West Chester Rustin’s speed too much for Henderson in runaway shutout

WEST CHESTER >> Since the inception of the West Chester Rustin football program under head coach Mike St. Clair, the Golden Knights have been know for hard-hitting, run-right-at-you football.

Well, in the season opener for the Golden Knights Thursday night at J. Oscar Dicks Stadium, Rustin added a new wrinkle to its already potent arsenal. The Golden Knights added a very impressive element of speed to their game and ended up racking up 520 yards of total offense in a 48-0 win over West Chester Henderson in a battle between two borough rivals.

Rustin (1-0) quarterback Will Pileggi rushed for 117 yards on just seven carries while Nick Madonna added 62 yards and a touchdown on the ground while Mike Coverts chipped in with 156 yards on just five carries and two touchdowns.

“Tonight was like a playoff game for us,” Pileggi said. “These games with Henderson and West Chester East are huge games for us. Tonight all the credit goes to the offensive line. They were opening up holes for me and the other runners and we just found the holes and got going. It is a great feeling to play this well against Henderson.”

Rustin jumped on the Warriors (0-2) early as Madonna skirted the right side for a 40 yard touchdown run in the first period and later in the period Owen Walsh banged in from 14 yards out for a 14-0 West Chester Rustin lead after one quarter.

The Rustin defense was at the top of its game also, as Henderson was forced to punt the ball nine times and gained only 18 yards on the ground and 101 total yards of offense for the game.

After a Warrior three-and-out to start the second quarter, the Warriors punted the ball to the Rustin 40-yard line. On the first play of the drive, Pileggi tucked the ball and rambled to the Henderson 25-yard line. Pileggi then hit Tyler Kulp with a bullet to put the ball at the Warrior 13-yard line. Colin Hurley got the ball to the 10-yard line and Pileggi ended the drive by taking the ball right up the gut for a 10-yard touchdown and a 21-0 Rustin lead.

“This is the fastest team we have had at Rustin,” St. Clair said. “Tonight was a big game for us because it was a West Chester game and the kids did a good job.”

With Henderson not being able to generate any offense, Rustin was in firm control of the contest. Madonna ended a six play, 47-yard Golden Knights drive by going 16 yards around the right side for a 27-0 Rustin lead at halftime.

Henderson showed some life after halftime as the Warriors took the second half kickoff and, behind the passing of Pat Esemplare, drove the ball into Rustin territory. But the drive stalled and Henderson was forced to punt the ball away.

Rustin went to work right away as Covert broke a 61-yard run down to the Warrior one-yard line and went in for the score a play later. With the two-point conversion, Rustin put the game into the mercy rule at 35-0.

Henderson still had trouble generating any offense as Rustin’s defense, led by Sean Hopkins, chased down anything in maroon that moved. Hopkins was all over the field, garnering two sacks and making nine tackles on the night.

“We worked real hard on speed drills all summer,” Hopkins said. “We have a real fast team and my job is to run down running backs and quarterbacks and we had a great game tonight. Having two-a-day practices for two weeks really got us ready.”

St. Clair was quick to praise his senior leader as he had a big game on both sides of the ball.

“Sean goes both ways for us and he has a very high motor,” St. Clair said. “He is a 48-minute kid and he gives us everything he has. We have baseball players, lacrosse players and wrestlers and we just have a lot of athletes that get after it.”

With he loss, Henderson falls to 0-2 on the season, but first-year Warrior head coach Stefan Adams was upbeat after the game.

“We made some mistakes early and it snowballed,” Adams said. “But we will get this right. We had a short week this week and next week we will have a full week to get guys healthy and ready to go.”