A year ago, running back Alfonzo Graham helped Reginald Lewis to the best season in school history. On Friday afternoon, he sparked No. 9 Dunbar to at least a share of the Baltimore City Division I football championship.

The senior scored three straight touchdowns in the third quarter as the Poets broke a 6-6 halftime tie to beat Edmondson, 42-18, for the Ben Eaton Memorial Trophy, the third straight time Dunbar has claimed bragging rights in the rivalry. The only team unbeaten in Division I at 6-0, the Poets (7-1) would win the title outright with a win over Patterson in next week’s regular-season finale.

Graham conceded his team started slowly against the Red Storm (7-2), which also went into the game undefeated in the division and is now 5-1. He seized the momentum with his first touchdown, a 15-yard run that gave Dunbar the lead for good, 12-6, with 8:38 to go in the quarter.

“That set the tone for us to play our game, how we usually play our Dunbar football and keep working and keep pushing,” said Graham, who transferred during the last school year after coach Elwood Townsend left Lewis for Woodlawn.

The speedy 5-foot-9, 170-pound back intercepted Edmondson quarterback Teon Gardner on the next drive and raced 70 yards for his second touchdown. He added a 60-yard touchdown run with 1:24 left in the quarter. Deon Crews-Harris converted 2-point runs on both to push Dunbar’s lead to 28-6.

“Once he gets to the second level, he’s got a gear and you’re just not going to get him,” Edmondson coach Corey Johnson said of Graham. “First half, we were on him. We weren’t giving him any creases, any room, so I thought we were going to do that second half, but he found a couple and he was just gone. He just has another gear and with somebody like that, if you don’t bring him down at that initial line of scrimmage, you’re going to be in trouble a lot of times.”

Gardner had a hand in all three touchdowns for the Red Storm, scoring on a 7-yard run on the first drive of the fourth quarter. But the Poets answered with a 17-yard touchdown run by Crews-Harris and a 35-yard touchdown pass from Jared Lewis to Raekwon Walker to boost the lead to 42-12 with 4:15 left.

Gardner, who hit Deshawn Ruffin with a 25-yard touchdown pass to end the first half, tossed a 15-yarder to Justin Hawkins for the final score.

The Red Storm struggled with penalties and turned the ball over five times. They lost a touchdown to a penalty for an illegal man down field after Gardner hit Adrian Lindsey for what would have tied the game midway through the first quarter and prevented Edmondson from going ahead on their touchdown late in the first half. They also had a couple of nice catches where the receiver was just out of the end zone.

Crews-Harris recovered two fumbles and Bakari Mack recovered one while Malik McCormack also had an interception. The turnovers led directly to 22 Dunbar points.

The Red Storm, however, could not take advantage of any of Dunbar’s four turnovers, three of which were recovered by Malik Taylor, Jerome Butler and Lauron Taylor.

Dunbar coach Lawrence Smith blamed the turnovers — three in the second quarter — for holding back the offense.

“We knew we could do what we wanted to do offensively,” Smith said. “We just had to stop turning the ball over. We settled down at halftime. We knew we controlled the line of scrimmage and if we run our offense, keep executing, keep executing, we knew we would be fine.”

Lewis, the Poets senior quarterback, opened the game with a 40-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Wood in the first quarter. He also made a nice escape from pressure to hit Andre Brandon with a short pass that was turned into a 46-yard catch and run to set up Graham’s go-ahead third-quarter touchdown

The veteran Lewis said his team had a strong case of nerves early, but they settled down at halftime.

“At halftime, we came together as a team like brothers,” Lewis said. “It just showed. We were ready and we came out more calm and confident. That’s how we were able to put up all those points. It came from running, passing, defense. It was just a team win.”

The rivalry trophy was introduced in 2007 after then-Dunbar coach Ben Eaton died before the season. The Poets have won 11 of 13 rivalry games since then.

“It means a lot for me to keep it home,” Smith said. “Ben Eaton was my mentor. That’s my heart. There wouldn’t be no me if it wasn’t for him. He groomed me for this and that’s what I’m just so happy about.”

katherine.dunn@baltsun.com

twitter.com/kdunnsun