The 43-Game Streak Nobody Was Supposed to Talk About
For nine seasons running, across three different Public League classification alignments, Tom DeFelice's Edward Bok Tech football teams did not lose a regular-season Public League game. Forty-three wins in a row. The longest Public League football winning streak in city history — a streak nobody talked about inside the Bok locker room because DeFelice refused to let them.
I never talked to the players about it. Never. I never wanted to put pressure on them.
A former star quarterback himself at West Catholic and then at Temple, DeFelice had built Bok into one of the hardest-to-beat programs in South Philadelphia. His staff was longtime and loyal. His players were tough and disciplined. The streak was a byproduct of the culture, not the objective.
The Streak Ends — Imhotep 28, Bok 6
The streak ended in 2008 at the South Philly Super Site, when Imhotep Charter beat Bok 28-6 in an AA Division game. Imhotep's Maurice Palmer ran 27 times for 131 yards and four touchdowns. Bok's Andre Frazier, DeFelice's two-year starting quarterback, had been unavailable for the entire season with an injury. So was his original backup. DeFelice knew the streak would be tough to sustain. Losing it stung anyway.
Like Charlie Guida liked to say, 'We had our turn in the barrel.' That's how it goes. At some point your turn's over.
Bok's only touchdown that afternoon came on Khalil Neal's 45-yard third-quarter run, long after the game was decided.
