North Penn looks to ground Coatesville in District 1-6A semifinals

North Penn will try to advance to its 11th district final in the program’s history when the Knights host Coatesville in a District 1-6A Semifinal clash at Crawford Stadium.

Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

The top-seeded Knights come into this one a perfect 12-0, reaching this point by virtue of a 28-19 win over Spring-Ford a week ago and a 56-7 rout of Haverford.

The No. 4 Red Raiders (11-1) began the playoffs with a 42-0 shutout of Abington and followed that up with a 41-21 win over Ridley.

The Knights have been dominating opponents with a productive running game and an overwhelming passing attack. North Penn gained 153 yards on the ground last week and 331 through the air, jumping out to a 21-0 lead early.

Quarterback Reece Udinski went over 3,000 yards passing for the season last week and has completed 57 percent of his passes in two postseason games, throwing for 499 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions.

Wide receiver Ricky Johns made seven catches last week, averaging 28 yards per grab.

Udinski spread the ball around to five different receivers in all and running back Nick Dillon added 102 yards on the ground.

The final obstacle on the way to an 11th district final in the 15 seasons under coach Dick Beck is a Coatesville attack that has propelled a 10-game win streak, triggered by freshman quarterback Ricky Ortega.

The Red Raiders bring a high-tempo, spread attack to Crawford Stadium. Coatesville has not dropped a game since its 41-21 setback to Cumberland Valley back on Sept. 2 and has maintained balance in its offense with the running of sophomore Aaron Young.

Overall, North Penn is 3-2 against Coatesville, its last victory coming in the opening round of the 2013 playoffs (31-0). The Red Raiders’ most recent victory over the Knights came in 1993 (28-7).

The winner of this game advances to next week’s final, to take on the winner of the No. 3 Perkiomen Valley-No. 10 Garnet Valley matchup.