In the first decade of this century, there might not have been a more successful high school football team in Virginia than Phoebus.

Now Pitt commit Jordan Bass is hoping to make the Phantoms the most successful team in the 2020’s, too.

From 2001-11, the school in Hampton won seven Division 5 state championships, including an incredible four-year run from 2008-11 when Phoebus won 52 consecutive games and four state titles. The run ended there, but that doesn’t mean the Phantoms fell off. Over the next nine seasons, the Phantoms went 95-18 and only had two seasons with more than two losses.

They were still among the best teams in the state, but they couldn’t quite capture gold again.

Until last season.

With Bass and his teammates leading the way, Phoebus went 14-1 - their only loss was to Oscar Smith, a bigger school with its similar history of success - and won a state title for the first time in 10 years.

The only way to follow a championship is by repeating it, and so far, the Phantoms are well on their way, sitting at 6-0 with four games left in the regular season.

“We don’t feel pressure; it’s more of doing what we’ve been doing,” Bass told Panther-Lair.co. “We just have do the same thing we did last year and just keep working. We have a target on our back and we love that. Every game has been more intense than last year because everybody wants to beat us. For every team, it’s the game that can turn their season around.”

So far, no other team has been able to do it. Phoebus has allowed six total points in six games while averaging 32.2 points per game on offense (although, really, the Phantoms are averaging 38.6 points per game, since one of their wins came via scoreless forfeit).

Bass is going to Pitt to play linebacker, but he has been excelling on both sides of the ball this season. He has caught 16 passes for 407 yards and eight touchdowns, and he’s got two more rushing touchdowns on three carries. He also has three more scores from kickoff returns (one) and interceptions (two). And he’s still excelling on defense, with 34 tackles, six tackles for loss and three total picks.

And yet, Bass thinks his production is down.

“In games and on film, teams are definitely keying on me. I can feel it,” he said. “I tell the coaches what I see and they adjust, they use me to set other people up.

“I don’t have as many tackles as last year. I probably had 50 or 60 tackles last year at this point, but not too many teams are running at me this year, so I have to be an athlete and make plays.”

Because teams are always aware of where Bass is on the field, his responsibilities and duties are a bit different from the typical defender. He plays a “rover” safety position and occasionally lines up at outside linebacker, but he’s always on the move.

“On some coverages, I’ll have different responsibilities, like I’ll play some cover-2 or cover-3 or I’ll cover the deep half, and then sometimes everybody else is locked in , so I’m a free man and I just go out and make plays.

“That’s what happened on one of my interceptions. They wanted to go man for the last play of the quarter, so we did and I didn’t have anybody, so I just let everybody go and told coach I was going to be a free man and made a pick.

“There’s a whole process for something like that before you even get to watching the quarterback. I have to watch the line for the read, make sure there is nothing across my face or behind me and let the safety know if it’s behind me. Then after that, I can take a glance at the quarterback, but I have to use all of that information to read it. It sounds like a lot but it’s natural because I’ve done it for so long. It’s my instincts now.”

Those instincts are a big part of what made the Pitt coaches prioritize the 6’4” 211-pound linebacker prospect as a target in the 2023 recruiting class. He committed during his official visit in June but kept it quiet until Sept. 1, when he made the decision public just before his season opener. Since then, he has maintained regular contact with head coach Pat Narduzzi, linebackers coach Ryan Manalac, assistant linebackers coach Mickey Jacobs and defensive coordinator Randy Bates.

“On my official visit, what really made me think that Pitt was the school was when I had my meeting with Coach Bates,” Bass said. "He gave me a full PowerPoint how other schools in the same conference compared to Pitt, and I was like, ‘Well, he just pulled out the numbers and you can’t say no to this.’ Right after that, I met with Coach Manalac for a second time and we were watching film and he put my film on the screen to compare my athleticism and how it would fit in their defense. Then he let me draw up some defenses on the board, and that just showed me that they were paying attention to detail. Some people can’t draw a defense and they wanted to see if I could do it. They were quizzing me and that really impressed me.”

Bass has also been impressed with what he has seen from Pitt this season.

“I caught the back end of most games. Their games are at the same time as mine, so I can usually watch the end of the fourth quarter. I definitely watched the Backyard Brawl. I would have loved to play that game. I love that adrenaline rush, that atmosphere and that energy.

I was watching the defense and how they react to the play the offense ran and thought about what would I do in my position.

“They never quit, they always had heart and they never laid down when the game got tough. The energy in the atmosphere, you can tell that energy was a lot of pressure but they kept their composure and played.”

Now Bass is looking to keep his composure under pressure. Phoebus has four regular-season games and potentially five postseason games on tap as the Phantoms work for a back-to-back title. The school’s history of success inspires Bass, who draws on personal inspiration as well. It’s right there in his jersey number:

5

“My uncle wore 3 and he passed away, sadly. Then my dad wore 4 after him. Once I saw that, I said I have to wear 5. And my birthday is May 5, 2005, so it’s straight 5’s.”