Downingtown East fends off Plymouth Whitmarsh

DOWNINGTOWN >> Nothing comes easy in the District 1 Class AAAA football playoffs and that proved to be the case Friday night at Kottmeyer Stadium. Underdog Plymouth Whitemarsh, the 16th seed, marched into Downingtown and gave top-seeded and undefeated Downingtown East a huge scare

Plymouth Whitemarsh held a halftime lead before the Cougars surged back and held off a final drive from the Colonials for a thrilling 35-28 victory.

The 11-0 Cougars will host ninth-seeded North Penn in the quarterfinals, next Friday. The Cougars defeated North Penn 28-24 in the third week of the season.

“We were mad at ourselves at halftime,” Downingtown East head coach Mike Matta said. “We knew we could play better, but give those guys credit. They controlled the line of scrimmage on us in the first half and took it to us. And number five (Nafeeses Nasir) is a dude.”

Downingtown East took its first lead of the evening on Cary Angeline’s third touchdown pass of the night. The Colonials were facing a fourth-and-fourth on East 26 with 33 seconds left. Quarterback Joe Strobel had an open Nasir in the end zone, but Michael Gwoah tipped the ball away, and the Cougars held on.

Nasir was marvelous for the Colonials (8-3), carrying the football 30 times for 200 yards and two touchdowns. He also completed four of five passes and made eight tackles.

It was Nasir’s two first-period rushing touchdowns, a 41 yard jaunt and a five-yard run, that gave PW a 14-0 lead.

Angeline caught an eight-yard TD pass from Saunders Healey late in the second to make it a 14-7 game. But the upset alert meter was pinging again when Strobel capped a 10-play drive with a 1-yard plunge to make the East faithful nervous by taking a 21-7 advantage at halftime. The Colonials weren’t doing anything fancy, they were just winning the line of scrimmage.

PW took the opening kickoff of the second half but was forced to punt. Angeline hauled in a nine-yard score to cut the deficit to 21-14.

“We were not worried at halftime,” Angeline said. “We were down at halftime to Coatesville and North Penn, so we knew we could come back. We have been working since December and we did not want this to end here tonight.”

On the next possession, Jeremy Jennings picked off Strobel to put the Cougars back in business at the PW 21. Two plays later, Healy hit Noah Hahn, who has been on fire the last three weeks, for a 31-yard score to tie the game at 21-21. Healy  for the Cougars on a pretty 31 yard touchdown strike to knot the game at 21-21. Healy finished 12-of-19 for 152 yards and five scores.

“Noah Hahn did a great job for us,” Matta said. “And he is the second best tight end in the league by far behind Cary.”

Plymouth Whitemarsh did not go away easily. Strobel capped an 11-play drive by hitting Luke Mascio with a nine yard touchdown pass to Luke Mascio to re-take the lead at 28-21.

Downingtown East outscored the Colonials, 14-0, in the decisive fourth period. They scored on the first play of the fourth when Hahn recorded hid second TD of the game on an eight-yard pass from Healy.

The East defense clamped down on PW, not leeting them, particular Nasir, get outside.

A bad punt gave the Cougars the ball at the Colonials 49. Shortly thereafter, Angeline made a tremendous one-handed grab to score and put them in front, 35-28 with about five minutes left.

Plymouth Whitemarsh drove back down the field as Nasir broke loose for a couple of sizable gains. And with time winding down, Gwoah performed his heroics to let the crowd exhale, and the Cougars move on.

“We did not get down at halftime,” Hahn said. “We have confidence in each other. We came right at them from the beginning of the third period and played the way we are capable of playing.”

Plymouth Whitemarsh — Nasir 41 run (Zygmunt kivk)

Plymouth Whitemarsh — Nasir 5 run (Zygmunt kivk)

Downingtown East — Angeline 8 pass from Healy (Brennan kick)

Plymouth Whitemarsh — Strobel 1 run (Zygmunt kick)

Downingtown East — Angeline 9 pass from Healy (Brennan kick)

Downingtown East — Hahn 31 pass from Healy (Brennan kick)

Plymouth Whitemarsh — Mascio 9 pass from Nasir (Zygmunt kick)

Downingtown East — Hahn 8 pass from Healy (Brennan kick)

Downingtown East — Angeline 45 pass from Healy (Brennan kick)

PW    DE

First downs 18 16

Rushes-yards 46-233 34-112

Passing 7-12-1 12-19-0

Passing yards 79 152

Total yards 312 264

Punts 4-21.5 2-36.0

Fumbles-lost 3-0 1-1

Penalties-yards 12-80 7-40

Rushing — Plymouth Whitemarsh: Nasir 30-200 2TD, Gravinese 12-37, Winterbottom 1-(-2), Strobel 3-(-2). Downingtown East: Kincade 20-59, Healy 12-57, Aivado 1-1, Hanford 1-1.

Passing — Plymouth Whitemarsh: Nasir 4-5-0 58 yards TD, Strobel 3-7-1 21 yards. Downingtown East: Healy 12-19-0 152 yards 5TD.

Receiving — Plymouth Whitemarsh: Mascio 4-38 TD, Gravinese 1-24, Jones 1-8, Nasir 1-(-1). Downingtown East: Hanford 4-13, Hahn 3-66 2TD, Angeline 3-62 3TD, Hammond-Green 1-26, Harris 1-16.

Interceptions — Downingtown East: Jennings.

Sacks — Plymouth Whitemarsh: Chesky. Downingtown East: Hogarth.