Angeline’s INT seals Downingtown East comeback
DOWNINGTOWN >> By no means was Downingtown East senior Cary Angeline where he was supposed to be.
Sometimes the great ones find greatness because their instincts to them there.
When Angeline ad-libbed his way from left defensive end spot to intercept of a fourth-and-11 pass from North Penn’s Reece Udinski on the East five-yard line, the University of Southern California recruit not only preserved a 28-24 non-league win over the visiting Knights, but etched yet another verse in his legendary Downingtown narrative.
East moved to 3-0 for the first time since 2012 after erasing two separate 14-point deficits in the first half, while holding the Knights to just three second-half points. Angeline’s pick with 10 seconds left was the lone turnover forced by the Cougars.
“(Angeline) kind of freelanced there a little bit, but I’ll never stop an athlete from being an athlete,” East coach Mike Matta said. “Big time players make big time plays and he showed why he’s going to USC.”
It was a frantic last minute, as North Penn (1-2) got to the East 12 with 42 seconds left. On 4th-and-12, East’s Jeremy Jennings was called for pass interference in the end zone, moving the ball to the seven. On the next play, a 4th-and-6, the Knights completed a pass for a touchdown, but an illegal shift negated the play, making it 4th-and-11.
Angeline took it from there. Playing defensive end on passing downs, Angeline dropped back into coverage, all the way on the other side of the field, and stepped in front of Udinski’s desperation throw.
“It was my job to jam the tight end and I saw him going to the other side so I kinda followed him,” Angeline said. “I got the ball and it’s an awesome feeling.”
Angeline also caught a five-yard touchdown pass from Saunders Healy, who completed 10-of-13 passes for 105 yards and two scores.
“I mean, if you have an athlete that’s six-foot-seven and has four-foot arms, he covers a lot of ground,” said Healy, who was hardly surprised at all that Angeline found his way to the ball.
Things could not have started worse for East, who fumbled the opening kickoff and gave the Knights a short field, which they converted to a 7-0 lead. On East’s next possession, a botched handoff led to a North Penn recovery at the Cougars’ 45. Three plays later the Knights were in the end zone again and it was 14-0 six minutes into the game.
“It was a bad first quarter and first half on both sides of the ball and special teams,” Matta said. “We were too jacked up and that’s partly the coaches fault. They were overexcited and made some mistakes, but instead of keeping their heads down they picked each other up.”
Jake Hanford got East on the board with a 10-yard TD reception off a screen pass from Healy, but North Penn pushed its lead back to 14, four plays into the second quarter. On a fourth-and-one, Nyfease West broke through for a 47-yard score for the Knights.
The Knights were 1-for-5 going for it on fourth down, while East converted once out of four tries. The one successful try was huge, as Noah Hahn pulled in a play action pass from Healy on fourth-and-one from the North Penn 30. The 29-yard play set up Healy’s quarterback sneak to tie the game at 21 on East’s first drive of the third quarter.
North Penn ran for 179 yards in the first half, while only attempting two passes. East tightened things up in the second half, holding the Knights to 113 yards on 19 carries and forcing Udinski to throw 21 passes, 14 of which were incomplete or intercepted.
Jack Kincade, meanwhile, got rolling behind the physical East offensive line, and tallied 96 of his 121 yards in the second half. Twenty-five of them came on the go-ahead touchdown late in the third.
“(Offensive coordinator Tom) Wolf always emphasizes tempo and we’ve worked hard since January,” Healy said. “Our physicality doesn’t drop from the first quarter to the fourth.”
Drew Brennan was 5-for-5 with touchbacks on kickoffs, and he also added punts of 61 and 48 yards.
“Someone needs to talk about Drew Brennan,” Matta said. “He flipped the field and made them start their drives at the 20. He’s an awesome football player.”
Matta has repeatedly stated he changed his team’s identity as a result of the 2005 District 1 Class AAAA final loss to North Penn. His team fell short to the Knights again in the playoffs in 2010, but on the third try, East finally proved to be the tougher team.
“That’s probably why were too geared up in the first half, but we’ve been waiting for this game since 2010,” Matta said. “To beat a team like this, a quality team, that’s pretty good.”
Downingtown East 28, North Penn 24
North Penn 14 7 3 0 —- 24
Downingtown East 7 7 14 0 — 28
Scoring
First Quarter
NP- Isabella 1 run (Bealer kick)
NP- Udinski 1 run (Bealer kick)
DE- Hanford 10 pass from Healy (Brennan kick)
Second Quarter
NP- West 47 run (Bealer kick)
DE- Angeline 5 pass from Healy (Brennan kick)
Third Quarter
DE- Healy 1 run (Brennan kick)
DE- Kincade 25 run (Brennan kick)
NP- 31 FG Bealer
TEAM STATISTICS
NP DE
First downs 14 10
Rush – yards 42-292 47-208
Passing yards 115 105
Total yards 407 313
Passing 9-23-1 10-13-0
Punts-Average 5-34.8 3-33.3
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 2-2
Penalties-Yards 8-44 3-23
