By PETER DiGIOVANNI
cpn11716@comcast.net
CALN - A week after piling up 307 yards rushing against Downingtown East in an upset win, the Wissahickon football team felt pretty good about its chances of running the wing-T offense against Coatesville on Friday night in the second round of the Class AAAA District 1 playoffs.
But the stingy Coatesville defense stymied the Trojans at all turns, limiting them to just 42 yards of total offense in the first half and holding the visitors to zero points in the decisive first half as the ninth-seeded Red Raiders rolled into the district semifinals with a convincing 42-21 triumph.
Oh, by the way, Coatesville (10-2) got the usual superb offensive production from quarterback Emmett Hunt, who completed 11 of 15 passes for 154 yards and three touchdowns, running back Daquan Worley, who rushed for 70 yards and two scores.
“We are a total team and it doesn’t matter to me if we run or throw the football,” Worley said. “I like to get the football, but we can do a lot of things and we just do what the coaches tell us. It works either way and that is the most important thing.”
The Red Raiders scored first after stopping the Trojans (8-4) on a three-and-out to start the game. Behind the running of Worley, the Red Raiders marched 56 yards to set up a four-yard by plunge by the junior and an early 7-0 lead.
One play into the second quarter, Coatesville showed its quick strike abiltiy. After a Trojan punt, Hunt hit Chris Jones for a 55-yard touchdown for a 14-0 lead and Wissahickon knew they were in trouble.
But the turning point of the game may have come later in the quarter when Hunt fumbled the football on his own 15-yard line and the Trojans’ Joe Gorman recovered. On the next three plays Wissahickon went nowhere and then missed a 32-yard field goal.
“That was a big turning point in the game,” Coatesville linebacker Tyler Burke said. “We just watched a whole lot of film and do what the coaches tell us and fly to the ball. We say that nobody knows us (the defense) because our offense scores like 50 points every week, but we take a lot of pride in our defense.”
Pride is something the Red Raiders defense should have a lot of because the first-team defense held the Trojans to just seven points, with the Wissahickon starters scoring 14 points on the reserves.
Coatesville took advantage of the stop by going on an 11-play, 85-yard drive to make it a 21-0 halftime lead and the Trojans were done for the night and the season. The drive took over six minutes and showed the offense’s versatility. When Worley was not making yards on the ground, Hunt found Jones (seven catches for 95 yards and two TDs) for big gains. The drive was capped ended when Jones caught a nine-yard strike from Hunt in the corner of the end zone.
“We are a scary team right now, but we are not going to get big headed,” Hunt said. “We made it a goal since Monday to score the first time we had the ball and we did that because our defense shut them down on three plays to start the game. Everybody is doing their job right now for us but we have to keep working hard.”
Bruising fullback Dan Murphy plowed in from the one to break the shutout early in the third.
But Coatesville continued to dominate both lines of scrimmage in the second half as Burke, Mike Boykin and Steven Pawling completely shut down the Trojan running attack. The Red Raiders was simply too fast for the Wissahickon line and backs.
Burke even found time to haul a 16-yard scoring pass from Hunt late in the third and the game reached the mercy rule when Jason Totaram recoverd a Dave Stellato fumble in the end zone.
Coatesville will now host No. 13 Neshaminy, an 14-7 upset winner over Central Bucks South, next Friday at 7 p.m.
Head coach Matt Ortega could not be happier over the way his defense played Friday night.
“We watched a whole lot of film with the kids all week, me and my defensive coordiantor Tim Lucci,” Ortega said. “The kids are really comfortable in their reads and they are playing with a lot of confidence.”
Coatesville 42, Wissahickon 21
Wissahickon 0 0 7 14-21
Coatesville 7 14 14 7-42
Scoring
C-Worley 4 run (Bollenbach kick)
C-Jones 55 pass from Hunt (Bollenbach kick)
C-Jones 9 pass from Hunt (Bollenbach kick)
W-Murphy 1 run (Brunner kick)
C-Burke 16 pass from Hunt (Bollenbach kick)
C-Worley 3 run (Bollenbach kick)
C-Totaram fumble recovery in end zone (Bollenbvach kick)
W-Murphy 23 run (Brunner kick)
W-Stellato 29 run (Brunner kick)
Team Totals
W C
First downs 10 10
Yards rushing 152 87
Yards passing 59 156
Total yards 211 243
Passing 7-13-0 11-15-0
Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-1
Punts-avg 3-30.5 1-31.0
Penalties-yds 5-37 5-40
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Wis: Murphy 14-81, 2TD’s; Stellato 8-35, TD; Frankenfield 5-0; Smith 4-26. Coat: Worley 18-70, 2TD’s; Boggs 3-14; Jones 1-6; Hudson 2-2; Hunt 4 (-5).
Passing: Wis: Frankenfield 7-13-0 59 yards. Coat: Hunt 11-15-0 156 yards, 3TD’s.
Receiving: Wis: Smith 5-23; Stellato 2-36. Coat: Jones 7-95, 2TD’s; Burke 2-25, TD; Williams 1-11; Worley 1-25.
Sacks: Wis: Murphy, Coat: Burke.
Interceptions: Wis: None. Coat: None.
Follow Peter DiGiovanni at twitter.com/dlnsports.
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