FRANCONIA >> After a bumpy end of the season, Downingtown West has been searching for its mojo since the postseason began.
After slogging to a first-round win a week ago, the No. 6 Whippets found it Friday at No. 3 Souderton.
West racked up 391 yards of offense and gave the Indians their first loss of the year, 34-17, in the District 1-6A quarterfinals.
The win sets the Whippets up with a rematch against cross-town rival, No. 2 Downingtown East, with a trip to the district final on the line.
“We were kind of riding the wave earlier in the year and kind of got beat down at the end of the year,” West coach Mike Milano said. “We beat ourselves a little against Chester and haven’t been very good on offense and our defense has saved us down the stretch. Finally our offense got on a roll and when we have all three phases going, we can make some noise.”
The defense was the first to step up for West (10-2). On the opening possession the Indians (11-1) marched into the red zone, but on the 17th play of the drive they fumbled at the West 15.
The Whippets used their own long drive, going 85 yards in 14 plays, capped with a 10-yard touchdown run by Quinn Henicle.
Souderton reached the West seven late in the second quarter, but after three illegal procedure penalties hindered their opening drive, a personal foul forced the Indians to settle for a 34-yard field goal.
With a little momentum back on its side, Souderton stopped West on the next possession, but the Indians couldn’t convert two pass plays from their 11 and punted it back with 33 seconds left in the half.
That was plenty for Henicle, who found Dean Hangey for a 33-yard gain and then again for a 34-yard TD on the next play to push the lead to 11 with seven seconds left in the half.
“That was a killer,” Souderton coach Ed Gallagher said. “We got a stop and called time out and our two-minute offense has looked good every week. … We gave it back to them with enough time to do what they did. It’s a killer. If it’s 7-3, we feel a lot better than 14-3, and they scored on their first possession of the second half so we’re chasing points the rest of the game.”
Henicle scored his second rushing TD of the night to put West up, 20-3, and finished with 184 yards passing. Hangey caught seven passes for 135 yards, and his last-second score before the break was set up by a pre-snap read.
“I saw the safety (Danny Dyches) follow the motion and knew I had one-on-one with Dean,” Henicle said. “I gave it a shot and he came down with it. It was a big score to end the half.”
Souderton’s seniors had never lost on their home field, entering Friday, and they didn’t go down without a fight.
The Indians responded with a score on their first drive of the second half to cut their deficit back to 10, but West’s Jake Kucera took the kickoff 99 yards for the score to steal all the momentum back. It was Kucera’s first TD since week five, and also the only kickoff from Souderton that didn’t reach the end zone.
“We have some special kids,” Milano said. “They made some great plays and the offensive line played great. Lately we’ve struggled to get out of our own way and we didn’t (Friday night).”
Souderton scored on a 24-yard pass from Ben Walsh to Dyches 62 seconds into the fourth, but West used up five minutes, 32 seconds with a 12-play, 80-yard drive to ice the game.
Henicle hit Hangey for a 25-yard score on a double move and Kam Alex ran for 56 of his 146 yards on the drive.
“That was very satisfying to be able to do that,” Henicle said.
East and West met in the playoffs for the first time ever, last fall, and the Cougars avenged a regular season loss to advance to the semifinals. This time, West will be looking for retribution in hopes of returning to the district final for the first time since 2019.
“We want to go get revenge,” Henicle said. “We knew the rematch was going to happen and we’re going to be laser-focused and have a great week of preparation and go for it.”
Downingtown West 34, Souderton 17
Downingtown West 0 14 13 7-34
Souderton 0 3 7 7-17
Scoring
Second
DW- Henicle 10 run (Mehan kick)
S- Zuk 34 FG
DW- Hangey 34 pass from Henicle (Mehan kick)
Third
DW- Henicle 1 run (kick blocked)
S- Largent 1 run (Zuk kick)
DW- Kucera 99 kick return (Mehan kick)
Fourth
S- Dyches 24 pass from Walsh (Zuk kick)
DW- Hangey 25 pass from Henicle (Mehan kick)
Team Totals
DW S
First downs 16 12
Yards rushing 207 141
Yards passing 184 157
Total yards 391 298
Passing 9-16-0 15-25-1
Fumbles-lost 1-0 4-1
Punts-avg 3-33.3 3-41.3
Penalties-yds 6-73 6-60
Individual Statistics
Rushing: DW- Alex 21-146; Henicle 7-31, 2 TDs; Taraschi 2-13; Dunn 2-12; Kucera 4-3; Campbell 1-3; Hangey 1-1; team 2-(-2). S- Sadowski 11-95; Nase 9-34; Dyches 4-23; Marshall 3-6; Largent 1-1, TD: team 1-(-1); Walsh 6-(-17).
Passing: DW- Henicle 9-16, 184 yards, 2 TDs. S- Walsh 15-25, 157 yards, TD, INT.
Receiving: DW- Hangey 7-135, 2 TDs; Kucera 1-44; Barry 1-5. S- Dyches 6-76, TD; Smeltz 3-47; Marshall 4-24; Potson 2-10.
Interceptions: DW- Miller
