By Neil Geoghegan
ngeoghegan@21st-centurymedia.com
@NeilMGeoghegan on Twitter
CALN >> In a football clash between District 1 5A contender West Chester Rustin and perennial 6A power Coatesville included stout defenses on both sides … but only one was truly elite.
The host Red Raiders limited the Golden Knights’ high-octane offense to 83 total yards and no points Friday. And even though Coatesville’s attack wasn’t super explosive, it was more than enough for a 28-0 home victory.
“Going into this season, we had high expectations for our defense,” said Raiders’ head coach Matt Ortega. “We’ve never really had all of the guys together, with Takitah (Lynch) out this season. But it is nice to see the guys starting to gel now.
“This is week two with everybody else playing together, and we will continue to build on it.”
Now 4-1 overall, it was the final tune up for Coatesville before next week’s showdown at unbeaten Downingtown West. And powerful Downingtown East is down the road.
“We know what is out there next week and we are going to work our tails off to put us in the best position to win,” Ortega said.
“It’s still a 1-0 mentality. We took care of business against Rustin and so we will enjoy this for one night and get ready for (Dowingtown) West (Sunday).”
The Raiders handed the Golden Knights their first setback of the season. But Rustin – who came in averaging 42 points per game — is 3-0 in the Ches-Mont American (4-1 overall) and a heavy favorite in the division and to make waves in the district playoffs.
“We set up goals every season,” Knights’ head coach Mike St. Clair. “We want to win West Chester, win the league and win in the playoffs. And our goals are still attainable.
“This was a good experience, especially for our young kids, to get a taste for what playoff football is going to be like. And we didn’t back down. We battled (Coatesville) for 48 minutes.”
The Rustin game plan was clear and understandable. The Knights wanted to slow the tempo, establish a ground game, run the clock and keep the opposing offense off the field. But the Red Raiders sabotaged that was limiting Rustin to just 56 yards on the ground.
It didn’t help that Rustin junior runner Chase Hatton left the game in the first quarter and was held out the rest of the way as a precaution.
“We lost Chase and that’s a lot of our offense,” St. Clair said. “He is one of the best backs in the league and is good on both sides of the ball.”
In front 13-0 at the half, Coatesville was also down a prime runner when senior Semaj Turner was seen on crutches for the second half. But Ortega turned to another senior, Damon Watson, and he rolled up 77 rushing yards on seven carries, and two TDs the rest of the way.
“At the half, we felt like we had to establish things at the line of scrimmage and get this running game going,” Ortega said.
“We came out and ran some old-school stuff in terms of pounding the ball when we had to, and I was glad to see us getting back to that.”
The Raiders opened the second half near midfield thanks to a 37-yard kickoff return by junior Frank Miles. Seven plays and 53 yards later, Watson dove in from the one. And then quarterback Matt Ortega, Jr., hit tight end/defensive tackle Francisco Hall for the 2-point conversion, and it was 21-0.
“I’m looking forward to scoring more. But it was the first points I’ve scoring this season,” said Hall, a 5-foot-11, 250-pounder.
Coatesville later wrapped up the scoring when Watson rambled 44 yards up the middle for his second touchdown late in the third period.
“Watson was hurt earlier in the season, but he came back and we needed him,” said Ortega, Sr., who added that he didn’t think Turner’s injury was serious. “We have some depth. This team is going to ride behind each other and play for each other.”
The Red Raiders got off to a nice start and found the end zone on their first two possessions. A poor snap on a Rustin punt gave Coatesville the ball at the Knights’ 15, and a few plays later Semaj Turner scored from six yards out. The PAT, however, was unsuccessful.
“You can’t give a team like that points. You are digging your own grave,” St. Clair said.
The Raiders then marched 62 yards on just four plays, and culminated the drive with a catch and run of 45 yards by wideout Amir Haskett from Ortega, Jr.
Rustin had one prime scoring chance late in the first half when runner Will Garner got the football into the red zone with a 35-yard run. But one of Francisco Hall’s three first half sacks set the Knights back, and they wound up turning it over on downs.
“That is a real good defense,” St. Clair said. “(Coatesville is) big, they are fast and they fly to the football.
“We had a couple plays we thought would work, but they were just too fast all over the field. Against some other teams we should be able to hit some of those.”
On an evening when the defense was dominant, the star for the Raiders was Hall. He finished with three sacks, had five tackles for loss, six tackles total and a quarterback hurry.
“We have no ceiling as a unit – the sky is the limit,” said Hall, who was constantly in Rustin’s backfield.
“He is an all-state defensive lineman for a reason. We are happy to have him,” Ortega, Sr., added.
“Our two inside linebackers are two-year starters, and we feel really good about our DBs. It’s 11 guys on defense and we have guys behind them that can play. They went against (Rustin) and held it up.”
Just a sophomore, Ortega, Jr., was 7-15 for 102 yards and no interceptions. His favorite target was Haskett, who hauled in three passes for 66 yards.
A sophomore, Garner paced Rustin with 53 yards on the ground, but 35 came on one run. He managed just 18 on his other eight attempts.
And now the Raiders can fully turn their attention to the Whippets. Downingtown East will play at Coatesville on Oct. 20.
“Downingtown West and Downingtown East have been circled on our calendar for a long time,” Hall said.
Coatesville 28, West Chester Rustin 0
W.C. Rustin 0 0 0 0 — 0
Coatesville 13 0 15 0 –28
Scoring
C – Turner 6 run (kick failed)
C – Haskett 45 pass from Ortega (Shaeffer kick)
C – Watson 1 run (Hall pass from Ortega)
C – Watson 44 run (Shaeffer kick)
Team statistics R C
First downs 7 10
Rushing yards 56 145
Passing yards 27 111
Total yards 83 256
Complete-Att-Int 5-10-0 8-16-0
Fumbles-lost 2-2 1-1
Punts-ave. 5-28.6 2-34.5
Penalties 2-10 7-55
Individual statistics
RUSHING – R: Hatton 5-(-5); McClain 9-(-8); Garner 9-53; Loper 6-10; Jacob 2-3; Magolon 1-3; Cunningham 1-0. C: Turner 7-22, TD; Ortega 2-17; Miles 1-4; Watson 7-77, 2 TDs; Green 5-19; Hampton 1-6; Jordan 1-0.
PASSING – R: McClain 5-10, 27 yards. C: Ortega 7-15, 102 yards, TD; Kryworuka 1-1, 9 yards.
RECEIVING – R: Garner 2-20; Beswick 1-9; Loper 1-(-2); Marsh 1-1. C: Haskett 3-66, TD; Richardson 1-19; Rickabaugh 1-7; Miles 1-1; Watson 1-9; Legree 1-9.
Interceptions: None.
Sacks — C: Butler, Hall (3).
