With Photo Gallery: Eastern Washtenaw Multicultural Academy football caps inaugural season undefeated

When the dust settled on Eastern Washtenaw Multicultural Academy’s 66-28 victory over the Michigan School for the Deaf on Thursday night at Saline Middle School, it capped the Chargers’ inaugural season as a football program.

More importantly, it secured the Chargers an outright Mid-Michigan 8-Man Football League title and preserved their perfect season, finishing 8-0 overall with a 4-0 league mark.

“To come out as a first-year team and be undefeated like we are, it’s a credit to the kids, they did a heck of a job,” said EWMA head coach Salem Furrha. “It was a pleasure to watch them develop, They did a great job to mesh and be cohesive like they did.”

That cohesiveness was clear from Thursday night’s opening kickoff, as the Chargers needed less than a minute to put the ball in the end zone, coming on a 15-yard touchdown run from Shadi Farha.

EMWA’s opening drive epitomized its season-long knack for putting up quick points -- the Chargers averaged 45.3 points a game - with a relentless rushing-attack.

“We don’t have as much size as we would want, but tough kids, we got heart,” said Shadi Farha, who finished with 126 rushing yards on the night. “Without the O-line I wouldn’t be able to run very far, so I give a lot of props to my O-line.”

The Chargers kept the pace throughout the half, scoring on consecutive touchdown passes from Yasser Farha to Junior Furrha and a 16-yard touchdown run from Fahid Alramlawi.

MSD, which revived its football program this fall after a 23-year hiatus, got a pair of touchdowns from Demetris Harris before EWMA countered with a string of scores, highlighted by a 66-yard touchdown pass from Yasser Farha to Charles Boyd to help the Chargers claim an eventual 54-22 halftime lead.

Holding commanding leads at the break was a reoccurring theme for EWMA in 2009, a fact the Chargers didn’t foresee.

“Coming into the year we were a little bit questionable,” admitted Shadi Farha.

“We knew we had some good players but we didn’t know what to expect to be honest,” added coach Salem Furrha, who started the year with 13 players and finished with 19 on the sidelines.

“As practice went along and the season went along, kids just came and added to the team. They saw success and wanted to be a part of it.”

In the second half, Boyd added to the Chargers' count with a 5-yard touchdown run in the third and a 90-yard scamper in the fourth, finishing the game with a team-high 178 yards and four touchdowns.

MSD punched in a touchdown in the waning seconds to round out the 66-28 tally.

“I think it’s been a great season for our first season,” reiterated coach Salem Furrha. “The kids enjoyed it; they’ve been a pleasure to work with. We have a lot of kids that love the game of football.”

With the 2009 season now in the rear view, the Chargers are looking ahead to 2010, when EWMA plans to jump to 11-man football and compete in Division 8.

Naturally, the yet-to-get-a-taste-of-losing EWMA players are champing at the bit to see what they can do with an 11-man squad next fall.

“I think we just have to bring the same intensity we brought this year to next year,” said junior fullback DaMein Clark.

Kaleb Roedel is a sports writer for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734)623-2562, e-mailed at kalebroedel@annarbor.com or followed on Twitter @KalebisReal.