Punishing La Salle running game proves too much for Downingtown East
DOWNINGTOWN >> The Downingtown East Cougars have always been known to play a hard, physical, smashmouth brand of football.
Friday night at Kottmeyer Stadium, the Cougars looked in a mirror, and didn’t like what they saw.
Downingtown East ran in to one of the top Class 6A teams in the state Friday night, and had all it could handle at the line of scrimmage. La Salle College High won its third game of the season in a 27-7 decision over Downingtown East, which was playing its first game of the season.
“We have always been a physical team but they are probably the most physical team we have ever played,” said Downingtown East head coach Mike Matta. “We made some first-game mistakes that they obviously did not make but they are very, very good. They moved the ball well on us tonight.”
The visiting Explorers (3-0) jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead in the first period. The La Salle running game forged an 11-play, 87-yard drive that was mostly made on the ground. Sam Brown, a junior running back who carried the ball 23 times for 110 yards and three scores, pounded it in from three yards out to give the Explorers a 7-0 lead.
“I like to run inside and with the big and strong offensive line we have, and a good blocking fullback, it made the holes for me,” Brown said. “ We like to assert ourselves on the ground and we were able to do that tonight.”
The Explorers gained 196 yards on the ground and it was Brown again who culminated a long La Salle drive to make it a 14-0 game. Brown skirted the right side of the Downingtown East line for an eight-yard touchdown run, and it was a 14-0 game.
Downingtown East, which gained 144 yards of its own on the ground behind Stanley Bryant and Josh Asante, drove down the field against the Explorers, and when sophomore quarterback Jay Jenkins hit Nick Lovenguth with a screen pass, it looked like the Cougars would get on the board. But, the La Salle defense stripped Lovenguth of the football, and the Explorers recovered in the end zone to keep the score 14-0 at halftime.
“We made some mistakes down close to the end zone tonight,” Matta said. “We had the fumble and then they stopped us on fourth down down there, but they are very good. We have no excuses.”
La Salle took the second half kickoff and kept the football for almost five minutes, embarking on another long drive downfield by Brown and wildcat quarterback Brian Moore. Brown took the football the last 10 yards for a La Salle score and it was a 20-0 Explorers lead.
“We were afraid of their running game coming into tonight so we wanted to run the ball ourselves and control the clock,” La Salle head coach John Steinmetz said. “We thought there would be maybe three possessions in the first half. But, we did a good job of running the football and controlled the clock because we did not want them to have the ball too much.”
After La Salle made it a 27-0 game on a 61-yard touchdown pass from Gavin Daly to Justin Machida, the Cougars (0-1) scored early in the fourth quarter, when Jenkins hit Lovenguth for a 23-yard touchdown pass to make it a 27-7 game. La Salle then ran the clock out and the Cougars’ opening night game was a rare home loss.
“We have some work to do but we will be all right.” Matta said.
