Chichester doesn’t match Robinson’s intensity in loss to Kennett

KENNETT SQUARE >> Myles Robinson didn’t want to rat out one of his boys, and ultimately blamed himself for moving too early on his would-be 80-yard touchdown run Friday night.

Kennett’s speedy senior tailback was whistled for illegal motion, which negated an impressive scoring scamper.

It’s all good, Robinson thought.

“I went on ‘Red-20’. I shouldn’t have ran,” he said. “Hey, mistakes happen.”

Good point. Kennett and Chichester combined for a whopping 27 penalties in Friday’s nonleague affair. Robinson and the Blue Demons rallied from a two-touchdown deficit to claim a 24-12 victory.

The diminutive Robinson would get a chance to redeem himself on that same possession in the third quarter.

Trailing by two points, the Blue Demons used 10 plays to march 80 yards down field and score the go-ahead touchdown, a nine-yard dash by Robinson, who totaled 122 yards on 23 carries.

“We were so focused before the game, and when they came out strong against us, we just kept our hopes up,” Robinson said. “I was talking to the guys, making sure they stayed focus because this was a winnable game that we knew we needed under our belt. We just kept that focus and intensity the whole game.”

While Robinson and quarterback Jake Dilcher (9-for-19, 215 yards, two TD passes) fueled the Kennett offense, its defense stymied Chichester the entire night. Save for a 13-yard pass connection from Andrew Rodriguez to Omar Smith, the Eagles struggled mightily with the ball in their possession. Chi was limited to 111 yards of total offense, including 78 through the air on 7 of 28 passing from Rodriguez. Smith had two catches for 33 yards, while Blaine Thompson had two receptions for 26 yards.

Chichester’s most productive rusher was Rodriguez, who gained 18 yards on six carries. It’s clear the team has potential on defense — middle linebacker Cody Profitt was a terror at times, and the secondary played very well — but the Eagles (1-1) have to show improvement on offense to compete. That’s not breaking news to coach Ryan Smith or his players.

“We can’t sleep on any team,” said Thompson, a defensive back who sparked the defense with an 89-yard pick-six in the first quarter to give Chichester a 6-0 advantage. “We have to always keep pushing, we have to start strong and finish strong. … Our defense gets tired, but that comes with giving up some big plays and being out there on the field most of the game. We have to work on the little things on offense, like blocking outside, because our run game is really strong.”

If it can get going …

“We have to establish the run game,” Ryan Smith said. “When we’re forced to throw … we’re not comfortable doing that. You have the stats. How many stinking times did we drop back (to throw)?”

Thirty-one times.

“Once we got out of what I feel we’re most comfortable doing, I feel like the whole game plan started to unravel.”

Kennett scored 24 unanswered points. Robinson hauled in a 61-yard pass from Dilcher to cut the deficit to 12-10 with 1:20 to play before halftime. After Robinson’s scoring run put the Blue Demons (1-1) ahead to stay, sophomore defensive back Mitchell Kosmara had two of three second-half interceptions by the Kennett defense. Drake McNamara’s 63-yard touchdown catch increased Kennett’s advantage to 24-12 with 22 seconds to go in the third quarter.

“I believe it was all on us tonight,” Omar Smith said. “We weren’t pushing it hard enough and we were missing our assignments. We can’t let that happen.”