Great Valley beats Kennett to lock up playoff spot

EAST WHITELAND >> Mark DeRobertis made sure there was going to be no upset on Great Valley’s senior night.
The junior running back accounted for 152-rushing yards en route to a 27-16 win over Kennett in Ches-Mont League American Division football action on Friday night.
After two-successful field goals by Patriots’ kicker Pat Sauer, Great Valley (4-2, 8-2) started converting its drives into touchdowns in the second quarter.
DeRobertis had two rushing touchdowns in the first half to propel the home team to a 20-0 lead midway through the second quarter.
“We usually do play well early, especially defensively“, Great Valley’s coach Dan Ellis said. “We didn’t end a few of those drives, we had to settle for those two field goals but I was happy the way we came out in the first 15 minutes of the game.”
Great Valley did not finish the rest of the nine minutes in the first half strong though. Facing a fourth and five from Great Valley’s 45-yard line, Kennett’s (1-5, 2-8) quarterback Mitch Kosara floated a ball up the right sideline to six-foot-two target Kerry Tomasetti. The tight hauled in the pass and dashed 45 yards to the endzone to get Kennett on the board.
“They give us all they can give us every week, “Kennett head coach Doug Langley said. “We had a freshman quarterback, a freshman fullback and a sophomore tailback, we are loaded with freshman and sophomores because we are riddled with injuries so it’s encouraging they did as well as they did.”
After a fumble a Great Valley fumble in its own territory; the Kosara-Tomasetti combination hooked up again, this time for 20 yards.
On its first possession of the second half Kennett added a 32 yard field goal by James Tuley to cut the deficit to 20-16.
Despite multiple fumbles in the second half, the Patriots put the game away after senior Zach Tillett scampered for a 35-yard touchdown run.
“The fumbles are something that I will take ownership as a coach,” Ellis said. “We have to do a better job securing the ball and that’s on us coaches to work that out in practice.”
Due to Interboro’s loss to Academy Park, Great Valley appears to be in line to host a first round, District 1 Class AAA playoff game next weekend. However it is not official until the seedings are announced on Sunday.
Great Valley 27, Kennett 16
Kennett    0    13    3    0    —    16
Great Valley    6    14    0    7    —    27
First Quarter
GV — Sauer 23 kick
GV — Sauer 25 kick
Second Quarter
GV — DeRobertis 3 run (Sauer kick)
GV — DeRobertis 1 run (Sauer kick)
K — Tomasetti 45 pass from Kosara (kick block)
K — Tomasetti 20 pass from Kosara (Tuley kick)
Third Quarter
K — Tuley 32 kick
Fourth Quarter
GV — Tillett 35 run (Sauer kick)
team statistics
    K    GV
First downs    13    19
Rushes-yards    21-71    33-284
Passing    17-24-1    8-18-0
Passing yards    184    95
Total yards    255    379
Punts    5-38.0    1-33
Fumbles-lost    0-0    4-4
Penalties-yards    5-40    4-30