Horvath helps Downingtown East run past Avon Grove
DOWNINGTOWN >> What happened on Friday evening at Kottmeyer Stadium is a prime example of why it is highly unreliable to compare high school football teams by the results against common opponents.
Visiting Avon Grove put up a great defensive effort in a stunning upset of Academy Park by six points two weeks ago. And last week, Downingtown East needed a similar effort to get past the same Academy Park squad by five.
The subsequent clash between the Red Devils and Cougars should be close – right? Well, the laws of transitive property certainly didn’t apply this time as East raced to a six-TD halftime lead and cruised to a 42-0 triumph over dazed Avon Grove.
“I think we played all facets of the game, and that shows growth,” said Cougars’ head coach Mike Matta.
“I was proud of them – we finished a game. I think that’s what we are learning to do.”
A week ago, East had a chance to put away Academy Park, didn’t do it, and had to sweat out a close finish. This time, the Cougars came out with a vengeance and never let up until the halftime break. After that, the substitutes took over.
“We had both Bishop Shanahan and Academy Park in a similar position but we let both of them off the hook,” Matta pointed out. “This time we didn’t do that.
“We were up 25-12 against Academy Park, we had it twice inside the 10-yard-line, and came away with nothing. We score those two times and it’s a whole different game.”
Number five in the most recent District 1 6A power rankings, Downingtown East improves to 2-0 in the Ches-Mont National and 7-1 overall. Avon Grove falls to 0-3, 3-5.
“(Downingtown East) was good and tonight we were not,” said Devils’ head coach Joe Coffey.
The Cougars scored on each of its first four possessions. And it wasn’t just about the execution, but the incredible efficiency. East engineered a half dozen first half touchdown drives, and every one happened in a hurry. In fact, it took the Cougars a combined 7 minutes, 59 seconds on all six of the marches, with the longest possession taking just over two minutes.
“Our offense is very energetic and we can’t wait to get the ball into the end zone,” said running back Bo Horvath. “That’s all we want to do.”
The 5-foot-9, 160-pound junior finished the day with 180 yards on just 14 carries. That’s nearly 13-yards a pop. He found the end zone twice and set up several more with explosive runs. And he left the game for good midway through the second quarter.
“We can score even quicker,” Matta said. “Bo is like a freak of an athlete. I don’t know if he is the best running back around, but there is no better athlete than him. He can do some things.
“And he is actually better when we have (senior halfback) Josh (Asante) working. We didn’t think we needed Josh so we kept him out. He will be 100 percent next week.”
At this point, it’s important to note that next Friday East will collide with crosstown rival Downingtown West. And there was no looking ahead on this night.
“Our kids were ready to play,” Matta said.
“With last season being what it was, we had some trouble finding our identity. But we are now. We have a lot of tough, hard-nosed kids and they’ve been learning the ropes. They didn’t know how to continue when you have someone down and take away their hopes.
“Maybe we are learning now.”
A 31-yard run by Horvath set up the first score: a 15 yard pass from quarterback Jamy Jenkins to senior wideout Michael Giardino. Then Horvath went 37 yards to set the stage for the second.
He then gobbled up 19 yards on a screen and went the final 16 on a run to go over 100 yards and make it 28-0 before the end of the first quarter. And after teammate Brady Dennis picked off one of three Avon Grove passes on the day, Horvath ran it in from 38 yards to wrap up his outing.
“The blocking was very good, I felt good, and we practiced well this week,” Horvath said.
The Cougars also added two more TDs that followed interceptions by Dante D’Addezio and George Bousum, respectively. On the first play after D’Addezio’s pick, Giardino grabbed a 24-yard strike from Jenkins for his second touchdown. Backup runner Owen Lamy wrapped up the first half scoring with a nine-yard run to make it 42-0.
“I didn’t see this coming,” Coffey admitted. “We came here last week and watched them play Academy Park, so we knew (East) was going to run the ball, and get up to the line and run it again. And they did that very effectively against us.
“We did not do what we coached earlier this week, and we certainly didn’t fix it in time.”
Not to be outdone, the East defense was superb. In all, the Devils managed just 117 yards of total offense, and the Cougars won the turnover battle 3-1.
“We put it all together this game, on both sides of the ball,” said Giardindo, who finished with three catches for 39 yards.
“On offense, we knew we had to keep our foot to the pedal. We didn’t want to get off of our rhythm.”
Downingtown East 42, Avon Grove 0
Avon Grove 0 0 0 0 – 0
Downingtown East 28 14 0 0 — 42
Scoring
DE –Giardino 15 pass from Jenkins (Marks kick)
DE – Jenkins 1 run (Marks kick)
DE – Giardino 24 pass from Jenkins (Marks kick)
DE – Horvath 16 run (Marks kick)
DE – Horvath 38 run (Marks kick)
DE – Lamy 9 run (Marks kick)
Team totals AG DE
First downs 8 19
Yards rushing 48 323
Yards passing 69 140
Total yards 117 463
Passing 6-16-3 9-13-1
Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-1
Punts-ave. 6-37.3 2-29.5
Penalties-yds 2-10 3-25
Individual statistics
Rushing – AG: Lorusso 8-15; Binstead 11-7; Con. Walsh 8-13; Yoder 1-7; Watson 1-(-1); Sheridan 3-7. DE: Horvath 14-180, 2 TDs; Jenkins 3-4, TD; Lamey 7-80, TD; Bono 12-33; Appapogu 1-9; Ruggeri 1-6; Helverson 2-11.
Passing – AG: Con. Walsh 3-10-3, 26 yards; Marczely 3-6-0, 43 yards. DE: Jenkins 8-11-1, 135 yards, 2 TDs; Helverson 1-2-0, 5 yards.
Receiving – AG: Col. Walsh 2-21; Delgato 1-5; Watson 1-19; Picard 2-24; Reilly 1-(-2). DE: Giardino 3-39, 2 TDs; Leo 2-49; Horvath 1-19; Rossetti 1-9; Bousum 1-5; McHale 1-5.
Sacks – DE: Lehman, Nicholson.
Interceptions – AG: McDannald. DE: D’Addezio, Dennis, Bousum.
