Bok wins Pub AAA title

LUKE LASSITER'S heart was nearly in his throat. And if the beat had been any stronger, it would have registered on the Richter scale.

Again and again one thought kept bouncing around in his mind . . .

"I didn't win this 3 years to lose it in my senior year."

By "this," he meant the Division AAA title in Public League football and what happened yesterday before 500 spirited spectators at 29th and Chalmers was what happened in 2004, '05 and '06. Well, it was and it wasn't.

Yes, Edward Bok Tech is again the champion and again will participate in roughly a month in the PIAA state playoffs as the District 12 representative. But this win against its major nemesis throughout the span, Ben Franklin, required the expenditure of much more effort and the overall circumstances were incredibly memorable.

Not only were the Wildcats forced to rally from a 14-0 deficit merely to assure the game would go into overtime. They then triumphed, 30-28, in two extra sessions!

"I've never been through something like that. Never," Lassiter said. "When it was over, I was just so happy. Tears were coming out of my eyes."

He wasn't alone.

As a desperation, off-balance pop-up conversion pass by Franklin's Tajidin McGough fell incomplete in a tangle of bodies at roughly the line of scrimmage, the Wildcats exploded in joy. Assorted Electrons could be spotted with hands on their helmets, their facemasks buried into the ground.

"I don't feel too much sympathy for them. That's how it goes," Lassiter said. "But as I told my teammates, we have to give them big respect. They gave us everything. Just the fact that it went to double OT tells you that."

The 5-8, 160-pound Lassiter finished with 25 carries for 162 yards despite suffering a ding to his left knee in the first quarter.

"It was hurting, but not that bad," he said. "I just had to keep telling myself to keep playing through it."

He scored a touchdown, on an 8-yard run, with 1:25 left that rallied Bok into a 14-14 tie. On that conversion, he was stopped by Chris Sturgis and Jamel "Redz" Haggins.

In the first OT, Franklin scored immediately on a 10-yard run by Sturgis (21-86) and the same guy added the two-pointer in surprisingly simple fashion. Darnell Goddard answered with a 1-yard sneak on third down and Lassiter made it 22-22.

Second OT: Lassiter collected eight more points on a 3-yard burst - stretching the ball over the goal line - and another easy-as-pie untouched dash to the left corner.

Franklin managed six-eighths of an answer in the form of a 1-yard, third-down sneak.

Just before the conversion, with the noise reaching incredible levels and many Franklin fans pressed against police barricades at the back edge of the sideline, Bok coach Tom DeFelice and defensive coordinator Vince Trombetta, Franklin's head coach in an earlier lifetime, waved onto the field Temple recruit Ryan Murray, a 6-6, 330-pounder who to this point of the game had played only offense.

McGough was unable to cleanly handle the snap. As McGough recovered, Murray was powering his way through the middle. From the ground, he grabbed McGough around his legs and forced the aforementioned pass that really had no chance.

Lassiter was watching from the sideline.

"Ryan did just what the coaches hoped he would," he said. "He's just so big. It's so hard to stop him."

Afterward, the words came gushing out of DeFelice.

"What a great day for the Public League!" he said. "Our kids were great and Franklin's were right there with them. True sportsmen. True warriors.

"How about Luke? Wasn't he tremendous? I told our kids at halftime to remain calm, that I thought we could move the ball. Then Luke was great. He showed his character."

Murray and guard Jamar Chase formed the left side of Bok's line and, like almost always, most of the plays went in that direction. The tying TD in regulation was a notable exception. Guard Anthony Rivers and tackle Leland Sledge made that one possible, with help (as earlier) from center Jeff Smith. Along with the element of surprise.

Franklin was sittin' pretty early, causing non-stop jubilation for a guy holding a sign that read, "The Bok Stops Here! Go Electrons!"

Tyron Carlton caught a punt and zoomed 87 yards for a TD just 3:45 into the game and 5:14 before halftime Sturgis raced 33 yards for a score. Much of the yardage-gobbling on that 12-play, 95-yard drive was done by Duane "Bam" Burrell (9-63).

But in the third quarter, Burrell and star lineman Lydell Boanes departed for Temple Hospital in the back of the same ambulance with what were feared to be broken left ankles.

Bok's first score came with 4:06 left in that session on Goddard's 1-yard burrow. The drive had to cover just 35 yards after Kendall Johnson partially smothered a punt. Lassiter immediately took care of the first 34 yards.

Though his play, of course, spoke volumes, this was not the first time yesterday that Lassiter represented Bok in fine fashion.

His day began at 8:30 in his former elementary school - Fell, at 9th and Oregon. Lassiter, DeFelice and two other Fell grads, defensive mainstays Terry Lee and Khaleem Williams, made an assembly appearance to talk up Bok to seventh- and eighth-graders.

"Coach did all the talking. I kept thinking about the game," Lassiter said, laughing. "It was nice to be part of that, though. I went to Fell from third to eighth grade. Good memories. I was talking to some of the kids afterward. I told them, 'I used to sit in the same seats you guys are in.' "

Yesterday, Lassiter saw his seat as being hot.

"I kept thinking how the game would be on my shoulders," he said. "If something goes wrong, you're thinking you're going to be the one to blame.

"Everybody was telling me to just stay calm. At school. In our locker room. On the bus ride. On the field before we got started . . . "

Afterward, he heard no such instruction.

All guys wearing blue and white were too busy expressing unabashed joy.

Bok's Starters as of 10/25

	OFFENSE			DEFENSE
TE	Monteze Guions		E	Terry Lee
T	Ryan Murray		T	Ryan Murray
G	Anthony Rivers		NG	Ackeem Clarke
C	Jeff Smith		T	Leland Sledge
G	Jamar Chase		E	Khaleem Williams
T	Leland Sledge		LB	Corey Curtis
SE	Troy Martin		LB	Daquon Johnson
QB	Darnell Goddard		CB	Kyle Williams
FB	Ackeem Clarke		CB	Kendall Johnson
HB	Luke Lassiter		S	Calvin Moultrie
FL	Corey Curtis		S	Brahkim Poole
Coach: Tom DeFelice
Assistants: Frank Natale, Vince Trombetta, Kyle
Benzio, Greg Frangipani, Lloyd Jenkins