Downingtown West hits its stride, cruises past Avon Grove

DOWNINGTOWN >> There are probably not many members of the Downingtown West football team who count themselves as fans of the Grateful Dead, but they can definitely identify with their most well known lyric: “What a long strange trip it’s been.”

Will Mahmud scored twice and Julian Williams returned an interception for a touchdown as the Whippets coasted to a 46-0 Ches-Mont League National Division victory over Avon Grove for their first win of this truncated season Friday.

“This is nowhere near normal,” said West head coach Mike Milano. “But the kids have been phenomenal. They say the biggest improvement you make is from your first game to the second. We improved exponentially from last week to this.”

The Red Devils, who fell to 0-3 overall and in the Ches-Mont National, did move the ball on their first possession, thanks largely to a 24-yard pass from Connor Walsh to Hunter Tran. But the drive stalled at midfield and West got its turn on its own 35.

On the third play of drive, Ryan Waters exploded through a hole off left tackle and sprinted untouched, 58 yards for the opening score. The missed extra point left the score at 6-0.

It didn’t take long for the Whippets (1-1, 1-1) to add to the lead. On the sixth play on Avon Grove’s next drive, a hurried Walsh threw to ball right to Williams, who cantered in from the 16 to boost the lead to 13-0.

“The defensive line did a great job of pressuring the quarterback and he threw it right to me,” Williams said. “We hit some bumps in our first game, and we wanted to smooth it out. I think we did that.”

A fumble recovery set West up again on Avon Grove’s side of the field. A short drive was completed as Evan Wickersham found Will Mahmud out of the backfield for a 5-yard passing TD and a 20-0 advantage after one.

Mahmud posted his second score of the evening early in the second as he plowed in from the 2-yard line to give his team a commanding 26-0 lead.

West took the overland route on the opening series of the second half, they marched 75 yards on nine plays — all runs — to get close to the mercy rule threshold. Elijah Ford used his speed to race around left and into the end zone from 29-yards out.

A three-and-out gave the ball back to the Whippets, who turned it into another score as backup QB Carter Ameye snuck in from the one.

West capped the scoring in the fourth as Nahir Harris ran it in from the 16 to account for the 46-0 final score.

The West defense was stout all evening, and held the Red Devils to 22 yards of offense in the second half and 83 overall.

“The offense still have a lot to work out, but the defense played well,” said Milano. “To get a shutout and a defensive score, that’s tremendous.”

Williams contributed on both sides of the ball, adding 86 yards from scrimmage.

“It feels good to have a solid game on both sides of the ball,” said Williams. “I wanted to improve from last week and have a better game.”

The Whippets will take on West Chester East next week, while the Red Devils will host Unionville.