Phoenixville starts playoffs with historic win over West Chester East

PHOENIXVILLE >> For Ty Romance, the highs always outweigh the lows.

The Phoenixville quarterback lost the better part of two high school football seasons as a freshman (COVID cancellations) and junior (broken collarbone).

Yet Romance fought back repeatedly, and on Friday night at Washington Field he was right where he belonged – leading his No. 8 Phoenixville squad to their first playoff win in 12 years, a 21-14 win over No. 9 West Chester East in a first-round District 1-5A contest.

“No matter what setbacks I faced, I’m trying to move forward and be positive,” Romance said.

The mentality served him well on Friday night.

Romance shook off three first-half turnovers, leading the Phantoms offense with over 100 yards passing and rushing (137 passing, 116 rushing) and a pair of rushing touchdowns.

In all, the Phantoms carried the ball 48 times for 291 yards, as junior Deacon Williams joined Romance in the century club with 114 yards rushing and a touchdown of his own.

The number means more than just a figure on the stat sheet, however, as offensive line coach Jamie Gray explained.

“This offensive line – two seniors, two juniors, and a sophomore – have taken some bumps and bruises,” said Gray. “But they keep going, even through the offseason. They set a goal this year where they wanted to rush for 3,000 yards as a team this season.”

Unofficially, Friday’s performance gives the Phantoms 3,075 yards rushing in 2023 – an impressive figure in only 11 games.

“The thing is everyone who touches the ball for us can be dangerous,” said Gray.

What does the offensive line change about their scheme based on the ball carrier?

“Nothing,” said junior Andrew Kirk, speaking for a unit that includes Danny Aselton, Terrence Howard Jr., Jamie Gray Jr., Cameron English, plus tight end Shane Callen. “We trust them to do exactly what they’re supposed to do. It’s the reason we can gain these yards.”

The physicality of the line was on display during a 15-play, eight-minute drive consisting of 13 runs spanning the third and fourth quarters. It took almost nine minutes off the clock and culminated in Romance’s second score of the evening from a yard out to give the Phantoms a 21-7 lead with 5:25 to play.

Senior Sam Moore was the unsung hero of the drive, picking up a pair of critical first downs on fourth down carries. Moore, who finished with 63 yards on the night, has over 800 yards this season and was All-Area as a junior. A player of his talents might see 20-25 carries a game at some schools.

Moore could not care less.

“We trust each other to get this job done,” Moore said. “It really doesn’t matter who gets the carries as long as we keep moving the ball, keep winning games.”

After WC East quarterback Nate DeRosa lofted a picturesque 53-yard scoring strike to Tyler Wileczek with two minutes to play, it was Moore and Williams serving as Phoenixville’s closers, pounding out the hard yards on the ground to kill the clock and send the Phantoms into round two for the first time since the Class of 2024 was in kindergarten.

“We think about it,” said Romance of the team’s place in program history. “The people who came before us – we’re doing it for them while creating our own history.”

Phoenixville quarterback Ty Romance drops back to pass against West Chester East during a District 1-5A playoff game on Nov. 3 at Phoenixville. (Austin Hertzog – MediaNews Group)

Both teams established a defensive tone early, causing turnovers on the opponent’s opening drive. Coby Jaramillo intercepted Romance for East, but on the very next play Myles Tenbroeck caused a fumble to give the ball back to Phoenixville deep in East territory.

The battle for field position swung decisively in Phoenixville’s favor on a long pass from Romance to Henry Roberts, but East’s Fenton Kulp claimed the second interception of the quarter at the Phantoms’ goal line and returned the ball just inside Phoenixville territory.

A scoreless first quarter wasn’t for lack of opportunity, as both teams started multiple possessions within opposing territory.

That all changed on the second play of the second quarter. Romance kept all the way and found a canyon-sized hole through the middle, accelerating past the linebacker level and beating the safety for a 78-yard touchdown run.

The long touchdown opened the floodgates for the Phantoms’ offense. After another three and out for East, Deacon Williams ran for consecutive first downs before Romance found Christopher Moll for a 27-yard gain down to the East two-yard line.

Williams finished the drive with a short TD run, and the Phantoms had a 14-0 lead — equaling the number of points WC East had allowed for the entire month of October.

“I don’t know that we knew how fast they were,” admitted Moore. “But we do our thing regardless – we adapted.”

Jaramillo responded for East with a nine-yard TD run four minutes before half to halve the Phoenixville lead, and the Vikings forced another turnover seconds before halftime, thwarting the Phantoms’ effort to re-establish the double-digit advantage.

In all, Phoenixville won the yardage battle, 428-180 and had 23 first downs to the Vikings’ eight. The ability to cause turnovers kept WC East in the game until late, a microcosm of their season.

East finished the year at 6-5, and all five of their losses came to teams still alive in the postseason. An inauspicious start – a 56-0 setback against Manheim Central in the opener – gave way to one of the feel-good stories of the season in District 1, as they recovered from a 2-4 start to make the 5A bracket for the first time since 2019.

“It’s been a remarkable season for us,” said coach Scott Stephen. “To think of the last two seasons, where we finished 2-8 and 1-9, and starting the year at Manheim Central with a 56-0 loss.

West Chester East’s Fenton Kulp reacts after making an open-field tackle against Phoenixville during a District 1-5A playoff game on Nov. 3 at Phoenixville. (Austin Hertzog – MediaNews Group)

“These seniors have been outstanding. They set the tone. Without them, we don’t finish on a four-game win streak. We don’t fight back tonight. Their resolve… I can’t thank them enough for changing the trajectory of this program and forming this brotherhood.”

Phoenixville (8-3) advances to the District 1-5A quarterfinals next week, where they’ll take on the winner of Saturday’s game between No. 1 Chester and No. 16 Upper Moreland.

If the seedings hold, a Phoenixville/Chester matchup would be a rematch from week three, won by Chester 34-23.

But that doesn’t faze Phoenixville and quarterback Romance, who has some experience recovering from setbacks.

Phoenixville 21, West Chester East 14

West Chester East —    0   7   0   7   —   14

Phoenixville —   0   14   0   7   —   21

SCORING PLAYS

PX — Romance 78 run (Jacobson kick)
PX — D. Williams 2 run (Jacobson kick)
WCE — Jaramillo 9 run (McLaughlin kick)
PX — Romance 1 run (Jacobson kick)
WCE — Wileczek 53 pass from DeRosa (McLaughlin kick)

TEAM STATISTICS

WCE              PX
First Downs                 8                  23

Rushing Yards            71                291

Passing Yards           109               137

Total Yards                180               428

Passes C-A-I          11-20-0          9-13-2

Fumbles-Lost             1-1               2-1

Penalties-Yards        3-16              7-60

Punts-Avg.              5-26.8             1-37

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing

West Chester East – Jaramillo 15-48; TD, Kulp 3-18, DeRosa 1-5.

Phoenixville – D. Williams 22-114; TD, Moore 15-63, Romance 9-116; TD, Kingsbury 1-0, Watson 1-(minus-1).

Passing

West Chester East – DeRosa 11-20, 109 yards, TD.

Phoenixville – Romance 9-13, 137 yards, 2 INT.

Receiving

West Chester East – Wileczek 9-92; TD, McAlinney 2-17.

Phoenixville – Moll 2-37, H. Tenbroeck 2-26, Roberts 1-37, D. Williams 1-14, Lear 1-11, Moore 1-9, Kingsbury 1-3.

Interceptions: West Chester East – Jaramillo, Kulp.