Avon Grove surges past Downingtown East, into District 1 Semis
LONDON GROVE – Patience may be a virtue, but few head coaches have much of it. And Avon Grove’s Eric Jackson is no different.
He knows that in order to challenge for the District 1 crown and successfully defend the 2017 Class 3A state title, his Red Devils must make strides on the offensive end. And on Saturday, during an impressive 11-3 triumph over league rival Downingtown East in a district quarterfinal action, there was definitely some movement in the right direction.
“We are seeing flashes,” he said, “but as a coach, I’m never too happy. Put it this way: there are definitely some things we can clean up.”
The defense has been ultra-solid all season. So if the Avon Grove attack is starting to round into form, the sky is the limit.
“Earlier this season, I was getting a little frustrated with our attack, but we have so many phenomenal players and they are really starting to work together better,” said Devils’ defensive star Bryce DeMuth. “They have more confidence in themselves, and (Saturday) they let it loose.”
Sixteen days earlier, Avon Grove nipped the Cougars 8-6 in the regular season. The rematch was a clear sign that progress is being made.
“Today was a little more of a complete game, but still not perfect,” Jackson said.
“We are clicking now on the attack,” added standout midfielder Jake Smith. “We had some great practices this week and I think our trajectory is on the upswing.
“If we play our best, we can handle some teams. If we can do that, I don’t think we can be stopped.”
The top-seeded Devils improve to 17-1 overall and advance to the district semifinals on Tuesday, where they will host fourth-seeded Conestoga, who won the Central League. It is a rematch of the 2017 district final (which the Pioneers won) and the subsequent state title clash (where Avon Grove prevailed).
“We have one of the best goalies in the state (in Nico Iocovino), but when you keep giving (Avon Grove) opportunity after opportunity because you can’t clear the ball, they get second chances,” East head coach Todd Liggett explained. “And they are a good team, so they are going to capitalize.”
The eighth-seeded Cougars (13-7) can still make it to the PIAA Tournament, but they will have to beat No. 5 Spring-Ford on the road Tuesday in the playback round in order to get it done.
“We’ve had some ups and some downs this season,” Liggett said. “Our goal is to makes states. So if you ask me in a week, I will let you know what kind of a season we’ve had.”
During one pivotal 31-minute span on Saturday, the Red Devils clamped down defensively and limited East to just a single goal. During that stretch, Avon Grove turned a tie game into an insurmountable 9-2 fourth quarter lead.
The offense certainly did its part, and so did senior faceoff specialist Nate Hammond. DeMuth said that he is the team MVP, and “one of the best faceoff guys in the country.”
“You can’t have a good offense without the ball and Nate does a heck of a job doing that,” Jackson said.
“Nate is going to get us the ball 80 percent of the time, so I like those odds,” added Smith, who scored two goals. “It is so important. I am confident we are going to score on at least half of those possessions.”
It was knotted at 1-1 when Avon Grove’s snipers took over in the second period. Smith gave the Devils the lead for good with a laser and Zach Augustine quickly followed on a pass from Scooter Whiteside.
Grady Meredith temporarily stemmed the tide with a goal for East, but Nick Chastain scored a pair in less than two minutes to put Avon Grove in front 5-2 at the half. It was a 4-1 quarter for the Devils, and all four shots were tracers that got by Iacovino, who turned aside eight in the half.
Senior Joey Borcky led the way in the second half with a goal and three assists, and Jason Lengel scored two of his three goals after the intermission.
“(Downingtown East) has a good defense and a great goalie, so it was nice to see the ball in the back of the net,” Jackson said, hesitantly.
It was the 15th time this season that the Avon Grove defense surrendered five or fewer goals.
“We’ve always liked to build from the back end,” Jackson pointed out. “We’ve got a strong goaltender in Andrew (Spencer), our short-stick defense middies are playing great. We have kids like Scooter (Whiteside) who can get up and down the field and play all over the place, and DeMuth is the quarterback back there.”
DeMuth added: “This was a great game but I don’t think we’ve played our best yet.”
Avon Grove 11, Downingtown East 3
Downingtown East 1 1 0 1 — 3
Avon Grove 1 4 4 2 — 11
Downingtown East goals: Mulcahy, Meredith, Miller.
Avon Grove goals: Lengel 3, J. Chastain, Smith 2, Borcky, Augustine 2, N. Chastain 2.
Goalie saves: Iacovino (DE) 11; Spencer (AG) 6.
