Terrance Taylor walked into Phillips with a lofty reputation. The 6-4, 215-pound defensive end transferred from Mount Carmel, where he had developed into one of the area’s standout defensive players.
The transition has been seamless.
“He’s an absolute true blessing,” Phillips coach Troy McAllister said. “He’s been great with our young players, a great leader. He’s a great young man with whole lot of character. Obviously his on field play speaks for itself. He’s just been dominant.”
Taylor was a force in Week 3 against Simeon with three sacks and a handful of batted down passes. The 6-4, 215-pound senior turned on his defensive prowess again on Saturday as the No. 4 Wildcats beat host Westinghouse 47-6.
Catholic League and Public League teams play in the same city, but have much different cultures and styles of play.
“There’s a lot more freedom at Phillips,” Taylor said. “I’m more free to actually speed rush. I find that pretty awesome. The Catholic League was more about power, run as hard as you can and you’ll make it three or four yards. In the Public League it is a lot more about speed. I’m trying to get off the tackle and make the sack as fast as I can. That’s the big difference.”
Taylor has scholarship offers from NIU, Toledo, Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan and Western Michigan.
“We are hoping to get him a Power Five offer,” McAllister said. “But he already has some pretty good schools involved. He has some great clips from the first three games to put out there for other schools to take a look and see. They’ll pull up his highlight film and see he’s pretty special.”
Quarterback J’Bore Gibbs had a big game for the Wildcats (4-0, 1-0 Illini Land of Lincoln). The senior was 10-for-15 passing for 183 yards, including a 51-yard touchdown pass to Jahleel Billingsley and a 47-yard touchdown pass to Fabian McCray.
Gibbs had 11 carries for 87 yards and two touchdowns. Billingsley finished with four catches for 79 yards and McCray had three receptions for 65 yards.
Westinghouse (3-1, 0-1) entered the game undefeated, but just couldn’t establish any offensive flow against Phillips. Only five of the Warriors 22 offensive plays resulted in positive yardage. The big one was a 74-yard touchdown pass from Sarell Booker to Tryvis Ousley in the third quarter.
