By Todd Bradley, DCSportsFan.com
Special to MaxPreps.com
The return of Daryl Tilghman to the sideline of Roosevelt High School has given the varsity football team new life.
In their first game since falling just short of the DCIAA playoffs last season, the Rough Riders played four quarters of near perfect football, defeating Anacostia 51-0 in Northwest Washington Friday night. Tilghman and his staff have implemented new rules and regulations that each player must live by.
"We tried to let the guys know that you need to work to get things," Tilghman said. "We weren't going to give them anything. I think that's one of the misconceptions they've had the last couple of years; where [the players] just did what they wanted to do. I wanted them to understand that in order to wear that uniform they had to earn it. They had to work for it."
And they did. By the end of the first quarter, Roosevelt had built a 26-0 lead, which proved to be insurmountable for an Anacostia team that struggled to move the ball on offense and stop the ball on defense. Roosevelt running back Ronnie Speight had a career night offensively, scoring three touchdowns on the ground before capping off the evening with a 55-yard interception return for his fourth and final score of the night.
Speight's performance on the field wasn't too unusual, but the fact that it came just months after being kicked off the team is what made it so special.
"Ronnie and I didn't see eye to eye at the beginning of this year," Tilghman said. "As a matter of fact, I had put him off the team earlier this year. He was use to doing his own thing, and I told him that wasn't going to happen this year. He had to be a part of the team and not his own man."
Just months before, Speight had had gotten into a fight with his own teammate, which was the last straw with Tilghman. He forced Speight to go to summer school, improve his grades and get his life right before he was allowed to return to the football field. The time away from the team definitely made an impact on Speight, who was showed nothing but gratitude after Friday night's victory.
"I'm glad we got a new coach," Speight said. "He's more experienced, he's better and he doesn't show any favoritism."
Tilghman's impact, however, isn't limited to the star players. Obed Gomez, a 5-foot-4, 130-pound soccer player-turned-kicker, stole the show on Friday night. Playing in his first football game ever, Gomez knocked down three of four extra points and made an impressive open field tackle that sent the Roosevelt sideline into a frenzy and the crowd to its feet.
"He was in my P.E. class during the spring, and I noticed how hard he was kicking the ball," Tilghman said. "I asked him if he ever thought about playing football. The only thing he was scared of was trying to make a tackle...I thought. He's been hanging with Speight, so I think he's taken on his energy."
In addition to playing for the football team, Gomez also plays for Coolidge's varsity soccer team. He has soccer practice at 3 p.m. every day after school then goes to football practice at five.
"It's hard work, but I like football because it really makes me feel happy,” Gomez said. “All [my teammates] want me there and are really good to me, so it feels like I'm at home. At first I was kind of nervous, but then [my coaches] told me everything was going to be alright. I just did my best."
Gomez was mentored by a kicker from last year named Luis Gonzalez, one of Gomez's friends. Tilghman paired the two up during gym class and Gomez has flourished ever since.
"He's been a great athlete for me when he's in class," Tilghman said. "We paired him up with Luis and he started booting them out from 30 yards out. He's been doing a great job for us."
One player who had a relatively quiet evening was Darin Drakeford, a highly sought Division I prospect who currently holds scholarship offers from Duke, Maryland, Illinois, Michigan State, Pittsburgh and Syracuse, to name a few.
The 6-0, 215-pound tight end and linebacker had a sack and caught a 28-yard touchdown pass for the Rough Riders.
"Even when he doesn't have the ball he gets a lot of attention, which opens up things for the other guys," Tilghman said. "He's been a great team player. He hasn't pouted about not getting the ball, but when he does he's able to do something special."
Drakeford, Gomez, Speight and the rest of the Rough Riders will have their work cut out for them next weekend when they travel to Pennsylvania to take on Glen Mills High School. Anacostia will also hit the road as the Indians take on West Virginia's Brooke High School.