Jacobs, Rustin hand Kennett first loss of season

By Bryan Davis
bdavis@medianewsgroup.com
@btdavis25 on Twitter

KENNETT SQUARE >> To paraphrase former ESPN Sports Center anchor Dan Patrick, you can’t stop Dayshawn Jacobs, you can only hope to contain him.
The star West Chester Rustin running back was held relatively in check by Kennett in the first half, but you knew it was only a matter of time before he busted out.
And bust out he did, Jacobs ran for 267 yards on 25 carries and scored three times — twice in the fourth quarter — as the Golden Knights (2-1 Ches-Mont American, 2-1 overall) posted a 23-0 Ches-Mont League American Division victory over Kennett at Kennett Stadium on Friday.
“We just did what we had to do,” said Jacobs.
His coach, Mike St. Clair was ecstatic to get the win on the road.
“I’m very, very happy tonight. To come down here against a very aggressive, tough team like Kennett. They’re well-coached, they scheme it up and come after you. It was an efficient team effort.”
The Blue Demons suffered their first loss of the season to fall to 3-1 and 2-1 in the division.
“You got Jacobs, and he’s running behind 7,000 pounds of beef,” said Kennett coach Lance Frazier. “They just leaned on us. They wore us down in the second half and it was all she wrote after that.”
On their second possession, after they turned Kennett away on downs at their 28-yardline, the Golden Knights embarked on a typical Rustin drive to open the scoring. They marched 72 yards on 8 plays — all on the ground. Jacobs had 48 yards on six carries on the drive. He set up the touchdowns with a twisty, turning 23-yard run to the Kennett 2. Jacobs punched it in on the next play for a 7-0 lead.
Kennett used some ball control of its own in the second quarter, they held the ball for over five minutes, while going a 12-play march. They converted one fourth down on the drive, but on a 4th-and-4 on the Rustin, they came up inches short on a pass from Kalen Frazier to Nathan Hollick and the Knights regained possession.
Jacobs broke off a 38-yard gallop to the Kennett 23. Two plays later, Jacobs thought he had a second TD after he scampered in from the eight, but it was called back due to a holding penalty. The Golden Knights had to settle for a 33-yard field goal by Griffin Strunk for a 10-0 advantage at the break.
Kennett took the second-half kickoff and went on another long drive that unfortunately, did not produce any points. Kennett held the ball for over half the quarter, going from its 41 to the Rustin 8, but a missed field goal denied them a chance to cut into the deficit.
“That missed field goal was possible game-changer,” St. Clair said. “We were lucky to get the ball and drive down the field and score.”
In the second play of the fourth quarter, Jacobs broke out on the right side and sprinted 56 yards for the scored and a 17-0 lead.
He put an exclamation on the night midway through the quarter as he went straight up the middle to score from 24-yards out, adding a stiff arm at the five for good measure.
“We knew we had to put them away,” said Jacobs. “They’re a good team and we knew they can come back. They did in the Henderson game. So, we had to put them away and the stiff arm was just for good measure.”
The Rustin defense also shone on the evening as they earned the shutout. They held Kennett to 72 yards on the ground and 152 overall.
“Defense played outstanding tonight,” St. Clair added. “They’re schooled up. They play assignment football and they contained a very, very dangerous quarterback tonight.”
The Blue Demons go out of the next week as they entertain Chichester, and Frazier is optimistic on his team being able to bounce back.
“Absolutely,” Frazier said when asked about their start. “Especially with what we faced, the adversity we’ve gone through with personnel. We’re finally going to start getting some guys healthy, some starters back. We have about three or four freshmen in the trenches who have played a lot of football for us, and those guys deserved kudos.”
Meanwhile, Rustin travels to Downingtown East to face the Cougars.

West Chester Rustin Kennett
WC Rustin 7 3 0 13 — 23
Kennett 0 0 0 0 — 0
First Quarter
Rustin — Day. Jacobs 2 run (Strunk kick)
Second Quarter
Rustin — Strunk 33 FG
Fourth Quarter
Rustin — Day. Jacobs 56 run (Strunk kick)
Rustin — Day. Jacobs 24 run (kick failed)
team statistics
WCR K2
First downs 17 11
Rushes-yards 39-301 28-72
Passing 1-3-0 8-13-1
Passing yards 4 80
Total yards 305 152
Punts 2-36.5 2-43.0
Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-0
Penalties-yards 6-61 5-40
Individual statistics
Rushing — Rustin: Day. Jacobs 25-267 3TD; Meadows 3-10; Santangelo 3-10; Yanko 2-20; Mattei 4-1; Freney 2-(-7). Kennett: Lillis 18-42; Frazier 10-19; Jung 1-11.
Passing — Rustin Freney 1-3-0 4 yards. Kennett: Frazier 8-13-1 80 yards.
Receiving — Rustin: Lighthill 1-8. Kennett: Sparacino 4-43; Boddy 2-17; Jung 1-16; Hollick 1-4.
Interceptions — Rustin: Dai. Jacobs.
Sacks — Rustin: Huynh.