Coatesville rolls over Pennsbury in season opener
CALN >> Even though Coatesville was were hit hard by graduation, Friday night at Red Raider Stadium the Coatesville football team fired a very loud warning shot to the rest of the Ches-Mont League and District 1 that they are poised to stay at or near the top District 1 again this season.
The host Red Raiders used another sparkling performance from senior quarterback Harrison Susi and a great defensive effort to topple Pennsbury 28-6, in the season opener for both teams.
Coatesville (1-0) completely shut down the Falcons (0-1) Wing-T offense limiting Pennsbury to just 83 rushing yards. And the Coatesville defense led by Francisco Hall, Brendan Barthmaier and a host of others threw Pennsbury for 13 total plays for a loss.
And Susi started things off with a flair as he went up the gut of the Falcons’ defense for an 80-yard touchdown run before the game was even six minutes old to give the Red Raiders a 7-0 lead.
“We wanted to come out and score early and put them back on their heels and that touchdown run got us going,” Susi said. “And the first touchdown I read the defensive end and he came up and went left, so I cut it back right and went pretty much on my own to the end zone. We moved the ball pretty welling the first half but we made a few mistakes and then we were flat in the second half.”
Coatesville again depended on Susi for their second touchdown as after a Pennsbury punt, the Red Raiders moved the ball into Falcons territory on the running of Susi and Damon Watson. Susi took it the final 34 yards to score and the Red Raiders were off to the races, leading 14-0 after just one period.
With the Falcons doing virtually nothing on offense the Red Raiders were in complete control the game and Susi showed off his passing skills as he hit a streaking Dante London with a pretty 67-yard scoring toss midway through the second period and at halftime it was all Red Raiders, who had built up a 21-0 advantage.
Susi rushed for 102 yards on just seven carries and he completed 13 of 23 passes for 189 yards and one touchdown and the Falcons were having all sorts of trouble deciding to defend the pass or the bevy of Red Raider rushers.
Coatesville went on a long 65-yard, nine-play drive late in the third period with Spencer Ferguson taking it in from a yard out with 3:10 left in the third period to put the game away by taking a 28-0 lead.
The Coatesville defense limited Pennsbury to just 185 yards of total offense and that is a little misleading because the Falcons scored on a 75-yard pass play midway through the fourth period on the second team Coatesville defense. After the game Coatesville head coach Matt Ortega talked about his young defense.
“We thought coming into this season that our defense was going to be the strength of this team,” Ortega said. “We really like our front six and they ran to the football well tonight and we did not even have one of our key guys who is out with injury (Takiyah Lynch). He will be back soon and I thought we played real well tonight.
“We made some mistakes as players and coaches but we will learn from those and get ready for a big game against a real good Academy Park team next Friday afternoon.”
Coatesville 28, Pennsbury 6
Pennsbury 0 0 0 6 — 6
Coatesville 14 7 7 0 — 28
Scoring
C — Susi 80 run (Ashbee kick)
C — Susi 34 run (Ashbee kick)
Second Period
C — London 67 pass from Susi (Ashbee kick)
Third Period
C — Ferguson 1 run (Ashbee kick)
Fourth Period
P — Beightley 75 pass from McGurrin (kick failed)
Team Totals
P C
First downs 8 18
Yards rushing 83 215
Yards passing 92 189
Total yards 185 404
Passing 3-6-0 13-23-0
Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-0
Penalties-yds 8-67 4-30
Punts-avg 6-35.5 3-38.0
Individual Statistics
Rushing: PEN: Mulbah 11-40; Beightley 9-65; McGurrin 6 (-20); David 2 (-2). COAT: Susi 7-102, 2TD’s; Green 3-5; Watson 15-57; London 1-9; Ferguson 5-23, TD; Scott 1-21.
Passing: PEN: McGurrin 3-6-92, TD. COAT: Susi 13-23-189, TD.
Receiving: PEN: Beightley 2-80, TD; Secoda 1-12. COAT: London 2-78, TD; Ellis 2-26; Van Orden 1-14; Richardson 2-10; Mozzone 2-20; Hackett 2-32; Ferguson 1-3; Watson 1-6.
Sacks: PEN: Webb. COAT: Hall 2.
Interceptions: PEN: None. COAT: None.
