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DOWNINGTOWN >> The Downingtown East football team likes to talk about imposing its will on opposing teams. Friday night at Kottmeyer Stadium, it was Downingtown West who imposed its will in the District 1 Class 6A semifinals. West drove 35 yards at the end of the fourth quarter by running right at the Cougars’ vaunted defense for the winning score.
The scoring drive culminated when quarterback Quinn Henicle went four yards around the right side for the winning score with 16 seconds to play as West avenged a regular-season loss to the Cougars with a thrilling 17-14 win.
The sixth-seeded Whippets (11-2) handed the Cougars (11-1) their first loss of the season. West will travel to No. 5 Central Bucks South next Friday for a chance at the district title.
“I think our mentality was different from the first game,” said West lineman Ryan Howard. ”We really came to play tonight. I mean they played a real good game, but we just seemed to wear them down a little. When we got that touchdown at the end of the first half, it was a big momentum boost for us. We were really pumped up in the locker room at halftime after that.”
The touchdown Howard spoke of came on a fourth-and-22 from the East 42-yard-line with two seconds left in the first half. Henicle, who was superb the whole game, ending with 197 yards through the air, threw a missile to the back of the end zone that Dean Hangey toe-tapped before he fell out of bounds to give West a 10-7 lead at halftime.
West took a 3-0 lead when Ben Mehan kicked a 21-yard field goal on the first possession of the game. The West defense, which gave up 181 yards to running back Ayden Harris in the first game between the pair, was giving next to nothing in this affair. Harris finished with 11 yards on 26 carries. The Whippets punished him the entire game and it was clear they were winning the line of scrimmage.
The Cougars took the second-half kickoff and went three-and-out and punted. West was moving the ball when Matt Cogliatti stripped the ball the from the Whippets’ runner and the Cougars recovered on the West 44.
East then went on a seven-play, 44-yard scoring drive with Harris and Owen Lammy doing the work. Quarterback JJ Helverson hit Lammy for 16 yards down to the West 4. Two plays later, Harris bulled in from the two and East had the lead back at 14-10.
The fourth quarter saw both teams trade punts. West had a 49-yard effort that pinned East on its own one. Three running plays later, East had only advanced the football to its 7. A short punt gave the West great field position at the East 35 with 3:07 left.
Henicle rolled untouched around the left side down to the 20 on the first play of the drive. Kam Alex then ran to the 12. Alex ran again, this time down to the four with the clock running down.
Two more runs yielded nothing. On third down, Henicle took the football and dashed around the right side for the game-winner to put the Whippets into the championship game and end the Cougars’ season. The 17 points was the most they have allowed since giving up 26 to State College in the second game of the season.
“I have dreamed about playing for a district title for so long,” West receiver Jake Kucera said. “It is a dream come true. The difference from the first time we played them was we got down 28-0 to them early last time. Then we relaxed and played them even in the second half. Tonight, we felt everybody but us was counting us out and we really came in and played our hearts out.”
The gigantic win puts West coach Mike Milano in line to claim his third district title in his head coaching career, but he was just interested in talking about how much heart his team showed Friday night.
“We have been in and out and up and down all season,” Milano said. “When we played them the first time. they thumped us. But, we brought the film in this week and we saw they ran the ball 23 times for four yards last time. We thought if we could steal 10 of those plays and get it down to three yards we would be all right. These kids just played and played and played and they played their hearts out tonight.
“I have said many times before that I have some real tough Downingtown kids, and they showed that once again tonight.”
Downingtown West 17, Downingtown East 14
Downingtown West 3 7 0 7-17
Downingtown East 7 0 7 0-14
Scoring
DW- Mehan 21 FG
DE- Harris 2 run (Hornak kick)
DW- Hangey 42 pass from Henicle (Mehan kick)
DE- Harris 2 run (Hornak kick)
DW- Henicle 4 run (Mehan kick)
Team Totals
DW DE
First downs 15 10
Yards rushing 34-139 37-123
Yards passing 197 56
Total yards 336 179
Passing 16-23-0 5-9-0
Fumbles-lost 4-2 3-1
Punts-avg 4-42.5 6-27.0
Penalties-yds 12-67 6-43
Individual Statistics
Rushing: DW: Alex 16-90; Dunn 3-15; Kucera 3-13; Henicle 9-10 TD; Taraschi 2-8; Campbell 1-3. DE: Harris 26-111 2 TD; Lammy 8-8; Helverson 3-4.
Passing: DW: Henicle 16-23-0 197 yards TD. DE: Helverson 5-9-0 56 yards.
Receiving: DW: Kucera 5-66; Alex 3-13; Hangey 2-56 TD; Campbell 2-34; Smith 1-21; Barry 1-7. DE: Noble 2-22; Lammy 1-16; Brown 1-11; Walsh 1-7.
Sacks: DE: Mason; Shannon.
