Rustin football squad responds for a 35-12 victory against WC East

Westtown >> West Chester Rustin’s football squad responded well to several injuries en route to a 35-12 Friday win against visiting West Chester East on Military/First Responder Appreciation Night.
“I thought we responded well to some early injuries that really took a toll on us,” said Rustin head coach Mike St. Clair. “We lost a middle linebacker, a guard, a tackle, and we responded well against a tough, well-coached East team. That’s not an 0-3 team over there, that’s a very good team that’s going to win some games this year.”
The first quarter was a scoreless defensive battle. East senior defensive back Brady Laird intercepted a pass to bring the ball to the Rustin 28, but the Vikings did not capitalize with a score.

“We got Brady back this week after he was out last week, and getting him back at his strong safety position was a big boost for our defense,” noted East head coach Scott Stephen.
Near the end of the first quarter, Rustin’s Daimon Jacobs returned a punt 38 yards to the East 30 yard line. By the beginning of the second quarter, several solid ground gains by Chase Hatton and Antonio Santangelo advanced the ball to the East 2 yard line, from where Jacobs scored to give the hosts a 7-0 lead with 11:15 left before halftime.
On Rustin’s next drive, Jacobs picked up 68 yards in four plays, the final one a 33-yard touchdown run down the right side, bouncing off tacklers to give the Golden Knights a 14-0 lead with 7:06 to go before halftime.
St. Clair said, “That was a power play, and our fullback, Antonio Santangelo, made a great kick out block, and when Jake (Jacobs) sees a hole, he hits that hole and it’s hard to stop him in the open field.”
East then put together a 12-play drive behind the solid running of Mitch Ragni, who picked up 60 yards on eight carries, the final one a burst into the end zone on third and goal from the 1 yard line. The touchdown cut Rustin’s lead to 14-6 with 2:38 to go before halftime.
Rustin came out of the locker room at halftime red-hot, scoring two touchdowns in the first four minutes to take a 28-6 lead.

On the opening drive of the second half, Hatton broke numerous tackles for a 37 yard gain to the East 8 yard line. After several Golden Knight penalties, Rustin quarterback David McClain hit Nelson Murray for a 20-yard TD pass down the left side.
“When we can get the ball into Nelson’s hands, he can go the distance any time he touches the ball,” said St. Clair. “He’s probably one of the fastest kids in the area. He works really hard, and it’s nice to have him back after he was away for a year because of injury.
“The play was a hitch screen where we get a couple of blockers in front of (Murray). He read the block and was able to take it to the house.”
Just four plays later, Antonio Santangelo intercepted an East pass at the 40 yard line and ran down the right side for a touchdown to give the hosts a 28-7 lead with 8:08 left in the third quarter.
St. Clair said, “Antonio dropped into coverage really well on that play; he was able to get a good read on the pass, made a nice catch and then had a good block in front of him to take it all the way.”
Early in the fourth quarter, East’s Landon Goodwin took in a pass from Nate DeRosa and ran down the left sideline for a 34-yard touchdown to make the score 28-12 with 11:25 to play.
Rustin recovered the ensuing onside kick at their own 35 and scored in two plays. Hatton broke free for a 29-yard run down the right side; then Jacobs took a handoff and went down the right side all the way for a 36-yard touchdown to give the hosts a 35-12 lead with 10:32 left.
“(Jacobs) read his blocks really well on that play,” said St. Clair. “We had some nice blocks from our offensive line from guys filling in, like freshman Nick Santangelo. Jake read the block, made his cut, and he’s really nice to watch in the open field.
“Chase is a beast at running back, too; we have a three-headed monster back there with Chase, (Santangelo) and Jake. Any one of those guys can take the ball; and they’ve had real good blocking in front of them. Dave McClain did a really good job of running the offense; when he’s asked to throw the ball, he puts it on the money.
“This was a team win –- offense, defense, special teams. Our linebackers did a great job, and Jeremy Lynn did an outstanding job at defensive end. Connor Corrigan did a great job, and (sophomore) Pat Maychak really stepped up when he went into the game.”
Rustin was charged with nine penalties by halftime, and St. Clair said, “There were too many penalties that were just undisciplined penalties that we need to do a better job, and I need to do a better job on.”
On the East side, Stephen saw some progress in the Vikings’ play Friday.
Stephen said, “I think we put together some things tonight that we (coaches) have been harping on for the past few weeks -– execution on both ends, aligning and assigning. When we scored in the first half, that was a 12-play drive –- that’s one of the things we’ve been focusing on, putting a drive together. We’re starting to see some growth the past few weeks, we’re starting to see some production. And our players are getting that game experience that you want to see your players grow into as the season goes on.
“I think our defense did a great job (early), we were getting guys to the ball. Toward the end of the game, we got a little sloppy in our tackling.”

West Chester Rustin 35, West Chester East 12
West Chester East 0 6 0 6 – 12
West Chester Rustin 0 14 14 7 – 35
Second quarter scoring:
WCR – Jacobs, 2, run (Strunk kick)
WCR – Jacobs, 33, run (Strunk kick)
WCE – Ragni, 1, run (kick blocked)
Third quarter scoring:
WCR – Murray, 20, pass from McClain (Strunk kick)
WCR – Santangelo, 40, pass interception (Strunk kick)
Fourth quarter scoring:
WCE – Goodwin, 34, pass from DeRosa (run failed)
WCR – Jacobs, 36, run (Strunk kick)
TEAM STATISTICS
WCE WCR
First downs 9 16
Rushes-yards 28-101 44-366
Passing yards 78 32
Total yards 179 398
Comp-Att-Int 8-17-0 2-6-1
Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-0
Penalties-yards 6-40 16-113
Punts-avg. 6-30.7 1-39.0
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS:
Rushing: WCE – Ragni 20-101, 1 TD, Grear 1-2, DeRosa 6-minus 1, Jaramillo 1-minus 1, Totals 28-101. WCR – Jacobs 15-166, 2 TDs, Hatton 18-168, A. Santangelo 3-22, Magalon 2-10, Jones 1-2, McClain 3-minus 13, Seaman 2-11, Totals 44-366.
Passing: WCE – DeRosa 8-17-0, 78 yards. WCR – McClain 2-6-1, 32 yards, 1 TD.
Receiving: WCE – Goodwin 2-42, 1 TD; Wileczek 5-27, Grear 1-9, Totals 8-78. WCR – Murray 1-20, 1 TD, Jacobs 1-12, Totals 2-32.
Interceptions: WCE – Laird. WCR – A. Santangelo.
Sacks: WCE – Ortiz, Kulp. WCR – Huynh.