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The Bok-Southern football game doesn’t count in the Public League standings. The result of realignment, the two South Philly squads are no longer divisional rivals, making the yearly contest at 11th and Bigler streets a non-league game between two neighborhood schools.
Bok entered the contest as the Public League’s AAA champs, simply playing for state playoff positioning. At 1-7 overall, the Southern Rams were playing for pride.
The Bok 20-0 victory is what spectators may remember, but it was the mutual display of respect the two teams showed afterward that made them both winners. Following the customary handshake, several Southern football players tapped Bok senior Nick Perrone on the shoulder to wish his squad good luck in the upcoming Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association AAA state tournament.
"Everyone thinks of Bok and Southern as rivals, but we see each other as one big football team," Perrone said. "We’ve got a lot of respect for them and they have a lot of respect for us."
Southern senior lineman Anthony Bouie attended Bok as a freshman and sophomore and played junior varsity football for the school. But Thursday, Bouie was ready to show his former teammates his Rams weren’t as bad as their record may indicate.
"I wanted to win because I love the game," he said.
WHAT THE FINAL score didn’t show is his Rams opened the game by driving the ball to the Bok 22-yard line – even though they walked away with zero points. The score also didn’t show Southern’s defense kept Bok out of the end zone until there was 4:32 remaining in the first half.
"It feels good," Bouie said of his team’s effort. "We know we are not a bad team. We just have to keep working and keep hustling."
Southern’s football coach was pleased with his team’s effort, calling it the Rams’ "best effort of the year."
"A lot of kids just took turns stepping up," he said. "I know there is no such thing as moral victories, but if there was, today was one."
Even though Bok won, Perrone said his team "didn’t play to the level we should’ve."
The Wildcats were coming off last week’s 14-0 win over Franklin, which earned the team the Public League’s AAA title. The Southern game happened to fall on the week between the district title match and the first round of the state tournament. It’s a game Bok could’ve easily overlooked being as there is a lot more on the line this week. However, running back Keith "Cadillac" Williams said that wasn’t the case.
"We knew we had to play Southern," he said. "We knew Southern would come at us hard because they wanted to win like we wanted to win."
Williams scored the game’s first touchdown on a seven-yard run and added a two-point conversion, making the score 8-0. He finished with 77 rushing yards. Senior quarterback James Jones scored a two-yard sneak, to make the score 14-0 at the half. Bok’s Luke Lassiter made the score 20-0 Bok on a three-yard run in the third quarter.
While the Wildcats prepare for tomorrow night’s state tournament play-in game against Unionville (see sidebar), the Rams will try and pick up a win against William Penn today at 2:20 p.m. Like Southern, William Penn is struggling with a 2-6 record. The Rams are looking for their first win since Sept. 9 when they defeated West Philly, 14-12.
"I think if we play William Penn like we played [against Bok], I think we will win that game," said junior running back-linebacker Steven Burroughs, who rushed for 30 yards against Bok.
Bouie shares the same positive outlook.
"We have to play the whole game and give it 110 percent," he said.
