In defensive battle, Unionville wears down Chichester
EAST MARLBOROUGH >> A week earlier, it wasn’t as much a wake-up call as it was a reality check, when the Unionville football squad fell to mighty Coatesville by 47.
But on Friday, the Longhorns collided with an opponent in its class. And even though the defenses dominated the proceedings, the Unionville offense did just enough to exit Friday with a 24-0 non-league Homecoming win over visiting Chichester.
“The question was if we could get a few points on the board,” ’Horns’ head coach Pat Clark said. “We’ve had our moments on defense, but I think overall we’ve been pretty solid. And tonight they were great.”
The banged-up Eagles (1-5 overall) lost a couple more key players, including two-way starter Shawn Bedwell, and wound up with a paltry 69 yards of total offense. And in the second half, Chichester amassed just eight yards and a single first down.
“Every single week, our defense has a zero point mentality. We don’t want to give up a point,” said Unionville linebacker Jacob Cassidy.
“After the loss to Coatesville, we came back and did our work,” added cornerback Joe King. “We learned we have to work on tacking in the open field, so we did and we improved.
“We didn’t give up many yards and shut (Chichester) out. It feels really nice.”
Now 3-3 overall, Unionville heads to archrival Kennett next week. The Longhorns are still in the District 1 5A playoff hunt. The squad was 16th in the power rankings heading into Friday.
“Hopefully, now that it’s the second half of the season we are rounding into form,” Clark said. “We have four league games left, and Kennett’s become a top-tier program in our league and in the area.”
Eagles’ head coach Ed Buck watched helplessly as Bedwell and another player were taken to the hospital on Friday. And his team was already shorthanded heading in.
“We were already incredibly banged up and we lost two more kids to the hospital,” Buck said. “We are just down to bare bones.
“Right now we have about 25-28 kids available. I’ve never seen anything like it. So it’s actually quite impressive that we were able to hang in this game as long as we did.”
In front 10-0 at the half, Unionville broke it open when King scored from 17 yards out on a fourth-and-five run early in the second half. And then Longhorns’ quarterback Levi Brawley found junior tight end Mick Levendis for a 38-yard TD toss and catch to make it 24-0 late in the third quarter.
“We put in a great week of practice and preparation,” said Cassidy, who had a sack and two other tackles for loss. “We didn’t perform so well last week, so it was important for us to rebound. We definitely got better.”
In the first half, the two teams combined to generate just 125 yards of offense. The big play was a 75-yard punt return for a touchdown by King, who took it down the sideline for 40 yards before cutting back and racing to the end zone.
Afterwards, King admitted that he briefly waved his hand – to signal a fair catch – just prior to the return.
“I did put a hand up and then, like ‘never mind,’” he said.
“I didn’t think there was any way I was going to score, but then I saw only two (defenders) in front of me. I ran past them, and then it was just the punter, and I juked him.”
The officials may have missed it, but Buck didn’t.
“I see (King) call for the fair catch, and he catches it and then runs,” he said. “Our guys stopped because that’s what they are supposed to do. The referee said the guy who makes that call didn’t see it. That was a huge play in the game.”
The Longhorns then took advantage of a short field – something they had time and time again in the contest — when junior Jack Reichert booted a 38-yard field goal on the last play of the first half to make it 10-0.
“Jack’s done a nice job,” Clark said. “He’s just a first-year kid and he is just going to get better and better for us.
“We had too many penalties in the first half, but we executed better in the second.”
Chichester quarterback Dan Kelley completed just 4 of 13 pass attempts, but all four went to wideout Quadir Blackwell, for 35 yards. Bedwell had eight rushing attempts for 32 yards before being injured early in the second half.
“Unionville is a good football team and program,” Buck said. “We just have to keep fighting. Hopefully some of the injured guys will be coming back in the next few weeks.”
The Longhorns managed just 175 yards of total offense, and Eagles’ defensive lineman, senior Eyan Thomas, was a big reason why. He registered two sacks and created havoc all evening. King and his backup, freshman Brody McLaughlin, combined to gain 85 yards on the ground on 28 carries.
Overall, it was a decent lead-up to next Friday and the Battle of Route 82 against the Blue Demons.
“I can’t wait to play them,” King said. “We are ready.”
Unionville 24, Chichester 0
Chichester 0 0 0 0 — 0
Unionville 7 3 14 0 — 24
Scoring
U – King 75 yard punt return (Reichert kick)
U – Reichert 38 FG
U – King 17 run (Reichert kick)
U – Levendis 38 pass from Brawley (Reichert kick)
Team Totals
C U
First downs 4 11
Yards rushing 34 120
Yards passing 35 55
Total yards 69 175
Passing 4-14-0-0 2-6-0-1
Fumbles-lost 4-1 3-0
Punts-ave. 6-23.3 4-28.5
Penalties-yds 5-45 6-50
Individual Statistics
Rushing – C: Bedwell 8-32; Best 3-(-10); Kelly 2-3; Blackwell 5-9. U: King 13-38, TD; Brawley 10-17; McLaughlin 15-47; Stang 5-18.
Passing — C: Kelly 4-13-0, 35 yards; Blackwell 0-1-0. U: Brawley: 2-6-0, 55 yards, TD.
Receiving – C: Blackwell 4-35. U: King 1-17; Levendis 1-38, TD.
Sacks – C: Thomas 2. U: Cassidy.
