Henicle, Hangey and Kucera break out, as Dtown West tops Neshaminy

DOWNINGTOWN >> On the first play of Downingtown West’s second drive, Jake Kucera, coming from a jet motion on the left side, took a handoff from Quinn Henicle, before firing a pass deep down the right sideline, where Dean Hangey caught the ball over a defender and raced into the end zone for a 63-yard touchdown.

That trio of juniors is the biggest reason there is excitement at West again. And with head coach, Mike Milano, pulling the strings, you can bet all three will be getting as many creative touches as possible. 

Kucera caught two touchdown passes from Henicle, to go with his own TD pass to Hangey to propel the hosting Whippets to a 30-7 win over Neshaminy, in the non-league contest.

“I love doing this,” Kucera said. “This is my favorite thing to do in life, being out here with the guys every Friday. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

It was fireworks from the get-go for West (2-1), who jumped on Neshaminy (2-1) on its fourth play, when Henicle hit a wide-open Kucera for a 49-yard score.

Late in the second quarter, the Henicle-Kucera connection resulted in six, and again, it was where Milano loves to attack, right up the seam.

“It helps when you have a kid who knows how to sling it and a couple kids who can catch,” Milano said.

Neshaminy, who had given up just seven total points in its first two games, found itself down, 13-0, just over five minutes into the game. 

On the first play of the second quarter, John Mulville finished a drive for the Whippets with a two-yard TD run, in his first action of the season.

“We had a scripted set of plays, and it worked out well,” Milano said.

On the first play of the game, Neshaminy sprung a 50-yard pass play, but a 27-yard field goal four plays later was blocked. Neshaminy had two fourth-and-ones that it lined up to go for on its next two possessions, but pre-snap penalties forced punts. Neshaminy committed 10 pre-snap penalties in the game.

Hangey also picked off a Neshaminy pass and forced a fumble that led to Kucera’s second TD.

“We try to come out of the gate and punch teams in the mouth,” said Hangey, who transferred back from Malvern Prep in the offseason. “I think we did a pretty good job of that in the first half.”

Hangey led all receivers with seven receptions for 139 yards. Kucera added five catches for 95 yards and another 32 on the ground. Henicle completed 13 of 18 passes for 198 yards and his pair of TD passes gives him six in his first two games as a starter.

“I definitely think it’s taken some time to develop,” Kucera said. “Dean is obviously in his first year here, but all during the summer we saw the potential we had and I’m excited to see what we can do this year.”

Any prolonged success will require a full 48 minutes of consistency. Last week, West led Perkiomen Valley, 26-10, at halftime and lost, 30-29. Against Neshaminy, the Whippets racked up 303 total yards of offense and 30 points by halftime and finished with 355 total yards and 30 points.

The majority of Whippet starters are underclassmen, and many go both ways, so Milano knows there will be some growing pains.

“I couldn’t be more proud about our first half of football,” Milano said. “The second half, that’s two straight weeks we’ve struggled and I don’t know if it’s a conditioning issue, but it’s something we have to work on.”

Neshaminy finally got on the board late in the third when Markus Barnett cashed in from the five, but with West’s big lead, the outcome was never in jeopardy.

“We didn’t give up, but all the credit goes to Downingtown,” Neshaminy coach Steve Wilmot said. “They’re a nice team. Our strength is our line and their strength is their line, but they have a couple good skill kids, too. They had a little more firepower than we did.”

Downingtown West 30, Neshaminy 7

Neshaminy   0 0 7 0-7

Downingtown West  13 17 0 0-30

                                     Scoring

First Quarter

DW- Kucera 49 pass from Henicle (Mehan kick)

DW- Hangey 63 pass from Kucera (kick failed)

Second Quarter

DW- Mulville 2 run (Mehan kick)

DW- Kucera 15 pass from Henicle (Mehan kick)

DW- Mehan 24 FG

Third Quarter

N- Barnett 5 run (Nicastro kick)

                                      Team Totals

                         N              DW

First downs      11            12

Yards rushing  33-125    28-94

Yards passing  110            261

Total yards      235          355

Passing      13-21-1         14-19-0

Fumbles-lost    3-2           5-2

Punts-avg.     4-32      2-33.5

Penalties-yds  11-55        4-55

                                    Individual Statistics

Rushing: Neshaminy — Barnett 20-92, TD; Hammond 3-26; Rearick 4-10; Long 1-0; Baker 5-(-3). Downingtown West — Mulville 6-32; Kucera 3-32; Henicle 10-32; Hayford 2-10; Alex 2-1; Barry 1-(-1); Miller 1-(-6); Dunn 3-(-6).

Passing: Neshaminy — Baker 12-19, 105 yards, INT; Long 1-2, 5 yards. Downingtown West — Henicle 13-18, 198 yards, 2 TDs; Kucera 1-1, 63 yards, TD

Receiving: Neshaminy — Morris 3-56; Lavelah 2-35; Frederick 4-6; Lovelace 1-5; Goodman 1-5; Tarapchak 1-3; Molle 1-0. Downingtown West — Hangey 7-139, TD; Kucera 5-95, 2 TDs; Dunn 1-18; Alex 1-9.

Interceptions: Downingtown West — Hangey.