Imhotep Charter takes home PIAA Class 5A football state title: Pennsylvania high school football 2023 rewind

Mikal Davis accounted for four touchdowns as Imhotep Charter rolled to a win over Peters Township to win the 2023 PIAA Class 5A state championship

Imhotep Charter football players celebrate winning the 2023 PIAA Class 5A state championship over Peters Township. / Paul Burdick, SBLive Sports

As we get ready for the beginning of the 2024 Pennsylvania high school football season, we wanted to take a look back at 2023 to see how the season ended in each of the state’s six classes with a rewind recap of the state championship game.

In this edition, we will take a look at the 2023 PIAA Class 5A state championship game, which saw Imhotep Charter win the state title with a 38-13 win over Peters Township.

Imhotep Charter 38, Peters Township 13

Quarterback Mikal Davis made sure that Imhotep Charter would not sifffer the same fate they had each of the previous three times the Panthers had faced a team from the WPIAL in the PIAA state championship game.

Davis scored on the ground three times in the first half on runs of 1, 12 and 22 yards to help lead the Panthers to the state title.

"I just know my name was being called and I had to step up in big moments," Davis said. "But it wasn't a one man show, it was a team (effort), I love this team."

The highlight of the three runs was the 22-yarder, which was a called pass play. But when the protection finally broke down and nobody was open, Davis took off and made multiple defenders miss on his way to the end zone.

When Davis wasn't running through the Peters Township defense, he was passing over it. He completed 8-of-12 pass attempts for 184 yards and a 50-yard touchdown to Johann Hennigan in the fourth quarter.

Penn State running back commit Jabree Wallace-Coleman ran for 214 yards on 13 carries, including a 68-yard touchdown run in the third quarter when he broke through the line and ran away from everyone.

The Imhotep defense held Peters Township to just 152 yards of total offense, led by Jah'Sear Whittington, who had eight tackles and a pair of sacks.

Thomas Aspinall led the Peters Township offense with a pair of touchdown receptions.

Prior to 2023, the Panthers had lost to South Fayette (2013 - 2A), Penn-Trafford (2021 - 5A) and Pine-Richland (2022 - 5A) from the WPIAL in championship appearances.

That history led to a lot of talk on social media leading up to the state championship. and the players saw the chatter and the polls indicating that people expected Imhotep to be the team to lose the title game.

"We were 53 percent (to lose)," Davis said. "All my screensavers they have Peters Township to beat us 42-13. Nah, nah, that ain't us. They go at us but we take that on the chin and we just rock and roll."

2023 PIAA Class 5A state semifinal results

Imhotep Charter 42, Strath Haven 14
Peters Township 14, Cocalico 9

-- Ryan Isley  | ryan@scorebooklive.com | @sblivepa