DOWNINGTOWN >> Friday night at Kottmeyer Stadium the second-seeded Downingtown East Cougars fired a very loud warning shot to the rest of the District 1 6A playoff field. The host Cougars rushed for 338 yards and picked off five Wisshahickon passes and rolled to a convincing 56-0 win over the 15th-seeded Trojans.
Downingtown East will now host the winner of the Souderton versus Quakertown game next Friday at 7 p.m.
Downingtown East (10-0 overall) held a 49-0 lead at halftime and Cougars’ head coach Michael Matta rested his starters for the entire second half. Ayden Harris scored four touchdowns and rushed for 217 yards on 23 carries to lead the Cougars onslaught.
“It is an amazing thing to run behind an offensive line as good as these guys are,” Harris said. “They get better every week and they work hard in the weight room and they were opening wide holes for me to run-through tonight. It is a blessing to run behind those guys.”
The Cougars’ defense also pitched their seventh shutout of the season and Owen Lammy got things going early for East. Lammy wrestled the ball out of the grasp of Quintin West on the Trojans’ (6-5) first possession of the game at the Cougars’ 47 yard line.
Four plays later the Cougars scored when Lammy took the ball 11 yards for an early 7-0 lead. Another East interception — this one by Paxon Warnock on the next Trojans possession — led to a 28-yard touchdown run by Harris, and after just six minutes of play the Cougars were off and running with a 14-0 lead.
“All year our defense has set the tone for the game and they did again tonight,” Matta said. “And I do not remember any time we have had five picks in one game so that was a really good thing for us.”
With the Cougars’ offensive line blowing the Trojans off the ball and Harris running downhill, East took a 28-0 lead with 7:39 left in the second period and it was obvious that this was a mismatch. The Trojans tried valiantly to still throw the football and the Cougars’ Jimmy Stott picked off a Nolan Pounds and rambled 36 yards to score and it was a 35-0 with 6:50 to go until halftime.
After the Cougars’ defense forced a Trojans punt, East went on a 48-yard scoring drive with Harris going in from three yards out for a commanding 49-0 lead at halftime. The Cougars racked up 23 first downs for the game, 18 in the first half.
“We had two big games against Coatesville and D-West but we did not have a letdown tonight,” Cougars’ receiver Caden Walsh said. “We just take each week one at a time and we can run and throw the football when we have to.”
The second half saw the East reserves keep the Trojans’ first team out of the end zone, and John Morrin rushed for 104 yard for the Cougars, who were off to the district playoffs second round.
“I was not worried about a letdown but I was worried because they came in and upset us here in 2012,” Matta said. “But the defense got us going early and we played very well tonight and now it is on to next week.”
