Ragni thrives in the slop, powers Vikings to upset over Kennett
WEST GOSHEN >> You could probably count on one finger the number of people at Zimmerman Stadium Friday who relished the weather conditions for the regular season football finale between visiting Kennett and West Chester East.
That would be Vikings’ running back Mitch Ragni, who thrived in the Ches-Mont American clash that took place in a wet and windy deluge. The junior ran for 177 yards and two touchdowns – and also came up with a huge play on defense – to lead East to a 14-7 upset over the Blue Demons.
“I love playing in conditions like this,” Ragni said. “You know there are going to be certain players who don’t like to play in this kind of weather, so I take that as an advantage.”
The Vikings had nothing to play for but pride, but that was enough. East ends the season at 2-5 in the league (2-8 overall), but the squad managed to win two of its final three.
“This is awesome,” said Vikings’ head coach Scott Stephen. “The way we battled and played to finish the way we did, I can’t say enough about our guys. It may be a cliché, but I am super proud of them for battling and finishing strong.”
Kennett falls to 7-3 overall (4-3 in the league) but are expected to easily earn a berth into the upcoming District 1 5A Playoffs. The Demons were sixth in the latest power rankings and 16 teams will make the field.
“(West Chester East) was more enthusiastic and they were ready to play on Senior Night,” said Kennett head coach Lance Frazier. “And they took it to us. We can’t talk about the weather – we didn’t show up and they did.”
Ragni had more yards from scrimmage than the entire Demons’ squad. Sure, it took a grueling 32-carries to do it, but it was all dictated by the sloppy conditions.
“In pre-game, (Ragni) looked really locked in,” Stephen pointed out.
“He has a combination of size, speed, strength and power. And when he gets going, he is a pretty darn good running back.”
Another key statistic was ball security. Kennett put the ball on the turf seven times and lost two of them. East fumbled four times and lost one.
“It was huge. Ball security is so important when you have a wet, sloppy football,” Stephen said.
“We prepared for it – we did some wet-ball drills this week – but it obviously wasn’t enough,” Frazier added.
“At the end of the day we have to answer adversity. We’ve done a good job with that the last four seasons, but tonight we just didn’t respond like we are accustomed to doing.”
Demons’ dynamic quarterback Kalen Frazier coughed it up late in the second quarter of a scoreless tie. It was recovered by East’s Matt McVeigh, and a couple plays later, Ragni opened the scoring with a 33-yard run after breaking a couple tackles near the line of scrimmage.
“We knew he was going to be a load, and he is just as effective defensively too,” Frazier said.
Midway through the third period, the Vikings staged an epic 80-yard scoring drive, and Ragni capped it off with a short scoring run. He also had a 47-yard burst during the march, and it included more YAC (yards after contact). He had a lot of yards that way.
“The weather was a big factor,” Ragni said. “You have to adjust to play in it, and our team did that.
“Maybe bouncing off those tacklers was a little bit easier because it was so wet, but I’ll take it.”
Trailing 14-0, Kennett got back into contention when Kalen Frazier scrambled and scored on a 19-yard run early in the final quarter. The Demons had two more possessions to tie it, but the first was thwarted by Ragni who came up with a critical sack of Frazier to force a punt.
Kennett got it back with 2:13 to go, at its own 38, and no timeouts. But Frazier promptly hooked up with senior wideout Luke Good on passes of 29- and 28-yards, which helped move the ball to the East 6. On fourth and goal with 37.4 seconds remaining, however, Frazier fumbled while scrambling. The play went for minus-29, and the Vikings secured the win.
“When you are desperate, and your back is against the wall, even in the monsoon you have to figure something out,” Frazier said. “So kudos to our guys – they competed to the end.
“But you still have to win the games you are supposed to, and East was the better team today.”
The Vikings completed one of two passes for negative yards, but East had just one penalty for five yards. The Demons had six penalties for 35 yards.
“This was a battle of wills. This was our senior’s last game and we played for each other on every single snap,” Ragni said.
“When you are 1-8 and it’s week 10, and you are going up against a 7-2 opponent who is going to the playoffs, you have choices,” Stephen added. “The theme of the week was to finish, and they did that.”
West Chester East 14, Kennett 7
Kennett 0 0 0 7 — 7
West Chester East 0 7 0 7 — 14
Scoring
WCE – Ragni 33 run (Ramos kick)
WCE – Ragni 4 run (Ramos kick)
K – Frazier 19 run (Barker kick)
Team Totals K WCE
First down 14 9
Yards rushing 168 160
Yards passing 62 (-1)
Total yards 174 159
Passing 3-16-0 1-1-0
Fumbles-lost 7-2 4-1
Punts-ave. 2-50 4-39.2
Penalties-yds 6-35 1-5
Individual statistics
Rushing – K: Sparacino 23-116; Frazier 20-44, TD; Con. Jung 1-8. WCE: Ragni 32-177, 2 TDs; McIntire 5- (-17).
Passing – K: Frazier 3-16-0, 62 yards. WCE: McIntire 1-2-0, (-1) yard.
Receiving – K: Good 3-62. WCE: Wileczek 1-(-1).
Sacks – K: Col. Jung. WCE: Ragni.
