Downingtown West moves to 8-0 with runaway win over West Chester East

WEST GOSHEN >> Defending the undefeated Downingtown West offense is like trying to plug a leak in a boat full of holes. Stop one thing, another will do you in and eventually you will drown. 

Friday night at Harold Zimmerman Stadium, the undefeated Whippets did not get their best game from quarterback and Kansas State-commit Will Howard. But in stepped Tyriq Lewis. 

Lewis rushed for 235 yards and three touchdowns and the rest of the Whippets did their usual superlative thing in rolling to an impressive 50-27 nonleague win over West Chester East. 

Downingtown West rolled up 431 total yards of offense on the night.

“I was just trying to play my game tonight,” Lewis said. “We really do not focus on the opposition because our coaches tell us to do our thing and worry abbout our assignemnts. Tonight, we ran the ball a lot and we had some success doing that. We have a lot of players who can do a lot of things and that is why we are 8-0. Next week we have Coatesville and one of our goals was to win the Ches-Mont and we have to beat Coatesville to do that. But, that is just our first goal but we have to get that one first before districts and states.”

The Downingtown West (8-0) defense opened things up by trapping West Chester East (6-2) star Kyle Cichanowsky in the end zone for a safety and a 2-0 Whippet lead. The Downingtown West defense limited the county’s leading rusher to 104 yards on 21 carries. 

After a Viking three and out, West drove down the field and Lewis banged in from three yards out for a 9-0 Whippet advantage.

But the Vikings came right back when Ryan Duell hit a streaking Colin Warner in stride for a 79-yard touchdown run to make it a 9-7 game. Downingtown West, which rushed for 344 yards on the night, used its punishing running attack to take a 23-14 lead into the locker room at halftime and Viking quarterback Duell would not play the rest of the game with a right hand injury.

But sophomore Ryan McIntire hit John Wileczek for a 42-yard touchdown in the second quarter for a Viking score, and would go 10 for 19 for 147 yards passing in a good relief effort.

But the Downingtown West offense was just too tough for the Viking defense. After Cichanowsky scored from a yard out early in the third quarter to make it a 23-20 game, it was all Downingtown West.

Howard called his own number and went in fromthree yards out to cap a long Whippet drive and then after a Viking turn over on downs, Alex Rosano scampered 16 yards around the right side and Downingtown West took a 36-20 lead after three quarters, and was were driving when the period ended.

The Whippets iced the game on the first play of the fourth quarter when Max Hale rammed in from a yard out and the Whipepts were up 43-20, and the outcome was all but decided.

“Will did not have his best game but I have a lot of guys that can do things,” Downingtown West head coach Mike Milano said. “We have the best tight end in the league and Will can do so many things on the field. Tyriq is a great back and we have the Rosano kid that can hurt teams. They are a very coachable group and they are great kids.

“Hopefully we can keep this going next week and beyond and we hope Will has his best game next week. We have work to do to get ready for next week.”

For West Chester East, it was a tough loss against the top rated 6A team in District 1, and Viking head coach Scott Stephen was very impressed with the Whippets.

“They are 8-0 and on top for a reason,” Stpehen said. “That is one hell of a football team. They do everything with precision and they are going to be tough for anybody they play.”