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| Photo by Nate Heckenberger/ Coatesville's Daquan Worley turns the corner during Friday's District 1 Class AAAA playoff clash with Unionville. Worley rushed for 228 yards and a pair of scores in Coatesville's 38-21 win. |
By NATE HECKENBERGER
nateheckenberger@gmail.com
EAST MARLBOROUGH -- Early in the season Coatesville wanted to be a power running team, but as that was slow to develop, an explosive passing game was spawned, carrying the Red Raiders to an 8-2 record and trip to the playoffs.
As teams have been loading their secondaries in attempt to slow down Coatesville’s aerial attack, the Red Raiders have begun to reestablish themselves as a powerful running team. Friday, at No. 8 Unionville in the first round of the Class AAAA District 1 playoffs, No. 9 Coatesville may have figured out how to become a balanced powerhouse offense.
Daquan Worley ran for 149 of his 228 yards in the second half, and his two fourth-quarter touchdowns ended a valiant upset effort by the Indians, as Coatesville advanced with a 38-21 victory.
Coatesville was able to stay in the moment and take care of business in the first round. In doing so, it was rewarded with a home game in the second round after top-seeded Downingtown East let No. 16 Wissahickon pull off the upset on the road, and made the Trojans the Red Raiders’ next opponent, negating the much-anticipated rematch.
“We knew it would be a tough game, and Unionville played their butts off,” said Coatesville coach Matt Ortega. “I was proud that our kids came out of halftime and fought through adversity. (Unionville) was dropping eight to take away the pass and No. 4 (Worley) is a team football player. All year we haven’t called his number a lot, but we knew sometime we’d need him to win us a game and that happened (Friday night).”
A 42-0 Coatesville (9-2) win over Unionville (8-3) in Week five made many assume another blowout was in store. But the Indians had other ideas after an early interception by Isaiah Flamer set Coatesville up for its first score, a one-yard sneak by Emmett Hunt.
Unlike the first matchup, Unionville did not let the Red Raiders get rolling, stifling Hunt and the passing game, and the two teams went into half with the score 10-7, Coatesville.
“Our kids played with tremendous effort and “Coatesville” is a really good football team,” Unionville coach Pat Clark said. “They can beat you in a lot of ways. I thought our defense played well and kept us in it.”
Hunt cashed in on another one-yard quarterback sneak to open the second half, making it 17-7. Unionville was hurt by the loss of junior defensive lineman Mark Caputo, who was injured on his second defensive possession.
Tommy Pancoast rallied the Indians on their next drive, connecting with Patch Johnson on a 22-yard TD throw. Unionville forced a three-and-out and drove it to the Coatesville 32 when a fourth-and-10 may have swung the game.
On that fourth down play, Pancoast was forced to flee to his left when he launched a pass against his body towards the end zone. Johnson’s strong effort came up inches short, as the pass drifted just off his outstretched hand.
Worley took it from there, accumulating 50 yards on Coatesville’s 68-yard scoring drive, with the final five on Worley’s first TD run.
“It felt real good to feel like my team needed me and believed in me,” said Worley, who has rushed for over 200 yards in two of his last three games. “
After Unionville turned the ball over on downs its next drive, Worley rushed for 38 yards on two carries, the latter going for a 14-yard score to make it 31-14.
Pancoast connected with Johnson again for a TD on Unionville’s next drive, and the Indians recovered the onsides kick. But Tyler Burke picked off Pancoast three plays later, ending any comeback.
Pancoast ran for 70 yards, threw for 176 yards with three TDs and three interceptions, caught a pass for 13 yards and also intercepted Hunt. Pancoast finished his career with 1,674 passing yards and 20 TDs, and 2,021 rushing yards and 25 more scores.
“I don’t know if there’s a better two-way player in Chester County,” Clark said of Pancoast. “He played great and Patch Johnson and Tim Christopher all gave great efforts.”
Following Burke’s pick, Dre Boggs put the nail in the coffin with a 68-yard TD burst. Surprisingly, it was only Boggs’ third touch all game.
As updates from the Downigtown East game were announced through the speakers, Coatesville fans roared. While it may have been great theater to see the two teams square off again, the Red Raiders will surely welcome an 8-3 Trojans team that snuck into the playoffs on the final day.
“We’re not worried about who we play,” Worley said. “It’s just the next step... We go into games with the mindset that we’re the best and we do what we can do.”
Coatesville 38, Unionville 21
Coatesville 7 3 7 21 - 38
Unionville 0 7 7 7 - 21
Scoring
CV- Hunt 1 run (Bollenbach kick)
CV- Bollenbach 32 field goal
UV- Scargill 20 pass from Pancoast (A. Pechin kick)
CV- Hunt 1 run (Bollenbach kick)
UV- Johnson 22 pass from Pancoast (A. Pechin kick)
CV- Worley 5 run (Bollenbach kick)
CV- Worley 14 run (Bollenbach kick)
UV- Johnson 13 pass from Pancoast (A. Pechin kick)
CV- Boggs 68 run (Bollenbach kick)
Team Totals
CV UV
First downs 12 11
Yards rushing 321 75
Yards passing 82 199
Total yards 403 274
Passing 6-15-1 11-20-3
Fumbles-Lost 4-1 4-0
Penalties 4-31 3-16.5
Punts-Avg. 1-49 4-36.8
Individual Statistics
RUSHING - CV: Worley 21-228, 2 TDs; Boggs 3-83, TD; Hunt 8-9, 2 TDs; Flamer 1-1. UV: Pancoast 21-70; B. Pechin 9-28; Scargill 4-6; DiBaggio 3-0; A. Pechin 1-(-9); team 1-(-20).
PASSING - CV: Hunt 6-15-82, INT. UV: Pancoast 10-19-176, 3 TDs, 3 INTs; A. Pechin 1-1-13.
RECEIVING - CV: Jones 6-82. UV: Johnson 4-56, 2 TDs; Christopher 3-100; Scargill 1-20, TD; Pancoast 1-13; Barnes 1-6; B. Pechin 1-4.
SACKS: CV: Boykin .5; Suber .5. UV: Biggs
INTERCEPTIONS: CV: Flamer 2; Burke. UV: Pancoast.
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