Powerful Cumberland Valley too much for young Coatesville

CALN >> The 2016 Coatesville Red Raiders are very talented. But they are also very young.

At some point, the Raiders will stop being young and explode to their true potential. But Friday night, Coatesville learned some valuable lessons while absorbing a tough 41-21 defeat at the hands of District 3 powerhouse Cumberland Valley.

The Eagles (1-0) ran their vaunted Delaware wing-T offense to perfection and amassed 276 yards on the ground and featured two 100-yard rushers in Jake Palmer and Josiah Quigley. The Cumberland Valley defense also picked off three Ricky Ortega passes and held Coatesville to just 70 yards rushing.

“They have been running the same thing for 25 years and it is like clockwork,” said Coatesville head coach Matt Ortega. “They get off the ball well and they have a lot of deception. You have to be able to stop them with your base defense and we were not able to do that tonight. But it is a good learning experience for us and I was proud of the kids because they did not quit. They battled all the way to the end, so we get back to work on Monday and work on some things and get better.”

The Eagles jumped out to a 14-0 lead after just seven minutes of action in the first period when Palmer ripped off a 24-yard touchdown run. Then, after a Red Raider (1-1) three and out, CV pounded the ball down a short field and made it 14-0 when Steven Kashir caught a nine yard touchdown pass from Ridge Bachman.

Coatesville got some life when Aaron Young assumed the role of quarterback and hit his brother Avery with a with perfect 52-yard touchdown throw to close the gap to 14-7 after one quarter.

But the game was dominated by the Cumberland Valley offensive line. Steven Goodrich led the charge, getting Quigley and Palmer holes to gash the Red Raider defense. The Eagles scored 14 more points in the second quarter and took a commanding 28-7 lead into the locker room at intermission. CV’s last touchdown of the first half came after a nine-play, 97-yard drive that featured exactly zero passing plays.

“We just were not as physical as they were tonight,” said Aaron Young. “At times we kept our assignments, but other times we did not and it was tough to see who had the football at times. We have to learn from this and get back to practice and work harder at getting better.”

Coatesville seemed ready to get back in the game in the third quarter as the Red Raiders and Ortega, who finished the night 16 for 25 passes for 173 yards, were the beneficiaries of two short fields. But twice the Red Raiders were foiled on fourth down, and the Eagles kept the lead at 28-7 until Avery Young took a 22 yard strike from Ortega and danced into the end zone to cut the lead to 28-14 late in the third.

But Matt Ortega said those two missed chances hurt his team’s chances of a comeback.

“We had the ball inside their 30 yard line twice and our defense had two straight stops and we needed to get seven more points out of that,” Ortega said. “But, we could not convert on fourth down and they got the ball back and they do what they do well.”

Cumberland Valley seemed to wear down the Coatesville defense in the fourth period with a steady diet of Quigley and Palmer on the ground. The Eagles rushed the ball 55 times on the night, making it 35-14 early in the fourth when Bachman hit Palmer with a 10 yard touchdown pass off play action. Quigley, who has offers from Penn State and Virginia Tech, capped the Eagles’ scoring by rambling 46 yards off an errant Ortega pass to make it 41-14 game.

“Cumberland Valley is battle tested and they were in the state semifinals last season and we knew it would be a real tough game.” said Matt Ortegas. “We get back to work on Monday and look forward to Council Rock North next week.”