Young goes off, Coatesville moves to 6-0

WESTTOWN — It would be almost blasphemous to say Aaron Young was due for a breakout game, considering everything he’s done in his Coatesville career.

He’s certainly not disappointed the first half of his senior season, but blowouts have resulted in limited touches, and with all the weapons Coatesville has, Young is happy as long as the team keeps winning.

Friday, at West Chester Rustin, Young had one of his vintage nights, scoring three different ways and racking up 238 all-purpose yards as the Red Raiders moved to 6-0 with a 52-21 win in the interleague contest.

“It’s been a little slow,” said Young, who had 519 rush yards coming in, of his start. “You just gotta compete every game and every game is different. One game the pass is open and one game the run is open. It felt great, especially going into the next couple weeks and I feel like we’ll run the ball better and our O-line is doing a great job.”

Next week the Red Raiders will host undefeated Downingtown West, and for a few moments, Friday, it looked like Coatesville had already started thinking about that huge matchup.

Thanks to an 85-yard kick return by Dapree Bryant to open the game, Ricky Ortega scored from eight yards out on the first play from scrimmage. Ortega scored on the ground again less than three game minutes later and then connected with Bryant on a screen for a 32-yard touchdown on the Red Raiders’ next drive.

After forcing a three-and-out, Coatesville forced a punt, which Young fielded —to the dismay of the Rustin coaches — and he flew down the home sideline for a 45-yard score.

As the first quarter buzzed to an end, the Raiders were up 28-0, and the mercy rule was imminent… or so they thought.

Rustin (3-2) forced a three-and-out and then on Coatesville’s second possession of the second quarter, Collin Hurley jumped a route and picked off Ortega to set Rustin up at the Coatesville two.

Will Pileggi scored two plays later, and after Coatesville’s second straight three-and-out, Pileggi found Owen Walsh for a six yard score to make it 28-14.

Coatesville’s Than Hylen hit a 25-yard field goal with three seconds in the half to make it 31-14.

“We had to battle some adversity,” Coatesville coach Matt Ortega said. “We had the game in hand at 28-0 and had some miscommunication on the pick and they came back. We took care of business after halftime and made some plays in the second half.”

Any hope of drama was quickly whisked away as Rustin fumbled on its first two plays of the third quarter, losing the second, and Young pushed the margin to 24 points with a 39-yard TD jaunt.

“I don’t think we took the foot off the pedal,” Young said. “(Rustin) did a good job on some plays and you have to give them credit.”

Coatesville got the ball right back and Ricky Ortega ran 23-yards up the middle, untouched, for his third touchdown on the night. Young finished with 123 on the ground, while Ortega added 117. 

On the next drive, Ortega found a streaking Young down the middle of the field for a 70-yard score.

Rustin played admirably and scored once more in the fourth on a one-yard plunge by Michael Covert, but was simply outmanned.

“I’m proud that we never gave up, no matter the score,” Rustin coach Mike St. Clair said. “We battled the best we could. It’s never fun losing, however, getting battle-tested against the No. 1 or 2 team in the state is good and we’re looking forward to the rest of our season.”

Coatesville will welcome the Whippets in on Friday for Homecoming in what will likely have plenty of fireworks.

“We’re excited to have the game at Coatesville,” Matt Ortega said. “We’ve been talking about it and keeping an eye on it the last couple weeks and I’m excited we’re both undefeated and it should be a great game at Coatesville and a great game for the Ches-Mont.”

Coatesville 52, West Chester Rustin 21

Coatesville       28 3 21 0-52

WC Rustin    0 14 0 7-21

                                     Scoring

First Quarter

CV- Ortega 8 run (Hylen kick)

CV- Ortega 16 run (Hylen kick)

CV- Bryant 32 pass from Ortega (Hylen kick)

CV- Young 45 punt return (Hylen kick)

Second Quarter

WCR- Pileggi 1 run (Powers kick)

WCR- Burke 6 pass from Pileggi (Powers kick)

CV- Hylen 25 FG

Third Quarter

CV- Young 39 run (Hylen kick)

CV- Ortega 23 run (Hylen kick)

CV- Young 70 pass from Ortega (Hylen kick)

Fourth Quarter

WCR- Covert 1 run (Powers kick)

                                      Team Totals

                         CV              WCR

First downs      11            14

Yards rushing  25-260    38-88

Yards passing  171            147

Total yards      431           235

Passing      8-16-1           12-21-1

Fumbles-lost    0-0              3-2

Punts-avg.    2-36           5-30

Penalties-yds  14-105         3-23

                                    Individual Statistics

Rushing: Coatesville — Young 11-123, TD; Ortega 12-117, 3 TDs; McClain-Jackson 2-20. Rustin — Madonna 8-48; Hurley 6-25; Covert 10-21, TD; Walsh 7-4; Burke 1-2; Pileggi 6-(-12), TD.

Passing: Coatesville — Ortega 8-16-171, 2 TDs, INT. Rustin — Pileggi 10-19-97, TD, INT; Vanscovich 2-2-50.

Receiving: Coatesville — Young 1-70, TD; Bryant 2-42, TD; Miller 2-26; Sherman 2-16; Hall 1-17. Rustin — Vanscovich 4-55; Pileggi 2-50; Madonna 3-17; Wilsey 1-11; Walsh 1-6, TD; Covert 1-8.

Interceptions: Coatesville — Hall. Rustin — Hurley