Downingtown East’s Cinderella run, Horvath’s historic season end at hands of Garnet
CONCORD >> Following Downingtown East coach Michael Matta’s speech to his team, the Cougars spread out, hugging one another, choking back well-earned tears as winter-esque temperatures made everything hurt just a little worse.
East’s star running back, Bo Horvath, limped off, hobbled from a helmet to his hip in the second quarter, as the Cougars’ charmed run was cut short.
Two fourth-quarter, fourth-down touchdown passes by Garnet Valley’s Matt Mesaros were the difference, as the top-seeded Jaguars ended the No. 12 Cougars’ season, 28-17, in the District 1-6A semifinals.
“They were good, give them all the credit,” Matta said of Garnet. “We hung with them but couldn’t catch any breaks. We needed one or two breaks to win the game and didn’t get them.”
East (9-4), fresh off four straight rivalry games against Coatesville and Downingtown West, two times apiece, took a 17-14 lead into the fourth quarter, but it was Garnet (12-0) who made the key plays when they were needed.
On back-to-back possessions, Mesaros came through on fourth downs, hitting Ronnie Leraris first and then Jake McDowell to ice the game with two minutes, 25 seconds remaining. On the second TD, East’s Michael Waite was there on the defense, but McDowell was able to come up with the ball after it batted around their arms for a moment.
“It hurts,” Waite said. “We had a really good season and I’m proud of all the guys. I wouldn’t want to go out and play on Friday nights with anyone else. I love these guys with a passion and it hurts knowing it won’t happen again.”
Like the week prior, against West, the Cougars moved the ball right down the field on the opening drive and scored a la a one-yard plunge by Horvath.
Garnet Valley struck right back on a 47-yard run by Jason Bernard, but East responded with another successful drive, capped off once again with a Horvath TD.
Again, the Jags had an answer, and Mesaros went 15 yards for the score. After the first four possessions, the score was 14-14, but neither team could find the end zone the rest of the half.
“We knew, coming in, we had to hit them hard,” Waite said. “They popped us pretty hard at first, but we knew we had to keep hitting them to slow them down a little bit.”
East chose to run out the final two-plus minutes of the second quarter. Despite getting to the Garnet 36 with 16 seconds to go, the Cougars called zero timeouts.
Horvath was injured late in the second, and after he ran for 107 yards on 16 carries in the first half, he was in and out and picked up just 20 yards on six carries the final 24 minutes.
“We had a lot of respect for (Horvath),” Garnet coach Erik VanWyk said. “I didn’t know he was injured until the end, and that’s unfortunate and hopefully he’s OK, but he was still competing when he was in there.”
Owen Lammy filled in and picked up 54 yards on nine carries, and set East up with a first-and-goal at the six early in the third. The Cougars went nowhere from there and settled for a 25-yard field goal by James Blake.
Without a healthy Horvath, East simply ran out of firepower.
Horvath finished the season with 2,315 rushing yards, which broke the previous record of 2,288 by Mike Recchiuti for Downingtown in 2000.
“It’s a very big accomplishment,” said Horvath, who also had 34 total touchdowns. “To be honest, I don’t really care about it. I just wanted to win a district championship.”
Horvath’s impact was immense for East. As a senior, he accounted for 75 percent of the Cougars’ rushing yards, 58 percent of their total yards, 52 percent of their offensive touches and 61 percent of their touchdowns for the season.
“Bo Horvath is the best player in Chester County,” Matta said. “Anyone who says anything different doesn’t know football.”
Garnet Valley will play No. 1 Central Bucks West for the District 1-6A title, Friday.
Garnet Valley 28, Downingtown East 17
