Young runs wild as Coatesville tops Downingtown West

CALN >> The Coatesville High School football team fired a very loud warning shot to the rest of the Ches-Mont League, and District 1, for that matter. Friday night at Red Raider Stadium, Coatesville won its third straight game, getting a sensational 324 yards rushing, and five touchdowns from super sophomore Aaron Young, while the defense held Downingtown West to 144 total yards of offense, en rout to a convincing 48-9 National Division triumph.

Coatesville (2-0, Ches-Mont, 4-1 overall) spotted the Whippets (0-1, 1-4) seven points early in the game. After a fumble recovery, substitute quarterback Ryan Wetzel hit Cole Zapf for a 30-yard touchdown. Wetzel was subbing for the injured Ryan Geiser, who left last week’s Kennett game with an injury.

Young and Coatesville took control, scoring the next 28 points to take a commanding 28-7 lead at halftime. Young went straight up the middle for his first two scores with gaping holes in the Downingtown West interior defense.

“The middle was open all night every time,”  Young said. “It seemed we could pretty much run where we wanted. I like carrying the ball a lot, even though it was a hot night. We are big on conditioning, and my offensive line did a great job for me tonight. It all starts with them. Hopefully we can keep improving. We are very focused right now and playing good football.”

Young’s first two TD runs were of eight and 72 yards. Following a West turnover, Young struck on the very first play, roaring up the middle untouched 36 yards to make it a 21-7 game with 3:08 left in the first half. The Downingtown West offense helped the Red Raiders by losing two fumbles and throwing two interceptions.

After kicking off, the stingy Coatesville defense forced a punt. Coatesville took the punt back to the Downingtown West 49-yard line. Two plays later, Young burst up the gut again for a 44-yard scoring run and a 28-7 bulge.

“We took what they gave us, and tonight, they challenged us to run the football,” Coatesville head coach Matt Ortega said. “We have been throwing the ball lately, but tonight, it was good to see us run the football. We know we can do both. Our defense was real good tonight. We were one play away, the last three games, from really shutting teams down.”

The second half started the same way. Mitchell Micale came in at QB for West, and was greeted by a Alexander interception. Young took the handoff, and pulled defenders with him into the end zone for a 15 yard run , nd the game was officially out of hand at 35-7.

“We just have to focus one game at a time.” Alexander said. “We lost in Week 2, but we are rolling now and we are working hard in practice. Tonight, we ran the football with Aaron having a great game. Now, teams know they have to protect the pass, and the run against us.”

Ortega took Young out of the game after his fifth touchdown, and cleared his bench. But, the defense kept up its relentless intensity, as they forced a fumble that was recovered in the end zone by Brandon Talbot.

Later in the fourth, quarterback Ricky Ortega rolled around the left side from one-yard out for the exclamation point.

Except for a 47-yard run by Cole Zapf in the first period, the longest run from scrimmage for the Whippets was six yards.

“We did not panic after the Cumberland Valley game,” Matt Ortega said. “We trusted the process, focus week-to-week and keep trying to improve.”