Matta not satisfied with Downingtown East’s runaway win over Avon Grove

DOWNINGTOWN >> All wins are not the same. Just ask Downingtown East coach Mike Matta.

Despite a successful opening of the Ches-Mont League National Divsion portion of their schedule with a 48-17 victory over Avon Grove on Friday at Kottmeymer Stadium, the Cougars’ head coach was not a satisfied person.

“Zero,” he said when he was asked with his happiness level of the game.

Offensively, the Cougars, who stayed unbeaten at 4-0, have two sledgehammers in the backfield — Garvey Jonassaint and Zach Hamilton — and they put them to very productive use Friday. Jonassaint ran for 197 yards and three touchdowns and Hamilton added 125 yards and three scores as the offensive line imposed its will on the Red Devils’ young defensive front.

“We came out a little slow in the first half, I thought we shot ourselves in the foot a little,” said Jonassaint. “We came in at halftime, made some adjustments, and the line kicked into gear. All the credit goes to them. I just do my job and follow the holes.”

Any complacency the Cougars might have had was shaken out of them with a thunderbolt of a first play from scrimmage.

Sophomore Sean Glatts broke through a large hole tackle and sped past defenders en route to a 76-yard score and a shock 6-0 lead following the missed extra point.

“Our back’s fast and it was actually a nice job by the O-line and hit the hole and score,” said Avon Grove coach Harry O’Neill. “There’s not a whole lot of rocket science to it. But, that was a nice start for us, but we couldn’t keep any momemntum.”

The Red Devils (2-2) had a chance to jolt the D-East fans more after recovering a fumble at its 40. They gained just two yards and were forced to punt. The Cougars blocked it, and took over at the 13.

Three plays later, Jonassaint galloped in from the eight for the lead.

Avon Grove move the ball on its next drive, until Stuart Regitz intercepted a fourth-down pass to thwart the Red Devils.

The Cougars started the first of a number of methodical scoring drives, going 10 plays, 58 yards to add to their advantage, Luke Davis found tight end Connor Noble open for a 28-yard strike and a 14-6 lead after one.

After an Avon Grove three-and-out, the Cougars were back on the march. Hamilton capped off another 10-play drive by careening in from the nine for a 21-6 lead early in the second.

Jonassaint got his second of the evening, this time from four-yards out and a 28-6 bulge.

“They came out strong, but we knew it was really nothing to worry about,” Jonassaint said. “The defense wasn’t on their “A” game tonight, but they did what they had to do to hold it down.”

The Cougars built a 35-6 lead as Hamilton burrowed in from the three shortly before the break.

East racked up a whopping 20 first downs in the half, notching 248 yards of total offense.

However, the deficit could have been shorter, the Red Devils had four plays that saw open receivers well behind the secondary, however junior quarterback JT MacDonald couldn’t make the connection.

The one time he did came on AG’s first possession after the break. He hit Tyre Stead in stride for a 47-yard score to trail 35-14.

But, Hamilton and Jonassaint added TD runs for the final margin.

“I thank my line for that,” Hamilton said of his three scores. “I also like to thank Garvey. We work well together as a team.”

Despite the impressive victory, Maata feels that the defense needs some shoring up before they face Bishop Shanahan in their final home game of the season.

“We played some pretty good defense up to this game, but we have go back to the drawing board a little bit,” said Matta. “They were close to making this a closer game, we have some work to do.”

For Avon Grove, the continued maturation of MacDonald is promising for O’Neill.

“I like my quarterback,” said O’Neill. “I think he’s got a good arm and had good pocket prescence and each game he gets better and better.”

NOTES >> Since the Cougars are playing their first five games at home before being away for their last five, Friday was Homecomming. .. MacDonald finished 8-of-27 for 118 yards with two interceptions. … Ethan Waldbuesser also had a pick for the Cougars. … Bobby Smith tried a 50-yard field goal at the end of the first half. The effort was on target, but fell just a bit short. .. Downingtown East now goes to 13-0 all-time versus Avon Grove.