Downingtown West Wins Defensive Battle with West Chester Rustin
Tagged under: District 1, Gameday Hub, News
Willie McGonigle | September 28, 2024
WEST CHESTER: Downingtown West Head Coach Tom Kline is off to a great start in his first season at the helm of the Whippets. Entering Friday Night’s Chest-Mont Cross battle against West Chester Rustin his Whippets were a perfect 5-0.
A huge part of the Whippets success thus far this season has been the play of their defense under the direction of first-year Defensive Coordinator Phil Plank. Entering Friday night, the Whippets defense had given up a average of 11.2 points per game and only 211.4 yards per game.
The stellar defensive play continued for the Whippets, spoiling the Golden Knights homecoming with a 14-7 victory.
Just how stellar of a performance did the Whippet’s defense deliver they held the Golden Knights’s offense which entered Friday night averaging over 250 yards per game to only 82 yards rushing and 118 yards defensively.
“Coach (Phil) Plank game plan was great we added a few extra things that we knew they wouldn’t be able to comprehend, we just were able to do it because of coach’s game plan.” Darian Smith said of the Whippets game plan.
In the first quarter, both teams showed their smashmouth defenses resulting in the Golden Knights getting the game’s lone turnover an interception by Pat Maychak while the Whippets forced three punts.
The Whippets finally broke through the offense in the second quarter with 7 play 53-yard drive that was capped by Cole Bricker to Smith from 8 yards out to give the Whippets 7-0 lead entering the locker room at halftime.
The lone blemish on the Whippets defensive effort on the night came on the Golden Knight’s first play of the second half when David McClain found a wide-open Luke Spitzer for a 33-yard touchdown.
From that point on the Whippets continued to shut down Golden Knights offense. “We don’t flinch we’ve been taught all summer that teams are going to score and make big plays they get paid to so we’re going to come out here and we’re just going to keep working our tails off because we know we are working for something bigger.” Andrew Brown said
Bricker set the Whippets up for the go-ahead score with a 41-yard run that set the Whippets up with on the Golden Knight 5-yard line. On the very next play, Tommy Miller found the endzone for the touchdown.
Next week the Whippets (6-0) will look to remain undefeated when they travel to Great Valley. The Golden Knights (5-1) will look to bounce back when they travel to Downingtown East both games are scheduled for Friday night at 7 pm.
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