WC Rustin dominates Great Valley 32-0

EAST WHITELAND >> Since its inception in 2006, the West Chester Rustin football team has been known as a physical, take no prisoners squad. Friday night at Valley Stadium the Golden Knights more than lived up to their reputation as they rolled up 378 yards on the ground and completely dominated Great Valley, 32-0, in a Ches-Mont American Division game.

West Chester Rustin (5-1, Ches-Mont, 6-2 overall) got out early as the Golden Knights took the opening kickoff and went on a nine-play, 80-yard touchdown drive. Antonio Santangelo did the bulk of the power running and finished the drive with a 12-yard run up the middle to score.

In all, Santangelo rushed for 100 yards on 11 carries and got plenty of help from Daimon Jacobs, who rolled up 80 yards, and sophomore Chase Hatton who tallied 141 yards on the ground.

Jacobs scored the second Golden Knights touchdown early in the second period to make it 14-0. The score was set up by a great defensive play by Marek Seaman, who ripped the football out of Braden Melia’s hands on a running play deep in Great Valley territory.

“We just got out early and punched them in the face tonight,” Jacobs said. “We are healthy again and our offensive line is back and they did a great job opening up holes tonight. And our defense, especially our defensive line, was firing off the ball. We think we can make a deep playoff run with all our guys back and we played tough Rustin football tonight. I think we showed tonight that we are back.”

The Rustin defense was sensational as the Knights allowed the Patriots (5-1, 7-2) just 42 total yards of offense for the game. In the first half, Great Valley ran just 12 offensive plays and tallied just one of their five first downs.

Jeremy Lynn, Seamen and Andrew Black had big games for the Golden Knights’ defense as they harassed Patriots quarterback Braeden Melia the entire game. Great Valley rushed for just two yards on the night and the Golden Knights were completely in charge.

Griffin Strunk ended the first half scoring with a 38-yard field goal at the end of the first half and the Golden Knights took a 17-0 lead into halftime. Great Valley took the second half kickoff but were forced to punt after getting one first down.

This was when the Golden Knights put the game away. They went on a bruising 46-yard, 10-play drive — all running plays — and Hatton went around the left side for a 21-yard touchdown run and after the extra point it was 24-0.

“We finally got some of our guys back and it is real nice to have three running backs like we have,” West Chester Rustin head coach Mike St. Clair said. “And tonight, I thought our O-line did a great job and we got things started with some belly dives with Antonio, and the kids did a great job tonight.”

Great Valley, down 24-0, went to the air to try to get something on the scoreboard. But Melia was under pressure the entire game as the Knights’ front was dominant.

Melia finished the night completing just five of 16 passes for 32 yards and was running for his life most of the game. Melia was also victimized by a couple of dropped passes. It was just not the Patriots night.

West Chester Rustin finished the scoring with Hatton busting up the middle for a 41-yard touchdown run, and the Golden Knights made a very loud statement that they are going to be a serious player in the District 1 5A playoffs.

“We knew what they were going to do,” Martin said. “We knew they were getting healthy and I just feel bad for our seniors because they really wanted this one. But we are 7-2 and we get to go to Kennett next Friday and we have a chance to tie for a Ches-Mont title, and I know my seniors will bounce back and get things down.”

WC Rustin 32, Great Valley 0

WC Rustin                             7 10 7 7 — 32

Great Valley                         0 0 0 0 — 0

Scoring

R — Santangleo 12 run (Strunk kick)

Second Period

R — Jacobs 5 run (Strunk kick)

R — Strunk 38 FG

Third Period

R — Hatton 21 run (Strunk kick)

Fourth Period

R — Hatton 41 run (Hatton run)

Team Totals

R          GV

First downs     22          5

Yards rushing 378        2

Yards passing 35        40

Total yards     403       42

Passing         3-6-0    6-18-0

Fumbles-lost 0-0        2-2

Punts-avg    2-33.0   5-45.5

Penalties-yds   9-80    5-23

Individual Statistics

Rushing — R: Jacobs 15-80, TD; Hatton 17-141, 2TD’s; Santangelo 11-100, TD; Jacob 2-10; Magolon 2-13; Loper 2-4; Pechin 1-6; McClain 5-5; Torress 1-2; Jones 2-16. GV: Coffey 1-2; Johnson 1 (-2); Kiselak 2-2; Melia 10-0.

Passing — R: McClain 3-6-35. GV: Melia 5-16-32; Kiselak 1-2-8.

Receiving — R: Hatton 2-30; Jacobs 1-5. GV: Callahan 1-20; Maslowski 1-4; Keegan 1-4; Ricciardi 1 (-1); Coffey 1-5; Stedmen 1-8.

Sacks — R: Law; Lynn. GV: Orr; Coffey.WC