Nov 5, 2014 6 min read

The connection between life and football is often found in the concept of teamwork and working for a common goal. Like football, life can come down to a game of inches.

Washington High School senior DeQuay Isbell learned that as a 7-year-old.

It was a typical summer day in Washington. On a day off from playing baseball, Isbell was with his brother Tommy Kelly. The two were crossing the street to meet Isbell’s father.

Tommy crossed first with Isbell trailing. Isbell got to the curb, looked both ways and the next thing he knew, a car was speeding toward him. Isbell jumped back, but the car clipped him.

His mother, Patricia Gordon, came running up the street to find her son on the ground. She rushed him to the hospital before the paramedics arrived. He broke the tibia and fibula in his right leg.

If he were a few more inches into the street, the result would have been different.

”I don’t know where the car came from,” Isbell said. “I tried to jump back, but I didn’t get out of the way in time. I didn’t know what was going on. It was scary.”

The injuries had no long term effects on Isbell. Over the past 11 years, he has grown into the latest in a long line of exceptional athletes at Wash High. As a junior last May, he was a member of the Prexies’ state championship 3,200-meter relay team.

In the days and weeks following the state title win, Isbell pondered his future. With football season approaching, his improving speed would not be enough to solidify a spot in Wash High’s starting lineup. Since he could remember, Isbell had been told of his mom’s athletic success and his brothers were multi-sport athletes. He played sparingly as a junior and wanted to get bigger and stronger to change that.

His brother, Jailyn Kelly, a sophomore at Youngstown State and former Observer-Reporter Elite 11 selection, is the starting inside linebacker for the Penguins and is fifth on the team with 53 tackles.

”Colleges look at what you can do in other sports,” Isbell said. “They want you to be versatile in different sports. I needed to show I was capable of handling pressure, not only in one sport, but more than that. I’ve always wanted to be the best at something. I just needed to go out and show people I could do more than run track.”

During the Prexies’ undefeated run this season, which will continue Friday night in the WPIAL Class AA quarterfinals against Apollo-Ridge, Isbell has become the athlete he envisioned on the football field.

A 6-2 wide receiver, defensive back and kick returner, the senior leads the team with 20 receptions for 600 yards, has rushed for 127 yards, intercepted five passes on defense and has scored a team-high 17 touchdowns.

It wasn’t long ago that Isbell arrived for the first day of preseason high school football camp. The coaches and upperclassmen simply knew him as Jailyn’s younger brother.

”I think he is a perfect model for this football team with his resiliency,” Wash High head coach Mike Bosnic said. “He started off like a little skinny bean pole. He kept working, kept working and you are seeing the result. Now, you’ve seen he’s evolved this year into one of the best athletes in the WPIAL.”

Isbell began his junior year hoping to make an impact for the Prexies, who finished the previous year as runner-up in WPIAL Class AA. It never came to fruition. Playing time was scarce, but he never became frustrated.

Working with assistant coaches Richie Barnes and Ken Evans, Isbell focused on learning the finer points of the game to become more than a track athlete attempting to play football.

”I just sat back and waited until my time came,” Isbell said. “It didn’t feel like it was going to come until my senior year so I waited, worked out and when I got my chance, I did what I could.”

He has exceeded expectations. In the Prexies’ two preseason scrimmages this year, Isbell turned short passes into long touchdowns, intercepted passes and was dynamic in the return game. It carried into the season.

Whenever Wash High needs a big play, Isbell uses his speed and a refined sense of the game to deliver for his teammates, who are aiming to reach Heinz Field for the second time in three years.

”He’s scored in so many different facets of the game and has made us so much better in so many different areas,” Bosnic said. “He’s returned punts, he’s returned kicks, he’s scored running the ball, he’s scored catching the ball. He’s not only added a new dimension to our team, but several dimensions.”

The kid who was inches from suffering a critical injury and entered high school with a dream of living up to his family’s lineage is ready for his latest challenge. Now, Isbell is gaining Division I interest. He made an official visit to Pitt and was a guest at the Sept. 27 game against Akron at Heinz Field.

”This season is really great because we all have our heads in the same spot,” Isbell said. “We aren’t the only team that wants to be No. 1. We go out every day and work hard. That’s what you have to do to be No. 1. That’s what we want.”