Downingtown East pulls away from Unionville, sets up showdown with Coatesville

DOWNINGTOWN >> Downingtown East football is punctuated by hard-hitting defense, physical offensive line play and a potent running attack.

All these components came to the fore in the second half Friday night at Kottmeyer Stadium as the host Cougars broke open a three-point game at halftime, scoring 21 unanswered points and handing Unionville its first loss of the season, 45-21, in a very entertaining nonleague affair.

[PETE BANNAN PHOTO GALLERY FROM THE GAME]

Unionville, which entered the night ranked 15th in the Pa. Prep Live Top 20, scored on a long 56-yard catch and run as Alex Gorgone hit JT Hower for a score and got another scoring pass from Gorgone to Joe Zubillaga sandwiched around a four-yard touchdown run by Jack Adams in the first half to only trail the favored Cougars 24-21 at intermission.

No. 4 Downingtown East (8-0) rushed for 341 yards and quarterback Bryce Lauletta added 99 through the air as the Cougars stayed undefeated, dominating the second half, and looking ahead to next week’s big showdown with the big, bad Coatesville Red Raiders.

“We turned things up in the second half and that is why we work so hard since January 2,” Downingtown East running back Tim Aivado said. “They were a good team but at halftime the coaches told us to play the way we are taught and we did that in the second half.”

Unionville (7-1) quarterback Alex Gorgone threw for 223 yards in the first half but only seven yards in the second half, and the Indians rushed the football for just 23 yards for the game. Unionville only had the ball for a little over four minutes in the decisive second half as the Cougars wore down the game Indians.

“They are not only a two platoon team but a very good two platoon team,” Unionville head coach Pat Clark said. “We got the ball on their onside kick to start the second half but we could not move the ball and we did not protect as well in the second half. But, our kids played very, very hard tonight.”

Downingtown East went on one of its patented long drives after the Indians turned the ball over on an interception as the Cougars marched 80 yards on 12 plays, 11 of them running plays, and Jack Riley ended the drive by catching a three-yard scoring toss from Lauletta to make it a 31-21 game.

Unionville could do nothing after the kickoff and lost the ball when Jack Hayward intercepted Gorgone, one of three Gorgone interceptions on the night. Downingtown East this time marched 66 yards on seven plays after the Unionville turnover as Aivado, Garvey Jonassaint and Brassir Stocker chewed up the Unionville defense for good yardage. The Cougars accumulated 27 first downs on the night and kept the clock moving in the second half as well as keeping the ball away from the Indians offense. Stocker went the final three yards to make it a 38-21 game.

“We did not make any adjustments at halftime but we played harder in the second half,” Downingtown East lineman Connor Munnelly said. “They are a very good team and they were well coached but we turned up the intensity in the second half. We did not practice that week this week and we have to tighten that up this week because we know who is coming in here next week.”

Unionville’s offense couldn’t muster anything in the second half after scoring three touchdowns in the first half and the Cougars put the game away when Jonassaint capped a 61-yard scoring drive with pretty 43-yard touchdown jaunt to make it a 45-21 game and the Cougars were left as the only undefeated team in the county.

“We really did not make any adjustments at halftime,” Downingtown East head coach Mike Matta said. “They were very good and they are undefeated for a reason. We told the kids to play the way we taught them and they played typical Downingtonw East football in the second half.”