Cichanowsky (4TDs) helps West Chester East hand Kennett its first loss
WEST GOSHEN >> Kennett’s historic season brought the Blue Demons to Harold I. Zimmerman Stadium Friday night as the only unbeaten District 1 team in Class 5A.
The Demons may still be in position to make program history, but Kyle Cichanowsky and the West Chester East Vikings made sure to let Kennett know that the road to the Ches-Mont League American Division crown runs through West Goshen.
The Vikings put it all together on both sides of the ball and knocked Kennett from the unbeaten ranks with a resounding 43-14 win Friday night, thanks largely to a superb 230 yard rushing and four touchdown game from Cichanowsky, and a defensive performance that limited Kennett to just 86 yards rushing.
“We knew we had to stop the run tonight,” Cichanowsky said. “And when we did that and they had to pass, I think they lost their confidence. We came together as a team and I wanted to win this game more than any other this season. I am very excited right now because we played as a total team tonight and we came together.”
The road doesn’t get any easier for West Chester East (5-0 Ches-Mont, 6-1 overall), with a nonleague home game on deck against 7-0 Downingtown West. But no matter the result there, the Vikings put a stranglehold on the American Division title.
East rolled up 334 total yards of offense and busted out to a 14-0 lead after the first quarter on two touchdown runs by Cichanowsky, one a 97-yard jaunt that saw the Viking star go untouched to the end zone. That seemd to take the air out of Kennett (4-1, 6-1) for a brief time.
Kennett caught a break wheen it blocked a Viking punt and fell on it at the East 11 yard line. Two plays later, Garrett Cox bulled in from five yards out and it was a 14-7 game. Kennett then forced a three and out and after a Viking punt, Kennett moved the ball again.
But a big interception by East’s Lathan Collins, the first of two for Collins on the night, set up the Vikings deep in Kennett territory. Four plays later, Cichanowsky went in from a yard out and it was 21-7.
“We wanted to be balanced but they stopped the run on us,” Kennett head coach Lance Frazier said. “We have to get back to work but coach (Scott) Stephen is doing a great job with this team and they are a great ballclub. And No. 2 (Cichanowsky) is one heck of a running back.”
With the teams going to the locker room at halftime, the Vikings held a 21-7 lead and Cox had just 14 yards rushing in the first half, forcing Kennett into the air for any offense. Sam Forte completed eight of 20 passes for the Blue Demons, but the Viking defense had Forte on the run all night.
The Vikings got a big kickoff return from John Wileczek to start the third quarter, with the Viking senior getting the ball out to the East 48 yard line. Ryan Duell completed two passes for the Vikings and Cichanowsky scored his fourth touchdown of the night, a one-yard run, and when the Vikings tacked on the two-point conversion, it was 29-7.
“The thing with Kyle is that he is so consistent,” Stephen said. “He works so hard and our offensive line has been doing the job all year. We had Syncere Cooper go down tonight and we put in sophomore Luke Borkowski and he did a great job for us.”
Kennett continued to fight and the Blue Demons got a seven yard touchdown pass from Forte to Richie Hughson to cut the Vikings’ lead to 29-14 late in the third. But that would be all the scoring for Kennett, and the Vikings scored two more touchdowns to take a one-game lead in the Ches-Mont american Divsion.
“This was a total team effort tonight,” Stephen said. “Both sides of the ball came together and played as a unit and that is why we were successful. Cox is the type of runner that once he gets started he is very hard to bring down so our defnse did a great job on him.”
NOTES >> East, whose only loss was a tough five-point defeat to Downingtown East, hosts Downingtown West in a nonleague game next Friday, before finishing with American games at West Chester Rustin and home against Oxford. Kennett has two very winnable league games left, at home against Avon Grove and at Oxford. The Demons finish the season with a nonleague home game against St. Mark’s of Delaware.
