WC East springs by Oxford, heads to playoffs with high hopes
OXFORD — With the Ches-Mont American Division title wrapped up a week ago, finishing its best regular season in 13 years was top priority for West Chester East, Friday.
The Vikings sputtered a little out of the gate, on the heels of an emotional win over West Chester Rustin in week nine, but running back Kyle Cichanowsky and quarterback Ryan Duell were simply too good to be denied.
On the road, the Vikings piled up 522 yards of offense in a 49-20 runaway win against Oxford in the divisional clash.
East will host a District 1-5A first round playoff game, with the opponent not yet officially named.
“We came out a tiny bit slow,” Cichanowsky said. “When you make big plays, it gets everyone back on their feet and gets the adrenaline going.”
There were plenty of explosive plays to go around, the first of which came from Oxford (2-5 division, 4-6 overall), who qualified for the 5A playoffs, as well. After forcing a punt on the opening drive, Oxford wasted no time, scoring on a 50-yard touchdown pass from Thomas Repetz to Jaxson Chew on its first play from scrimmage.
“Mike (Means) does a great job preparing their quick offense and we knew we’d have our hands full with what they do, offensively,” East coach Scott Stephen said. “I don’t think anything from last week affected us. I think we played a good football team and they’re gonna make some plays.”
From there, it was all East (7-0, 8-2). The Vikings scored on their next four possessions, two coming on runs of 43 and 15 yards by Cichanowsky, and two by passes from Duell to John Wileczek and Colin Warner.
“They’re a good team,” Oxford coach Mike Means said. “They’re the league champs for a reason. We had a couple key guys go down, and when we needed a key play, we didn’t make them. Hats off to (East), they’re a good football team.”
Wileczek and Cichanowsky sandwiched a touchdown run by Oxford’s Jaxson Chew, who ran for 119 yards, and Warner scored his second TD to get the running clock going for East.
“Kyle gets a lot of recognition, and a lot of the long runs he has, our wide receivers do a great job blocking downfield for him,” Stephen said. “He doesn’t get those long runs without those guys. When (Wileczek and Warner) get the opportunity to get their number called, it’s great for them and it’s great for us, from an offensive perspective.”
Cichanowsky finished with 275 of East’s 374 rushing yards, giving him 1,870 on the season, to cap his regular season league rushing title.
East will head back to the postseason for the second straight year with hopes of an extended run after getting bounced in the first round a year ago.
“We’re really concentrating on the playoffs,” Cichanowsky said. “We’re so confident going in and we’ve worked so hard for this.”
Despite winning the imaginary regular season West Chester championship, the Vikings may have to do it all over again. Preliminary calculations on piaad1.org have West Chester Henderson as East’s first round foe, with West Chester Rustin in line in the second round, potentially.
Whoever lines up across from the Vikings, the preparation doesn’t change, according to Stephen.
“Last year there was a lot of newness with this group,” Stephen said. “This year they’re tremendously focused, but at the end of the day, it’s one game. If you don’t execute that game, you’re going home. It’s important to prepare each week like we have the previous 10.”
The Hornets will be on the road as underdogs, but an opportunity is all they can ask for.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re 10-0 or 4-6, the only thing that matters is a win, now, and you go on, or a loss and you go home,” Means said. “We’re going to have a great week in practice and be excited for next Friday.”
