Dedicated Eastern wins DCIAA Gravy Bowl over Bell, 33-13 By Joey LoMonaco November 22 at 8:47 PM Three times in the first quarter of Saturday's DCIAA Gravy Bowl, Jerome Johnson planted his blue cleats - the ones with the green tongues and a "J" scribbled on top of each foot - into the turf at Eastern and unleashed pinpoint passes downfield for touchdowns. Next to the sophomore quarterback's initials, the side of his footwear bore a more sobering inscription: "R. I. P. Hellvon." Johnson's four passing touchdowns and a 10-yard scoring scramble led the Ramblers to a 33-13 win over Bell, the latest achievement in a season the Ramblers dedicated to Hellvon Williams, the son of Eastern running backs coach Vincent Crowder, who died on Oct. 5 of complications from liver failure. Williams, a student at Eastern, was 16. At the time of Williams's death, the Ramblers were 0-4, cellar dwellers in the DCIAA Stripes division. They rallied around Crowder, adopting "HW" helmet stickers, chanting his name in team cheers and going on to win their next eight games. "It made us, every day, take value of life," said Johnson, who finished 9 for 22 for 231 yards on Saturday. You have to go hard every time you have a chance to. The Ramblers advance to play Sidwell Friends in the D.C. State Athletic Association's Class A final Nov. 29 at Catholic. Bell's season ends at 9-3. Eastern's defense focused on Bell running back Charles Brooks all evening. Brooks, who entered the weekend as the area's second-leading rusher, finished with 30 carries for 91 yards and a fourth-quarter touchdown. "They have other good guys on their team, but you know what their scheme is," said junior John Johnson, who snagged a one-handed interception. Their scheme is to give it to Charles Brooks so he can go all the way. Our scheme was to block him from going out to the edges because he's got speed. So, that's all we did. We contained the outside. Dajuan Green caught two touchdowns, including a 69-yarder on the Ramblers" first play from scrimmage. Eastern (8-4) jumped to a 33-7 lead by halftime and carried the same advantage into the fourth quarter. As the clock wound down, Eastern players doused Coach Jason Strickland with a water cooler and pursued his assistants with green water bottles rigged as makeshift squirt guns. After the final whistle, Mayor Vincent Gray strode toward midfield to deliver a championship trophy and individual medals. As he did so, Crowder struggled to fight back tears. "We didn't know what to expect when Hellvon passed, but after that I got call after call saying they wanted to dedicate the season to him," Crowder said. And they did.