Sun Valley rebounds for decent effort in loss to Rustin

ASTON — West Chester Rustin’s season has been about taking care of business on Friday nights.

Sure, the Golden Knights may have had a couple of hiccups along the way, but Rustin has been nothing short of stellar for the majority of this campaign and continued that trend with a convincing 35-14 victory over Sun Valley Friday night at Dr. Wally Stadium.

“I’m really happy with the way they came out; we knew Sun Valley was going to come out loaded,” said Golden Knights coach Mike St. Clair, whose team improved to 6-2 overall and 4-0 in the Ches-Mont League American Division. “Sun Valley is a very tough team and they’re hard to play against. We were very lucky to hit those first couple of big plays and set the tone.”

Rustin established itself early in the game with a good balance of its ground game and its aerial attack. Michael Covert (103 yards, touchdown), Collin Hurley (39 yards), and Nick Madonna (141 yards, two total touchdowns) put in the work on the ground, while quarterback Will Pileggi comfortably directed the offense through the air.

“We have a lot of weapons in the backfield and some of the kids that should be touching the ball can’t get enough in there, just because there isn’t enough time,” St. Clair said. “They all block for each other, they run for each other; we’re a pretty tight family and it’s working pretty well.”

Pileggi, who turned in a very nice effort on the night by completing seven of 11 passes for 166 yards and three scores, hit tight end Sean Hopkins for a pair of superb, first-quarter touchdowns. Sun Valley had no answer for the senior tight end as Hopkins hauled in scoring receptions of 48 and 63 yards respectively.

“We practiced those two plays all week,” said Hopkins, who finished with four catches for 139 yards. “It was awesome (after he caught the ball on the touchdown plays), it was like I blacked out for a few seconds.”

As good as his offense was, St. Clair was equally as impressed with his defensive unit, which did a great job keeping Sun Valley star running back Julz Kelly (110 yards, two touchdowns) in check until late in the contest.

“The Kelly kid is one of the best backs around and you have to stop him and let the other guys hurt you,” St. Clair said. “Lucky enough, we were able to do that for the most part. My defensive guys just play tough all the time.”

PHOTO GALLERY: Rustin at Sun Valley

For Sun Valley, the aftermath of last week’s 101-6 defeat to Massillon Washington High (Ohio) appeared to have no ill effects. At times, the Vanguards executed and performed as if last week never happened, which is exactly how the players chose to approach the game.

When asked how the team was able to shake off last week’s game, linebacker/tight end Dan Nearey indicated that the Vanguards had already moved on and talked over how resilient the squad was in battling Rustin.

“It wasn’t a problem … it happens,” Nearey said. “I think it shows the heart of the team that last week we gave up over 100 and we came back this week, played tough, and held them to 14 in the first half.”

Kelly scored on touchdown runs of one and 54 yards respectively, but it was Dayon Belgrave who seemed to frustrate the Golden Knights the most. The senior wideout hauled in seven passes for 121 yards from quarterback Anthony Ellis (142 yards passing). It was the Vanguards’ defense, however, that really showed grit and tenacity.

“I think we put out a great effort,” Nearey said. “We made a couple of mistakes coverage wise, but I think we gave everything we had.”

The Vanguards defense, which regrouped in a really nice way after a tough first quarter, was led by Nearey and Chris Ricketti, who each had sacks.

“This is going to sound crazy, because they scored 35 points, but I think that is the best we played defensively all year,” said Vanguards coach Greg “Bubba” Bernhardt, whose team dropped to 3-6 overall and 0-4 in the Ches-Mont American. “(Rustin) hit the two big plays in the first half, but outside of that the kids battled and played a lot better. We still weren’t able to cut down on our mental lapses that gave them the big plays, but as a whole, we played a lot better defensively than we had been. Next week is basically the first round of the playoffs for us against Unionville. If we win, we should get in and Unionville is fighting for the same thing. They’re in the exact same boat that we are. I think our kids will come back ready to roll this week and we’ll come out and try to beat Unionville.”