Benjamin Franklin High School is located at Broad just north of Spring Garden. In 2011, only seventeen percent of the students scored proficient or better on their PSSAs. GreatSchool.com used that data to rate the school as a one out of ten.

That is not the whole story. Benjamin Franklin students are working to achieve good things. On the soccer field, they already are achieving.

Coach Robert Moore is himself a product of the Philadelphia School District and played for four years at Bodein High School. Now he is a teacher and the Dean of Discipline at Benjamin Franklin. In 2012, he noticed a lot of the English Second Language Learners, the Africans and the Hispanics, kept to themselves. He thought that soccer was something these kids had in common, and so he started a team.

2013 was Benjamin Franklin HS’s first year fielding a soccer team, taking the field in the C Division of the Public League. They beat team after team. Then they met similarly undefeated Kensington in the final regular season game. Kensington had home field advantage, and claimed a narrow 3-2 victory in a hard fought slog through the puddles and mud at Cione field. Still, Benjamin Franklin’s team could rejoice in placing second in the division, and earning promotion to the B Division along with a playoff berth.

Coach Robert Moore knew the team wasn’t ready for the playoffs, the C Division competition was too weak. He reached out to other teams, looking for tougher competition, but it was too late in the season and the stronger programs already had full schedules. His boys lost in their first game.

In 2014 he worked on his schedule earlier, getting his team ready for the tougher competition in B Division. The team played well in preseason. They faced traditional powerhouse Washington in a scrimmage, and unofficially won 4-3. In their first league game they hammered Masterman, which is having success with that game being its only loss. They went on to beat Archbishop McDevitt in a non-league game.

Then Nyuma Koleh, Benjamin Franklin’s star forward, who had seven goals in his first three matches had to get a minor surgery. The run of wins stopped when MaST made a late comeback. In their next game the Electrons were still missing their star. They lost again, this time a league game to E&S with a score of 3-2. Friday, a day later, Coach Moore had his team on the bus up to Fairless Hills, where they lost 3-0 to Conwell-Egan. The Electrons were realizing that Nyuma might not be back soon, and they would have to find a way to win without him.

Back in league play on Monday the Electrons faced Boys Latin. The teams when into halftime 2-2, but the game fitness from those extra games paid off, as the Electrons amped it up in the second half with four answered goals. Tuesday Ben Franklin scored six in the first half against FLC, effectively putting the game to bed, which ended at 7-2.

Mama Bah, who anchors the midfield, came from Father Judge so he has experience against tough competition. His experience and leadership are key for the team. In the wins against Boys Latin and FLC, Mama Bah had to roam forward and add goals to his ball winning and distributive duties, which he did to great effect, scoring five over the two games.

Yesterday, Nyuma Koleh rejoined the team, and scored five in an important match up with Frankford. His teammates got in on the act, for a 12-4 baseball style scoreline. The result is a big one for the Electrons, who have now shouldered their way into second place in the B Division.

Sources report that the team has a camaraderie that goes beyond the field, but they will want to take the brotherhood of soccer not just away from the field, but into the playoffs. And there’s every reason to expect that they will. They will face strong competition in Furness, but if they can keep the wins coming and claim one of those two B Division playoff spots, they may even beat an A Division side in the playoffs.