West Chester East puts away impressive crosstown win over Rustin
It took two days, but West Chester East doesn’t mind. The Vikings are 3-0, after all.
The Vikings finished off an impressive 31-21 win over crosstown rival West Chester Rustin Saturday in the completion of a game that was halted due to lightning Friday night.
It was Rustin who opened the scoring Saturday, after going to bed Friday night in a 10-7 hole. Collin Hurley hauled in a 21-yard touchdown pass from Will Pileggi to give Rustin a 14-10 lead.
East’s Kyle Cichanowsky turned things around with a touchdown run before Rustin answered again to make it 21-17.
But from that point on, it was the Pierre Marchant show.
The senior running back, who ran one in from 15 yards out Friday night in the first half of the game, added a 1-yard touchdown run and a 33-yard touchdown run to ice things for the Vikings, who move to 3-0 with the win and sent the Golden Knights to 1-1.
Marchant finished with 144 rushing yards on 19 carries and the three touchdowns. Cichanowski had 15 carries for 149 yards and a touchdown.
As for the Friday night portion of the game, Rustin threatened on the 10th play of the game when senior safety Pat Quinn intercepted a pass at the East 35 yard line. But the Golden Knights failed to get a first down, and the ball went back to the Vikings.
Late in the first quarter, Rustin threatened again when junior running back Nick Madonna broke free for a 49-yard run to the East 28 yard line. But the drive stalled, and an attempted field goal was wide left.
Early in the second quarter, the Vikings drove 68 yards on eight plays, the big plays being a 29-yard pass from senior quarterback Ryan Cassidy to senior wide receiver Michael Gray, then a 22-yard pass from Cassidy to junior wide receiver John Wileczek on 3rd and 13. But the drive stalled at the Rustin 8-yard line, so senior Cormac Dooley booted a 25-yard field goal to give the Vikings a 3-0 lead.
After stopping Rustin on a three-and-out, East got field position at midfield on a partially blocked punt, then drove in for a touchdown. Marchant handled the ball for the last three plays of the drive, blasting up the middle on runs of 15, 12 and 15 yards to give East a 10-0 lead with 5:49 to go before halftime.
Rustin came right back for a quick touchdown. Senior running back Michael Covert made a long kickoff return to the East 45, then carried the ball for a 20-yard run (and carried a few defenders with him), then Pileggi hit Madonna down the right sideline for a 25-yard touchdown.
Three plays later, With East possessing the ball on first and 10 at the 50-yard line after a couple of solid runs by Cichanowsky, the game was delayed because of nearby lightning with 4:35 left in the second quarter. The East stadium was cleared, and after about an hour of waiting by fans in their cars and in the school gym, it was decided to resume the game at 2 p.m. Saturday.
