Mistakes doom WC East as Vikes fall to Manheim Central in opener

WEST GOSHEN >> In the end, Manheim Central clearly established they were the better team at Harold I . Zimmerman field, Friday night.

Any chance West Chester East had to at least compete and gain some grit, however, was denied by self-inflicted mistakes.

The visiting Barons scored four non-offensive touchdowns to rout the Vikings, 56-7, in the non-league season-opener, leaving East to lick its wounds as it hopes to begin league play, next week, in a more favorable fashion.

“We made too many mistakes,” East coach Scott Stephen said. “When you play a tough team like Manheim Central, they’re going to capitalize. And they did. When you don’t take care of the football on offense or special teams, good teams make you pay.”

The Vikings (0-1) forced a quick punt on the opening possession, but on their second play on offense, first-time starter Mike Renzi’s pass was picked off and taken in for a score by Manheim’s Rocco Daugherty.

East responded, with Mitch Ragni breaking off a 62-yard run to the Manheim six. On fourth-and-goal, Ragni punched it in from the two, to tie the game, 7-7.

That was the last of the positives for the Vikes, who went into halftime trailing, 35-7.

“Everything went wrong,” Ragni said. “As a team, we’re all embarrassed. We have a lot of work to do and we have to get after it. There’s no getting around that. We all know that score doesn’t reflect who we are and we have to work past it and get ready for Great Valley.”

After Manheim broke the 7-7 tie on its next possession, the Barons benefitted from a high punt snap that set them up at the East 10. Two plays later, Jaden West made it 21-7.

On the Vikings’ next series, their punt was blocked and Daugherty was at the right spot again for a scoop and score touchdown. 

The Barons were deep in East territory late in the second quarter when the Vikings made a stand, but after East took over on downs, Ragni was stripped and once again, Daugherty was there to recover and sprint into the end zone for his third TD.

“It’s game one,” Stephen said. “I don’t think it defines anything In sports and in life, there are lessons to be learned and we learned some tough ones.”

Outside of Ragni’s big first-quarter jaunt, the senior had 19 carries for just 34 yards the rest of the way, before getting pulled in the third.

Manheim kept its starters in, into the fourth, and Zac Hahn, the coach’s son, fired a 58-yard touchdown to make the score 49-7. 

“Our job on defense is to make a stop regardless of what’s going on, and we didn’t do that,” Stephen said. “They were working on what they thought they needed to work on.”

Ragni was the only option for East, against Manheim. Wide receiver, Tyler Wileczek, only got one touch on offense and Renzi was five-for-14 for 12 yards, passing. The Vikings ran just eight plays in Manheim territory for the game.

Mason Grear recorded an interception on defense for East, hosts Great Valley, Friday.

Manheim Central 56, West Chester East 7

Manheim Central  21 14 7 7-56

West Chester East      7 0 0 0-7

                                     Scoring

First Quarter

MC- R. Daugherty 22 interception return (Neff kick)

WCE- Ragni 2 run (Nowak kick)

MC- Armold 15 run (Neff kick)

MC- Weit 4 run (Neff kick)

Second Quarter

MC- R. Daugherty 6 punt block return (Reed kick)

MC- R. Daugherty 19 fumble recovery (Neff kick)

Third Quarter

MC- R. Daugherty 2 run (Reed kick)

Fourth Quarter

MC- Enterline 58 pass from Hahn (Neff kick)

                                      Team Totals

                         MC              WCE

First downs      15         5

Yards rushing  33-213   31-76

Yards passing  140            12

Total yards      353           88

Passing      9-19-1         5-14-1

Fumbles-lost    0-0              3-2

Punts-avg.    2-38.5         5-22.8

Penalties-yds  6-45        5-34

                                    Individual Statistics

Rushing: Manheim — Armold 14-97, TD; Weit 7-32, TD; B. Daugherty 5-31; Dabich 2-25; R. Daugherty 4-17, TD; Hahn 1-11. WC East — Ragni 20-96, TD; Nelson 4-11; Jaramillo 1-5; Renzi 4-(-9); team 2-(-27).

Passing: Manheim — Hahn 9-19, 140 yards, TD, INT. WC East — Renzi 5-14, 12 yards, INT.

Receiving: Manheim — Enterline 3-101, TD; Ginder 1-21; Siepel 1-15; R. Daugherty 1-5; McGallicher 2-(-1); Armold 1-(-1). WC East — Grear 2-7; Driscoll 1-5; Ragni 1-4; Wilczek 1-(-4).

Interceptions: Manheim — R. Daugherty. WC East — Grear