On the day West Philadelphia High's football team made marvelous history, so did Anthony Johnson.
We just can't be sure how much.
City records in some categories are not completely defined, but let's make a strong guess that not too many players have returned interceptions for touchdowns in the Public League and Catholic League.
Johnson, a 5-10 1/2, 185-pound senior, not only joined the club Friday . . . He had so much fun, he didn't limit his pick-sixes to one.
That's right. From his linebacker spot, Johnson scored on two interception returns - of 8 and 10 yards, 179 seconds apart sandwiching halftime - as visiting West blasted Ben Franklin, 40-13, in Public AAA, thus assuring what is only the school's second 6-0 start since the 1928 squad finished 9-0 in the midst of a 23-game winning streak. (The '84 Speedboys stormed to 8-0, then fell to Frankford in a playoff semifinal.)
When Johnson was asked whether he'd ever scored a touchdown in such fashion, he mentioned how he'd victimized Skyler Mornhinweg, now the star quarterback at St. Joseph's Prep.
In youth ball?
Nope. Turns out he's the same Anthony Johnson who last year played for Roman Catholic. The two parted company over the summer and Johnson enrolled at West because the school - in its splendid new building at 49th and Chestnut, site of the old West Catholic boys - is not too far from his home on Webster Street, near 60th.
"Hey, I'm from West Philly, born and raised, so I have a feel for being here at the neighborhood school," he said. "Roman was a great school and they give you all the help you could possibly need. Negative things shouldn't happen. But sometimes they do. You just have go forward and leap over the hurdles of adversity.
"I wasn't happy about leaving Roman, but West is treating me fine, too. They show the same love for the players."
He smiled. "Plus, West has girls."
Johnson's pick-six vs. The Prep covered about three-quarters of the field and came right before halftime last Nov. 6 in a Catholic AAAA semifinal.
He said he remembered coach Joe McCourt imploring his team to intercept the ball and run it back for a touchdown. And in this one, rookie coach Paul Noon barked out almost the exact same request 76 seconds before halftime after Johnson, briefly replacing starting quarterback Ricardo Streams in a WildSpeedboy formation, lost a fumble.
One big difference from 2010: Franklin would be starting the possession on its 5.
