Junior Tre'quan Nelson watched the Cardozo football team from afar last season after transferring into the Columbia Heights school, and it didn't take long to pick up on how the rest of the city viewed the Clerks. There had been one winning season since 2004 and they won just three games the past three years combined, including a 1-9 mark in 2015 that included a forfeit to start the season for not having enough players on the roster.
So it came as no surprise to Nelson when, “a lot of people thought we were going to be some trash this year,” he said this weekend.
Except few in the District realized a resurgence was brewing under all those setbacks. Coach Isiah Harris told Cardozo’s administration three years ago when he took the job that progress would be incremental because the situation needed more than a quick fix. After all, it has been 20 years since the Clerks last won a championship in football.
But off to their best start in more than a decade, Cardozo (3-0) is finally seeing the results of a long rebuild and suddenly looks like a contender in the D.C. Interscholastic Athletic Association Stripes division heading into a showdown with neighborhood rival Bell this week.
The Clerks scored at least 50 points for the second time in three games in a win over Phelps on Thursday, which comes on the heels of a 16-6 victory against Anacostia of the upper-tier DCIAA Stars division. Harris called that triumph two weeks ago "monumental" for a group of players that's gaining confidence after not enjoying much recent success.
“We don’t want people to always look at us as Cardozo who takes endless losses every year,” junior lineman Jamari Fancher said. “We’re tired of people taking us lightly.”
The transformation began off the field. Simply put, some of the Clerks’ contributors this year were already in school but ineligible to play football.
Harris knew academic success would eventually benefit him on the field, and so he instituted a mandatory one-hour study hall before practice every day upon becoming coach. The team's collective grade point average is 2.8 this fall after hovering near 2.0 previously because "people who had been struggling, we get a lot of help during study hall," junior Jose Quinteros said.
“It’s all spilling over and it’s all coming together,” added Harris, noting most of the roster had never even lifted weights before joining the team.
Nelson is the most prominent new addition. Though he came to Cardozo last year from Wilson , he sat out during the football season. He’s now making up for lost time.
Nelson has rushed for 444 yards and five touchdowns while averaging almost 15 yards per carry through three games. He is the playmaker Cardozo lacked in recent seasons, but he’s not the only weapon. Quarterback Kewaun Jenifer and Quinteros give the Clerks a trio of ball-carriers capable of moving the ball on the ground.
This resurrection, Fancher emphasized, is about much more than one player.
“Having [Nelson] is just the cherry on top. It’s the person who can make the big plays for us,” he said. “But at the same time, it’s everybody working together to help him get there. We’ve gotten to that point where we’re one of the teams people talk about, so it feels good.”
The Big number: 3
Shutouts produced by DCIAA football teams Thursday night as part of the opening week of league play. Wilson beat Dunbar, 43-0; Eastern defeated Anacostia, 50-0; and Theodore Roosevelt blanked Coolidge, 50-0.
D.C. player of the week
RB Teyonte McKenzie, Bell, Jr.
McKenzie looked a lot like his predecessor, recording-setting Bell tailback Charles Brooks, during a 63-31 win over McKinley Tech to open up DCIAA Stripes play. The 180-pound junior rushed for a career-high 257 yards and three touchdowns on 23 carries.
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