Forte accounts for 4 TDs as Kennett shuts out West Chester Henderson
KENNETT SQUARE >> Far too many times in the last few years, the zero on the scoreboard resided underneath Kennett High School’s name. For the first time in six years, that number was hung on an opponent,
Sam Forte accounted for four touchdowns as the Blue Demons blanked West Chester Henderson, 37-0, in a nonleague contest on a clear, crisp fall evening Friday, the first of three straight home games to end the season.
Kennett improved to 3-5, and achieved its first shutout since a 20-0 whitewashing of Twin Valley in 2012. The Blue Demons have two chances to earn their fourth win, which will be their highest total since that same year.
“That for me is one of the things you’re really, really excited for the young men to be a part of,” head coach Lance Frazier said. “It’s so tough to start in another program with another regime and another group of head coaches when they had the turnover that they’ve had and to accomplish something like this. I couldn’t be more happy for them.”
Kennett moved the ball the first time they had it, moving into Henderson territory, but the drive stalled and they turned the ball over on downs at the 32.
A three-and-out from Henderson and a short punt set the Blue Demons up at the Warriors 44. Quarterback Sam Forte hit Mitch Kosara for 30 yards down to the 14. Forte then scrambled in on the next play to go up 8-0.
On their next series, the Blue Demons drove again, helped by a 15-yard personal foul penalty on Henderson following a 17-yard pass to Rich Hughson. They finished the eight-play march with Forte hitting a wide-open Derrick Cox in the right flat. Cox waltzed in for the 8-yard score. A second straight two-point conversion made the score, 16-0, midway through the quarter.
“Henderson is a team that is very well coached on defense, that’s one of the things that jumped out when you watch them on film,” said Frazier. “What I’m proud of is offensively, we have been trying to find our idenity to be able to bounce back after turning the ball on downs, and that credit goes to our offensive coordinator, Ray Bias.”
Another punt from Henderson turned into a score as Kosara picked the bouncing pubnt on the run and weaved his way 55 yards into the end zone to bring the quarter to a rousing conclusion with Kennett having a 24-0 advantage.
“We talked about that this week,” Frazier said of the special teams score. “Special teams is something that was overlooked here in the past. We dedicated a tremendous amount of time to the special teams and the kicking game, and it finally paid off.”
The score remained 24-0 until midway in the fourth. Forte recorded his second rushing TD of the night, going in from the six to make it 30-0. The Warriors fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and Kennett closed out the scoring as Forte hit a diving Josh Ploenerin the back of the end zone for a 5-yard score.
Forte, who has opened the eyes of a lot of fans in the area, was impressive. He threw for 271 yards and two scores with no interceptions.
“We’re trying to make a playoff push, so it feels real good,” said the sophomore. “We have to keep it up against Oxford next week. Our line gave me a lot of time and our receivers got open, and it was easy to find them down the field. Credit to them.”
Henderson (0-8) was plagued by miscues, they lost two of five fumbles and was flagged for four personal foul penaltied.
The Blue Demons still have aspiratioons of reaching the District 1 Class 5A playoffs
“I feel like we have a big one next week,” said Frazier. “Our goal is to win out. It will have some playoff implications and we will have to be better than we were tonight to beat a good team like Oxford.”
It was also a second consecutive eye-opening performance by the Kennett defense, they limited the Warriors just two yards rushing in the second half and 192 total yards.
