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UPPER DARBY >> Shaq Salahuddin was in middle school when he watched Odell Beckham’s one-handed circus catch against Dallas in 2014. Already drawn toward football, that exhilarating moment sealed it.
He’d plot a slightly different path than Beckham, landing on the line at Upper Darby. But the mentality of constantly battling for every inch, whether Beckham against a hapless cornerback or Salahuddin on a bull-rushing defensive tackle, remained the same.
“It takes that competition mindset,” Salahuddin said. “Even last year, I had a spot but I was still competing. It didn’t matter who you were. It was that competition mindset.”
Salahuddin and his linemates hope to model that mentality for a young Upper Darby team hoping to bounce back from a disappointing 2020.
Last year’s disruptions hit the Royals harder than most. They introduced a new coach in Dave Barr in January, then had to wait months to work with him in person until the pandemic relented in the summer.
A late-summer surge that originally canceled the season before the Central League reconsidered meant that the final push was a condensed, get-to-know-you sprint before games came thick and fast.
It predictably didn’t go well. The Royals went 2-4, scoring just six points in a three-game losing streak to open the season. They squeaked out wins over Lower Merion and Conestoga before a one-point setback to Penncrest.
The abbreviated season was better than nothing, keeping kids engaged in the program. It’s paid off this year, Barr said, with high turnout numbers and a robust freshman class. But the varsity experience was mixed.
“It was us just playing to play, so we could play football,” junior running back Montez Ellis said. “Now that we have a longer season and we’re practicing longer with each other, I feel like we’re going to do way better than what we did last year.”
The nexus of that improvement is on the line. Salahuddin anchors the offensive line with fellow senior Henry Davis. The defensive front is bolstered by Dorsey Shoultz and Julien Laventure, a wrestling All-Delco. All four can play on either side of the ball, though Barr will mix and match as conditions require.
In Salahuddin and Laventure in particular, the Royals have leaders eager to show the way to much more than just running lanes. Both players have a desire to do the dirty, inglorious work required to make a football team go.
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Upper Darby lineman Julien Laventure runs through a drill during practice last fall at
Memorial Field. The wrestling All-Delco returns to anchor a stout defensive line. (Pete Bannan/MediaNews Group)
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