Costin’s big stand saves Shanahan against W. C. East
EAST GOSHEN — With West Chester East at the Bishop Shanahan 35 yard line with two minutes to play, Vikings’ quarterback Jon Jon Roberts sprinted to his left, right out of the grasp of Eagles’ defensive lineman Doug Costin.
At that moment it likely felt to the entire Shanahan team that the game was slipping right through its hands, but when Roberts couldn’t find any receivers open, he reversed his field and ended up coming right back to Costin.
This time, Costin didn’t miss, as he caught Roberts and stripped the ball that was recovered by teammate Mike Robinson. Shanahan survived a frantic rally by East to earn a 33-28 road win in the Ches-Mont National Division opener, Friday.
Roberts became the Ches-Mont League’s second 6,000 yard passer on the evening, but counterpart Nick Skulski outdid him in his fourth start as an Eagle, throwing for 230 yards and two touchdowns. It was Costin’s second sack of the game, however, that sealed the victory.
“I was lucky enough that he came back,” Costin said. “(Roberts) is a great athlete and we had to keep him contained and we didn’t do that at times. I was just lucky he came back to me.”
After Roberts’ second touchdown pass of the game with seven minutes, 45 seconds left cut Shanahan’s lead to five, the Eagles (1-0 division, 2-2 overall) drove 54 yards in five plays to push the lead back to 12 with Josh Burke’s second TD run.
But Zach Hirsch managed to sneak through Shanahan’s coverage unit for an 89-yard kick return score on the ensuing kickoff. Nick Phillips then recovered his own onsides kick up the middle to give East (0-1, 1-3) the ball at midfield with 4:26 left.
“I was proud of our guys and the way they fought,” East coach Dave Gueriera said. “We’re on to a new frontier here and we’re in every Ches-Mont game. We just need to learn how to win and that’s not easy after having lost for so many years.”
Three runs by Jared Cooper got East to the Shanahan 28, but a false start stalled the momentum, setting up Costin’s heroic stand two plays later. Both teams were penalized 10 times.
“It’s something we’ve been echoing all week to limit mistakes and limit turnovers,” Gueriera said. “We always seemed to shoot ourselves in the foot once we got something good going.”
Skulski had dealt with some similar first-year-starter mistakes, throwing five interceptions in the Eagles two losses. Against East, he put it all together, completing all nine of his first-half passes for 160 yards and two TDs. He was almost as precise in the second half, and converted a key third down on Shanahan’s final scoring drive to his top target, Dan Neuhaus (five receptions, 58 yards, touchdown).
“I was really impressed by (Skulski),” Shanahan coach Paul Meyers said. “He started well and he was spot on in the first half.”
Mike Sprague had four catches for 82 yards and a score, as well as a first-half interception for the Eagles.
“I was really proud we were able to get over the hump,” Meyers said. “We haven’t been able to finish. We had been trying to find a way and finally did it.”
Roberts was 31 yards away from 6,000 for his career coming in, and his 154 on the night makes him the second to reach that milestone behind former Downingtown East QB, Pat Devlin, who finished with 8,162 yards.
“It’s an unbelievable achievement by an unbelievable kid,” Gueriera said. “He’s been the face of the program for four years and I can’t wait to see where he ends up.”
Bishop Shanahan 33, West Chester East 28
Bishop Shanahan 0 19 7 7 —- 33
West Chester East 0 7 7 14 — 28
Scoring
BS- Sprague 23 pass from Skulski (run failed)
WCE- Wolov 16 pass from Roberts (Phillips kick)
BS- Burke 9 run (run failed)
BS- Neuhaus 28 pass from Skulski (George kick)
WCE- Roberts 49 run (Phillips kick)
BS- Riccardo 14 run (George kick)
WCE- Murrey 15 pass from Roberts (Phillips kick)
BS- Burke 8 run (George kick)
WCE- Hirsch 89 kick return (Phillips kick)
TEAM STATISTICS
BS WCE
First downs 17 16
Rush – yards 33-214 34-308
Passing yards 230 154
Total yards 444 462
Passing 14-17-0 14-23-1
Punts-Average 2-34.5 2-21
Fumbles-Lost 3-0 2-0
Penalties-Yards 10-86 10-112
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing: BS- Skulski 8-64; Dearing 4-31; Guinan 7-28; Smyth 4-26; Burke 4-25, 2 TDs; Gueriera 1-18; Riccardo 2-18, TD; Sprague 2-6; team 1-(-2). WCE- Roberts 14-177, TD; Cooper 19-132; Wolov 1-(-1).
Passing: BS- Skulski 14-17, 230 yards, 2 TD. WCE- Roberts 14-23, 154 yards, 2 TDs, INT.
Receiving: BS- Neuhaus 5-58, TD; Sprague 4-82, TD; Dearing 2-33; Smyth 1-20; Guinan 1-20; Burke 1-7. WCE- Hirsch 4-39; Carroll 3-41; Murrey 3-27, TD; Gray 1-18; Wolov 1-16, TD; Richardson 1-9; Cooper 1-4.
Sacks: BS- Costin 2. WCE- none.
Interceptions: BS- Sprague. WCE- none.
