Kennett swarms Chichester after slow start
KENNETT SQUARE — Kennett did not exactly get off to the kind of start that it wanted to against Chichester. After scuffling to get much going offensively and suffering through an errant snap on a punt which gifted the Eagles an early touchdown, the Blue Demons rallied in a big way.
Kennett sliced and diced the Chichester defense to overwhelm the Eagles en route to a 37-12 victory. At the forefront of the Blue Demons’ effort was quarterback Sam Forte, who used his arm and legs to throttle the Eagles defense. According to Kennett coach Lance Frazier, Sam Forte is just one of s strong core group of leaders on the team.
“Our leaders have stepped up like Garret Cox, Sam Forte, John Colamarino, Zach Good, and Sam Davidson,” said Frazier, who played for the Dallas Cowboys among other NFL teams before settling into a nice career in the Canadian Football League with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. “They’ve helped take this team to another level. We had a special senior class last year that showed them how to lead. They played their butt off tonight even in a tough situation.”
Bryen Hamm gave the Eagles an early 6-0 lead with a one-yard rushing score after Kennett’s aforementioned punt gaffe, but from there it was all Blue Demons.
Sam Forte completed 11 of 20 pass attempts for 186 yards passing and was the catalyst for the offensive surge for the Blue Demons. Sam Forte hit sophomore wide receiver Kalen Frazier and senior wideout Luke Forte with touchdown passes. To show his versatility Sam Forte later slammed into the end zone on a sneak for a touchdown and thoroughly commanding 21-6 lead for Kennett.
For Sam Forte, it was a relief to get the offense headed in the right direct and to hook up with his brother for a score.
“Overall we had saw a lot of holes in their defense that we were going to attack early,” said Sam Forte, who noted that his scoring pass to brother Luke was their first touchdown connection. “I think stupid mistakes held us down, but we knew we could get on this team early and often. We can pound it with Garrett Cox or we can put it in their air where we have a lot of weapons.”
The Eagles had their moments, but scuffled to really get going. It was not as much a failure for Chichester to execute as much as it was Kennett exerting its will on the Eagles. Part of the problem for Chichester was the excellent defensive effort from the Blue Demons that was spearheaded by Connor Jung, Good, Davidson, and Cresci. For good measure, Tommy Patrissi added an interception for Kennett.
“It’s really about energy and we have two book-ends in Zach Good and Vincent Cresci and it helps that we keep offenses off-balance,” Frazier said.
It wasn’t the kind of performance that Eagles coach Bob Brice wanted to see, but one that his squad can build from.
“At the very end of the game I was really proud of our kids, but I kind of got into them a little at halftime,” said Brice. “I told them I was okay with the mental mistakes because we could work on that, but I couldn’t stand the moping around and feeling sorry for ourselves midway through the game. I’m glad we had that last series where we showed a little bit of life, but we’ve got a lot of work to do and we have to get back to the drawing board.”
Kennett added a safety and rushing touchdowns from Cox (157 yards) and Luke Good (47 yards) to close out the scoring. Chichester quarterback Nate Decenzi (131 yards passing) had a second half rushing touchdown for the Eagles.
