Coatesville stays perfect as Young breaks century mark

CALN —If anything was learned, or even reaffirmed, at Coatesville Friday evening, it’s that defeating the Red Raiders requires perfection, at least in the Ches-Mont League.

Coatesville, meanwhile, can afford imperfect play with the stable of playmakers to erase mistakes in the blink of an eye.

Downingtown East did something Friday that no other team had done this season when it took a touchdown lead in the first quarter. But thanks to a few fatal mistakes by the Cougars, Coatesville bounced back in dramatic fashion to win, 42-7, in the regular season finale.

The win gave Coatesville it’s second 10-0 regular season since 2014 and third straight Ches-Mont National Division title as it heads into the first round of the District 1-6A playoffs next Friday.

It was a banner night for Coatesville senior, Aaron Young, who’s five touchdowns gave him 101 for his career, but it was his quarterback, Ricky Ortega, who got East’s coach Mike Matta’s praise.

“Number one (Ortega) is too good,” Matta said. “He’s the difference. We played really well outside of about seven plays. We had No. 1 pinned a couple times and he made stuff out of nothing. He’s one of the best I’ve ever seen.”

The Cougars (4-2 division, 8-2 overall) will be back in the postseason as well and started the game as well as anyone has against Coatesville in a few years. They used a 17-play, 92 yard drive to take a 7-0 lead on the back of Zach Hamilton’s one-yard run.

“It made you get a little nervous, but we knew once we got it back to 7-7 we’d be OK,” Coatesville coach Matt Ortega said. “It’s the sign of our team leadership that we came back after that drive. We needed that (test) because we’re going to get that the next couple weeks.”

On Coatesville’s next offensive play, Dapree Bryant raced 15 yards but was stripped. East recovered but the defender’s leg was out of bounds and the Red Raiders kept possession.

It was that kind of night for the Cougars, who forced a punt but reciprocated with a 12-yard punt to its own 22 on their next drive. 

After Coatesville took over, two East defenders collided going for a potential interception. Offensive pass interference was called, regardless, making it second-and-goal from the 28, but Ricky Ortega connected with Young for a TD the next play.

“Our team is full of playmakers,” Young said. “Our O-line makes us go and they deserve the credit for blocking and doing their job.”

East fumbled on its next offensive play at its own 17 and two plays later Young took another pass from Ortega to the end zone.

The Cougars, who lost only five fumbles all season, coughed up again on their next drive and just like that, a promising first quarter dissolved into a 21-7 halftime deficit after Young scored on the ensuing drive.

Coatesville’s average starting field position in the first half was the East 44, while the Cougars, thanks to the kickoffs by Than Hylen, began their drives at their own 14, on average.

“Hats off to Downingtown East, they came out and played well,” said Matt Ortega, whose team is plus-19 in turnover ratio. “We created turnovers like we’ve been doing all year and our defense gave our offense a chance to make the plays we needed.”

After the 92-yard drive to open the game, East could only muster 97 yards on 45 plays the rest of the way. 

Coatesville, again, was not perfect, with 10 penalties, but even a third-and-31 was no problem when Young raced 75 yards for the final score of the night.

Young finished with 129 rush yards on 10 carries to put him seven shy of 1,000 this season, and 56 shy of 5,000 for his career.

“It’s a huge number for me,” Young said of reaching 100 career TDs. “There’s still a lot to go and I’m ready for the team accomplishments instead of personal stats.”

Ortega is next to hit the century mark, as the junior now has 97 career TD passes.

Coatesville will have at least two home playoffs games with wins, and maybe more depending on the official seeding later this weekend. A home game is still a possibility for East.

“We’re hoping to practice on Thanksgiving,” Matta said. “We’re trying to win as many games as we can and we like our chances against anyone except these characters (Coatesville).”

Coatesville 42, Downingtown East 7

Downingtown East       7 0 0 0-7

Coatesville    0 21 14 7-42

                                     Scoring

First Quarter

DE- Hamilton 1 run (Mullress kick)

Second Quarter

CV- Young 28 pass from Ortega (Hylen kick)

CV- Young 13 pass from Ortega (Hylen kick)

CV- Young 2 run (Hylen kick)

Third Quarter

CV- Miller 5 pass from Ortega (Hylen kick)

CV- Young 9 run (Hylen kick)

Fourth Quarter

CV- Young 75 run (Hylen kick)

                                      Team Totals

                         DE              CV

First downs      13            7

Yards rushing  50-129    25-177

Yards passing  60            169

Total yards      189           346

Passing      7-12-0          12-15-0

Fumbles-lost    3-3              3-0

Punts-avg.    4-26           2-33.5

Penalties-yds  4-44         10-89

                                    Individual Statistics

Rushing: Downingtown East — G. Jonassaint 19-65; Hamilton 15-59, TD; Diehl 6-16; Davis 10-(-11). Coatesville — Young 10-129, 3 TDs; Bryant 3-26; Ortega 7-22; Kennedy 4-12; Miller 1-(-12).

Passing: Downingtown East — Davis 7-11-60; Person 0-1-0. Coatesville — Ortega 12-15-169, 3 TDs.

Receiving: Downingtown East —Riley 3-31; Harootunian 1-14; Choi 1-10; Noble 1-9; O’Reilly 1-(-1). Coatesville — Sherman 3-88; Young 5-43, 2 TDs; Bryant 2-22; Miller 2-16, TD.

Interceptions: none.