 |
| Photo by Nate Heckenberger/ Coatesville's Daquan Worley carries during Friday's win over Downingtown West. |
nateheckenberger@gmail.com
DOWNINGTOWN -- At this point, teams around District 1 might stop checking the playoff standings to see who they’re playing in exchange for making sure they’re not playing Coatesville.
Teams that commit 17 penalties for 144 yards and turn the ball over twice in a game don’t typically come out the victor. Coatesville is not your typical team right now. Not only did they overcome all those handicaps, but the Red Raiders dropped 52 points and 563 yards on host Downingtown West.
Emmett Hunt threw for a career-high 317 yards and four touchdowns -- and his first career interception -- and Daquan Worley ran for 203 yards and a pair of scores as the Red Raiders sprinted closer to their third straight playoff appearance with a 52-20 win over the Whippets.
“We’re not adding new things each week on offense,” Coatesville coach Matt Ortega said. “Maybe a few things here or there, but mostly we’re just running our offense. Part of having a good offense is getting better fundamentally every week. We’ve been doing that and it’s been working.”
Coatesville moves to 7-2 overall and 4-1 in the Ches-Mont National, and if you got to Kottmeyer Stadium late you probably missed the start of the fireworks. On the second play from scrimmage, Hunt threw a swing pass to Dre Boggs, who blasted past the defense for a 72-yard score.
Chris Jones set the Red Raiders up with good field position their next possession with a 56-yard punt return to the West 38. On the sixth play, Worley dashed 11 yards for a TD.
As much as the offense wows the crowd, Coatesville has one of the area’s most reliable kickers in Jon Bollenbach, special teams that made plays Friday night and a starting defense that’s allowed five TDs in the past 20 quarters.
“Our defense played very, very well,” Ortega said. “(West) had one good drive and then had a short field in the second quarter. Our special teams are getting better every week, and that was the first time we lined up to punt in four weeks. I’m happy with all three phases.”
Those aforementioned penalties definitely hurt Coatesville’s cause at times. On its third drive of the game a Worley touchdown run was called back due to holding. After a delay of game made it first-and-35 from the West 38, Kyle Goodrich picked off Hunt at the goal line. It was Hunt’s first interception in 134 career attempts.
“I knew it was gonna happen sometime,” said Hunt, who now has 1,961 yards and 28 TDs this season. “Everyone kept talking about it and the papers kept writing about it, so I knew it was gonna happen. I just had to bounce back and coach said it showed my competitive side.”
The Whippets (3-2, 6-3) took advantage, surging the ball towards midfield before Tino Bunhu broke free on a trap for a 52-yard run to paydirt. Bunhu had 132 yards and all three TDs.
The Red Raiders wasted no time with a counter. After three straight run plays, Hunt fired a pass downfield, but the ball batted backwards, right into the hands of Boggs who outran the defense for a 61-yard score. But Boggs was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on his way into the end zone, so the ball was brought back to the West 28.
Three plays later Boggs took a sweep 15 yards to erase his mistake and put the Red Raiders up 14.
On Coatesville’s next possession Hunt was tackled while trying to punt, and Bunhu scored minutes later.
“On our end, we find ourselves down 14-0 in a heartbeat, similarly to last week (against Downingtown East),” Milano said. “We scramble back to 21-14 and it looks like we’re battling.”
A snap that hit a running back in motion on West’s next series led to a 31-yard TD pass from Hunt to Jones, which followed another Boggs’ score that was called back due to a flag.
West was unable to run enough clock on its next possession, as Hunt connected with Boggs on a 44-yard pass to the Whippets’ four. A facemask penalty tacked on two yards, but also allowed the Red Raiders one final play as the half can’t end on a defensive penalty. Hunt capitalized, hitting Vinnie Williams to make it 38-14.
“(West) was very aggressive, and we started running some play action when they moved their linebackers up,” Hunt said. “We hit some stuff and turned it up. And when we turn it up I don’t think anyone can stick with us.”
The Whippets sure couldn’t, as Worley wore down them down and scored his second in the third. Jones also added another TD -- his area-high 14th this season.
“Obviously they’re very talented and well-coached,” Milano said. “They have a great mix of size and speed. With Worley, we didn’t know what kind of back he was because they haven’t run the ball much, but we couldn’t tackle him.”
Worley bested his previous career-high of 103 yards on Oct. 12. Boggs, meanwhile, has touched the ball 48 times offensively for 886 yards, averaging 18.5 yards a pop.
The Red Raiders host Avon Grove (1-4, 1-8) and have a good shot at a home playoff game the following week with a win. West has to beat Shanahan on the road next Saturday and hope it gets enough power points to slide in at the bottom of the playoff field.
Coatesville 52, Downingtown West 20
Coatesville 21 17 7 7 - 52
Downingtown West 7 7 0 6 - 20
First Quarter
CV- Boggs 72 pass from Hunt (Bollenbach kick)
CV- Worley 11 run (Bollenbach kick)
DTW- Bunhu 52 run (Caruso kick)
CV- Boggs 15 run (Bollenbach kick)
DTW- Bunhu 9 run (Caruso kick)
CV- Bollenbach 20 field goal
CV- Jones 31 pass from Hunt (Bollenbach kick)
CV- Williams 2 pass from Hunt (Bollenbach kick)
CV-Worley 4 run (Bollenbach kick)
CV- Jones 13 pass from Hunt (Bollenbach kick)
DTW- Bunhu 6 run (Caruso kick)
TEAM STATISTICS
CV DTW
First downs 14 13
Rushes-Yards 246 207
Passing yards 317 83
Total yards 563 290
Passing 16-21-1 10-13-0
Punts-Average 0-0 6-34
Fumbles-Lost 2-2 2-1
Penalties-Yards 17-144 7-62
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing: CV- Worley 18-203, 2 TDs; Boggs 3-38, TD; Clark 5-11; Baynard 1-5; Flamer 2-2; Hunt 4-(-13). DTW- Bunhu 13-132, 3 TDs; Meleski 10-43; Sauder 2-16; Pagel 6-12; Tinson 2-5; Fiore 1-1; team 1-0; Egan 2-(-1); McNulty 1-(-1).
Passing: CV- Hunt 16-21-317, 4 TDs, INT. DTW- Pagel 7-10-44; Harlow 3-3-39.
Receiving: CV- Jones 7-115, 2 TDs; Boggs 4-168, TD; Williams 3-19, TD; Worley 1-11; Stocker 1-4. DTW- Varano 3-18; Meleski 3-16; Fiore 2-37; Bunhu 1-10; Boyer 1-2.
SACKS: CV- Boykin, Leslie, Levan. DTW: Nanni, Perelli.
INTERCEPTIONS: CV- none. DTW- Goodrich.
No comments:
Post a Comment