Coatesville tops Kennett to grab last playoff spot; Blue Demons just miss out on berth

KENNETT SQUARE >> The Coatesville football coaching staff was instinctively leery about Friday’s visit to Kennett.

It was understandable because the Red Raiders were coming off back-to-back rivalry victories against Downingtown West and East. And the host Blue Demons are no longer a pushover.

Things played out as they expected, with Coatesville looking a bit unfocused early, but the Raiders got it together in the second half and cruised to a 34-6 triumph to finish the abridged regular season at 4-0.

“We’ve been coaching long enough, we kind of sensed it during the week,” said Coatesville head coach Matt Ortega. “I readdressed it at halftime and said, ‘We told you all week, and here you go. Now you have to trust in us as coaches.”

Clinging to a 14-3 halftime lead, the Raiders did exactly that behind senior running back Dametrius McClain-Jackson, who scored two of his three touchdowns in the second half and gained 103 yards of his 177 total after the halftime intermission.

“(McClain-Jackson) is fast and he’s not tall so he is good at hiding, tucking and weaving,” Kennett coach Lance Frazier said. “That kid is definitely lightning.”

With the win, Coatesville — unofficially — grabbed the fourth and final playoff spot in the abbreviated District 1 playoffs. The Red Raiders look like they will travel to No. 1 Pennridge on Friday night.

“We are in the playoffs and that’s familiar territory for us,” Ortega said. “Now we want to shine and get back to another (district) final.”

Kennett entered the day No. 5 in the District 1 5A power rankings, but having dropped two in a row to fall to 2-2, the Blue Demons, unofficially, appear to have just missed out on a playoff berth, finishing in a tie with Wissahickon for fourth, but losing the tiebreaker.

“Our coaches said Kennett wasn’t going to roll over and they showed that in the first half,” McClain-Jackson said. “We may have taken this game a little lightly but we picked it up in the second half.”

The Demons opened the game with a 13-play drive that chewed up more than eight minutes on the clock, but thanks to a sack by the Raiders’ Francisco Hall, Kennett came away without a point. The Demons did open the scoring, however, soon thereafter when Ryan Barker booted a 32-yard field goal and few moments after teammate David Lillis blocked a Coatesville punt.

“We caught them off guard in that first drive, and that was the game plan, to keep (Coatesville’s) explosiveness off the field for as long as possible,” Frazier said.

The Raiders came right back to take the lead for good, with quarterback Harrison Susi running it in from seven yards out. Coatesville linebacker Amir Gregg then set up a second quarter score with an interception. That led to a 3-yard scoring toss from Susi to McClain-Jackson.

Kennett wound up turning the ball over on its final three possessions of the first half, but were only down by 11.

“The turnovers can kill you,” Frazier said. “But we have some young guys who are growing up before our eyes. We challenged them after last (week’s loss to Exeter) to play with more physicality and sense of urgency.”

McClain-Jackson scored on runs of 50- and 18-yards on the Raiders first two series of the second half. Barker’s second field goal – this time from 38-yards out – made it 27-6 through three quarters.

Coatesville wideout Dowayne Molina wrapped up the scoring with a 34-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter. The Raiders outgained the Demons 324-159.

“Coming off those two rivalry games, we talked to the kids all week about coming out here and taking care of business,” Ortega said. “(Kennett) is a well-coached team that has a winning culture now, so we knew they were going to battle. They were going for a playoff spot just like us.

“We came out lethargic, but we played our kind of football in the second half. We gave them life early, but we made plays when we had to, so we’re glad to get out of here with a ‘W.”

Defensively, the Raiders surrendered just 65 rushing yards, and held runner Julian Sparacino to 11 yards on 12 carries. Sparacino did lead Kennett with six catches for 46 yards.

The star of the game was McClain-Jackson, who averaged 11 yards per carry and notched three of his team’s five touchdowns.

“He is a hard-nosed kid,” Ortega said. “I am so proud of him because last season people were hard on him. But I really feel like he is the most improved football player on our team.”

McClain-Jackson added: “Last season I made some mistakes and got my starting spot taken away. But I worked really hard in the offseason to improve myself.

“I really trust my teammates. They were creating holes for me and I was just making it happen.”