
Penalties, lots of penalties – The unofficial count for penalties in Friday’s district title game was 29. Whether it was more or less, the bottom line is both sides were whistled for a ton of penalties.
With 16.4 seconds remaining in the first half, the Knights saw a 17-yard touchdown pass from Barry Brown to Malik Johnson waved off, thanks to an offensive pass interference call. Instead of going into halftime with a 28-14 lead, Academy Park led by just a touchdown at the intermission, 21-14. It was a call that loomed especially large when the Knights marched down the field for a touchdown on their opening drive of the second half.
Yellow flags were everywhere after TJ Harris hauled in an Adonis Hunter strike and took it 25 yards for a touchdown, capping a 62-yard scoring drive that took all of a minute and 20 seconds and gave the Panthers a 43-36 advantage. The Panthers were assessed a double personal foul for excessive celebration. Both were assessed on the ensuing kickoff along with an off-sides call.
“It was just dumb mistakes – got in our heads and thought it was over,” Harris said. “We really weren’t thinking.”
Nase, however, could not fault his players for being excited.
“It’s hard,” the Panthers’ coach said when asked about keeping his team’s emotions in check. “It’s the first district championship game in Cheltenham history. They’re excited.
“We’re playing a team that is aggressive, they’re fast – a lot like we are, so when you’re playing like that, it’s difficult to control your emotions. I thought we did a pretty good job.
“I thought we did a good job of using the snap count to our advantage. We were able to get a couple free first downs (on off-sides calls against the Knights). Really, other than the end of the game with the celebration, I thought we did an okay job, just okay job, of controlling our emotions.”
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