Downingtown West wins shootout with West Chester East

DOWNINGTOWN — For Downingtown West’s Jake Barr, his performance against West Chester East on his birthday will be one he never forgets.

The night made its way to the record books as well, as the host Whippets outscored the Vikings, 59-49, in Ches-Mont National Division action, Friday.

The 108 combined points were a record at Kottmeyer stadium, breaking the previous mark of 97 by Downingtown East and Penncrest in a 2009 playoff game. The teams combined for 1,079 yards, and Barr rushed for 111 yards, added 97 more off receptions and scored six touchdowns, matching Tino Bunhu’s mark in 2012.

“I was really excited, playing West Chester East,” said Barr, who scored three times and totaled 189 yards last year against the Vikings. “I always play well against West Chester East and our team always plays well against them. My offensive line blocked everything and Braden Harper did a heck of a job blocking on the outside.”

Certainly the offensive side played well for West (3-0 division, 7-0 overall), who scored 62 on the Vikings (2-2, 3-4) a year ago. The difference this year was the Vikings were able to keep within striking distance for most of the night.

Barr scored his first TD on West’s opening drive, but Jared Cooper went 65 yards on East’s first play to tie the game at seven. Barr and Cooper went back and forth, scoring their team’s first three touchdowns.

“I did not feel comfortable for a minute,” West coach Mike Milano said. “We don’t want to be in track meets. I’ve been very pleased with our defense for a long while, but we have some big kids injured I thought we could overcome that, but we struggled.”

Cooper had 166 rushing yards and 45 receiving, scoring four times. The Vikings took their one and only lead midway through the second quarter when Jon Jon Roberts hit Alex Hirsch for a 46-yard score.

Roberts has passed for 795 yards the past two games, giving him 6,972 for his career. He passed for four touchdowns in a game for the third time as a four-year starter.

East’s burst in the second quarter was squelched as West went into halftime with a 38-28 lead after scoring the final 17 points.

“I thought we could move the ball with some of the looks we thought we’d get,” East coach Dave Gueriera said. “I thought we did a pretty good job, but unfortunately that’s only one side of the game.”

Zae Murrey scored the first of his two TD receptions on East’s opening drive of the second half, to cut the lead to three, but two fumbles by Roberts, both recovered by West’s Branden Myers, hampered a comeback attempt.

West’s Kevin Kyriakos scored on two counter plays, and Harper ended right on 100 rushing yards, filling in for an injured Mike Riddick.

“We don’t have Mike Riddick and Braden Harper is doing double duty,” Milano said. “The plays that were presented for us were for Jake and he was great.”

Thomas Mattioni completed his first 10 passes for West and ended with 186 yards and two TDs. Roberts went 15-for-15 in the first half and tied a personal-best with 31 completions.

Coming off a 31-30 win against Coatesville a week prior, East had arguably its best back-to-back stretch since winning the Ches-Mont in 2006. But that only goes so far in a tough loss.

“As a head coach I don’t really like the term moral victory, but I’m proud of the way we fought,” Gueriera said. “We don’t stop competing until the final whistle. As a coach you can’t ask for anything more than that.”

East hosts Sun Valley Friday, while the Whippets look to go 8-0 for the first time since the district split, against West Chester Henderson.

Scoring

DW- Barr 1 run (Biscardi kick)

WCE- Cooper 65 run (Phillips kick)

DW- Barr 16 pass from Mattioni (Biscardi kick)

WCE- Cooper 13 pass from Roberts (Phillips kick)

DW- Barr 45 pass from Mattioni (Biscardi kick)

WCE- Cooper 7 run (Phillips kick)

WCE- Hirsch 46 pass from Roberts (Phillips kick)

DW- Barr 8 run (Biscardi kick)

DW- Kyriakos 17 run (Biscardi kick)

DW- Biscardi 25 field goal

WCE- Murrey 5 pass from Roberts (Phillips kick)

DW- Barr 9 run (Biscardi kick)

DW- Kyriakos 38 run (Biscardi kick)

WCE- Cooper 8 run (Phillips kick)

DW- Barr 7 run (Biscardi kick)

WCE- Murrey 5 pass from Roberts (Phillips kick)

TEAM STATISTICS

WCE DW

First downs  24 23

Rush – yards  35-203 47-327

Passing yards  363 186

Total yards 566 513

Passing  31-40-0 11-14-0

Punts-Average  2-32.5 0-0

Fumbles-Lost 2-2 0-0

Penalties-Yards  5-27 10-79

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing: WCE- Cooper 22-166, 3 TDs; Roberts 13-37. DW- Barr 13-111, 3 TDs; Harper 15-100; Kyriakos 4-64, 2 TDs; Mattioni 14-53; team 1-(-1).

Passing: WCE- Roberts 31-40, 363 yards, 4 TDs. DW- Mattioni 11-14, 186, 2 TDs.

Receiving: WCE- Hirsch 6-91, TD; Cooper 6-45, TD; Murrey 5-57, 2 TDs; Carroll 4-72; Wolov 4-54; Wahn 3-24; Gray 2-22; Bernhardy 1-2. DW- Barr 6-97, 2 TDs; Harper 2-38; Kyriakos 2-32; Burke 1-19.

Sacks: WCE- Phelan. DW- Myers, Harper .5, Celommi .5.

Interceptions: none.