DOWNINGTOWN >> With three minutes, seven seconds remaining in the highest-staked Battle of the Brandywine yet, all that stood between Downingtown West and an ultimate legacy moment was a measly 35 yards.
The catch was, Downingtown East’s dominant defense was in the way. The defense that had given up just 33 points in 11 games prior to the District 1-6A semifinal. The defense that held 6 of 11 prior opponents to under 35 yards rushing for entire games. The defense that hadn’t allowed a rushing touchdown all season.
And it was almost like West coach Mike Milano knew all that and took it personally.
“I don’t want to say we challenged the kids, but we read and we see all this stuff,” Milano said. “What’s Downingtown gonna scheme to match their physicality and we just talked, it isn’t X’s and O’s that are physical, it’s players that are physical. They bought in and they got after it. They were embarrassed the way they played the first time.”
So on first down Mike Taraschi took a veer option give for two yards. Quinn Henicle kept it and hurdled a defender for a 13-yard gain on second down. Three more yards on the ground from Kam Alex, followed by five more, setting up third-and-two at the 12. Alex took the handoff off the left side, behind a big block by Ryan Howard on the play side backer, and weaved nine yards.
First and goal from the six, with the clock melting away, Milano knowing this was it. Alex got blown up for a yard loss on first down, and without taking a timeout, Henicle got under center and shifted a pair of Whippets to the left side of the formation.
At the snap, Henicle faked a handoff to the loaded side and bootlegged back to his right with a sea of blue end zone paint just four yards away.
Time seemed to freeze as all noise was vacuumed out of a packed Kottmeyer Stadium.
Henicle raced to the corner as East’s Jack Griffiths and Owen Lammy strived for one more stop. But as Henicle lunged forward and the ball crossed the goal line, the noise and the reality and the magnitude erupted like a sonic boom.
“I just wanted to get to the end zone as fast and as physical as possible,” Henicle said.
West did it the hard way, running the ball seven times for 35 yards, erasing the sting of a 35-7 loss to the Cougars in week 10 and etching this group’s name in the lore of Downingtown’s rich football history.
“It’s obviously very satisfying,” Milano said. “It’s an awesome feeling and it’s what keeps me around. This is amazing. This atmosphere and these rivalry games are just amazing.”
While West very much did match, if not overcome East’s physicality, the newfound aggression fueled by revenge and pride was paired perfectly with adaptations of scheme from the regular season matchup.
Like in the 2019 district final against Coatesville, Milano went to the veer with more frequency, putting the game in his best player’s hands. And instead of leaving Henicle in the pocket, where he was harassed and hit constantly in week 10, Milano rolled him out on the edges.
Most importantly, Milano found ways to get the ball in his playmakers hands.
Jake Kucera, who had just 11 total touches the previous three games, caught five passes for 66 yards and ran it three times for 13 more. Dean Hangey made the catch of his life, getting behind three Cougars defenders and dragging his feet for a 42-yard TD on fourth-and-22 with no time left in the first half.
Alex broke a 57 yard run and finished with 20 more rushing yards (90) than any team put on East all year.
“We thought we were up for the challenge,” Kucera said. “We thought we could do it and we were right.”
West’s defense deserves as much praise, holding East to 179 total yards on 46 plays. The Whippets forced six punts and gave the offense a chance after 12 penalties and two second-half turnovers.
The mission isn’t over for No. 6 West, who travels to No. 5 Central Bucks South for the championship, Friday, but these Whippets are proving quite resilient, if not even a little stubborn, to let a win over a crosstown rival be their crescendo.
“It means everything,” Hangey said. “I almost wanna not lose more than I wanna win because there’s nothing better than playing with my family out there on Friday nights. Every day in practice I just love it so much. This team is really special and we really came together throughout the season.”
