Junior Jordan Price had a good holiday, which started with him scoring five touchdowns against Boys Latin.
Jordan Price didn’t know who to hug first.
Price, a junior running back on the Frankford High School football team, wanted to celebrate with his teammates after the Pioneers downed Boys Latin, 41–34, in their season finale on Thanksgiving, but he also wanted to share the moment with his two biggest fans, his brother Jaden, 11, and sister Jiah, 10.
And everybody wanted to hug him because he was the true hero of the morning.
Price rushed for 242 yards and five touchdowns, as the Pioneers recovered from an early 8–0 deficit to down the Warriors, who came into their finale 9–2.
“I’ve had good games before, but I never scored five touchdowns,” said Price, whose longest run of the day was a 75-yard scamper.
“It was the line, definitely the line. They were the ones who were doing all the work. I just tried to run behind them.”
Following the game, Frankford celebrated its seniors, who drove the blocking sled one final time before they took off their Pioneer jersey for good.
And the good news for Frankford was there wasn’t a lot of them. Overall, the Pioneers lose eight seniors who contributed meaningful minutes, which means most of the team will be back next year.
Price is among them, and the win over Boys Latin gives the underclassmen motivation for getting back in the weight room after a little break.
“Today, we wanted to win for our seniors because it’s their day, it’s their last one,” Price said. “But I’m excited about next year. This year, when you’re a running back, a guy who gets a lot (of carries), you have to be a leader. That’s something I worked on. I knew they were going to be counting on me, so I wanted to make sure I was a guy they could look to for leadership.
“We had good senior leaders, too. But this makes me want to be that kind of player next year. I want to be one of the leaders.”
The leaders kept Frankford in the game against the Warriors.
Boys Latin led 16–12 at halftime, and then the Pioneers went on a run, scoring 29 of the next 35 points to take a 41–22 edge.
But Boys Latin wouldn’t go away, cutting the lead to 41–34 and driving the ball down to the Frankford one-yard line with 22 seconds to go. But the Pioneers forced a fumble, recovered and then took a knee to send the Warriors home.
“They played really hard, we knew they were good,” said Price, who attends Sankofa Freedom Academy, but plays at Frankford because his school doesn’t have a football team. “We wanted to win a Public League championship, but we didn’t, so we wanted to come out here and show everyone we’re good. We have a good team, and we’re going to be good next year, too.”
They have quite a game to build off.
This year, Price had strong games, but his final one was easily the best of the season.
That increases expectations.
“Today was a lot of fun, and I think it shows us what we can do when we play together,” Price said. “I’m really proud of what we did today. It’s going to make dinner a lot of fun, too, because my family was here and I know we’ll be talking about this.”
Price was happy the Pioneers’ offense came alive because, in the team’s Public League semifinal loss, they managed to score just three points in a 6–3 setback to Mastery Charter North.
What they did on Thanksgiving was a better snapshot of what the Pioneers can do, according to Price.
“I think we had a great offense,” said Price, who blocked on a 66-yard touchdown play when Roberto Falu found Dymear Brooks over the middle. “I love getting the ball, but it’s fun watching your teammates run down the field, especially when you know they’re taking it (for a touchdown). I was happy watching that.
“We can score a lot of different ways. Today, they were getting me the ball and everyone did their job. I did my job and that’s why we won, we all did what we’re supposed to do and we listened to our coaches.”
That’s exactly what Price plans on doing this offseason.
“I can’t wait for next year, we will have this to build off of,” Price said. “Today was great for the seniors and great for all of us. Now we have to get ready for next year.”
Prior to the game, Frankford honored former player and coach Mike Capriotti, who was celebrating his 50th season as a Pioneer. Capriotti handled the public address duties during the game.
