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Whippets win Duel of Star Quarterbacks, Advance to play Central Dauphin

Tagged under: District 1, Gameday Hub, News

| November 23, 2019

 

Downingtown West quarterback Will Howard takes the field during his team’s 48-36 win against Coatesville

Special Contributor: Edward Sutelan | esutelan@pennlive.com

DOWNINGTOWN — Every chance Downingtown West seemed to come closer to putting Coatesville away, the Red Raiders came right back into the picture. The Whippets jumped out to an early 21-0 lead, and seemed prime

to take a 27-7 lead into the half with the Red Raiders taking the ball at the 20 with fewer than 50 seconds left. The next play, wide receiver Abdul-Sabur Stewart went down the left sideline, only to dance out to the right, juke a few defenders and score an 80-yard touchdown to make it 27-14.

The two teams traded scores back and forth, but Downingtown West never relinquished its lead and beat Coatesville 48-36 to claim the District 1, 6A title and set up a PIAA 6A state semifinal matchup against Central Dauphin. Downingtown West hadn’t beaten Coatesville since 2015, and grabbed its first District 1 title since 1996.

In the second half, Coatesville seemed to take on some new life offensively. Stewart’s 80-yard touchdown reception was the first of several huge gains for the Red Raiders, with star wideout Dapree Bryant showing off his speed and cutting ability down the field with touchdown receptions of 70 and 59 yards to move Coatesville to within one score going into the fourth quarter.

But Downingtown West seemed to answer with slow, methodical drives in which the passing of quarterback Will Howard and the various rushing options used seemed to be unstoppable. Howard even added in a big touchdown pass himself, with the Kansas State commit hitting wide receiver Julian Williams with a 37-yarder down the right sideline at the start of the fourth to make it a two-score game again.

The Whippets again seemed to put the game away late with a touchdown with just under two minutes left to make it 48-28, but it took all of two plays before Red Raiders quarterback Ricky Ortega connected on his fourth touchdown pass of the day on a 40-yard bomb to wide receiver Artie Burgess. The two-point try was successful, but the onside kick was not, and Howard took two knees to cap off the win.

The Stars

Both quarterbacks Howard and Ortega were on top of their game and amassed more than 300 passing yards. Ortega had a bulk of his come on just four passes that accounted for 249 passes and were each of his touchdown passes, while Howard chipped away with mid-field passes to help open up the field for the occasional deep-ball try.

Stewart was the primary target for Ortega, hauling in five passes for 121 yards, while Bryant made the most of his two catches, taking them both for a combined 129 yards.

Williams’s 37-yard pass was the statement catch of his night as he led the Whippets in receiving yards at 131. Cornerback/wide receiver Alex Rosano also had a solid night through the air with seven catches for 96 yards. He also added in a 27-yard pick-six in the second quarter to leave his mark on the defensive side of the ball as well.

Game-deciding moment

The Red Raiders seemed to be slowly generating momentum in the third quarter, but Howard took that away with the 37-yard pass to Williams to open the fourth. The defense held Coatesville in check the rest of the way.

They said it

“I was in zone. I was just hanging. We were planning man behind it and they kept running this slant, running slants on consecutive plays and just looking through the quarterback’s eyes and it was right there for me. I didn’t really have to do too much.” – Downingtown West cornerback/wide receiver Alex Rosano on his pick-six in second quarter.

“I mean on that one they had a free safety over the middle and he kinda jumped — we had a crossing route over the middle, jumped that and the skinny post over top, it was right there and my guy Julian made a great play. He beat his guy over the top and all I had to do was put it on him and it was pretty cool.” – Downingtown West quarterback Will Howard on his 37-yard touchdown pass to Julian Williams.

“We just saw that they just weren’t better athletes than us. They’re just not better athletes than us. Overall, they’re not better athletes than us and our mentality is if you’re in front of me, I’m going to beat you. If you’re one-on-one with me, I’m winning the one-on-one. You will not beat me. And that’s just what I saw. I saw like he’s not going to take away anything. He’s not going to take away what’s in front of me right now; that’s all open field and that’s my plate. Put the ball on the plate and I’m going to eat.” – Coatesville wide receiver Abdul-Sabur Stewart on his touchdown reception and big game.

 

AWAY 7-7-14-8 36

HOME 21-6-7-14 48

First quarter

DW-Will Mahmud 2 rush (Spencer Mochulski kick), 7:40

DW-Mahmud 42 interception (Mochulski kick), 6:15

DW-Will Howard 1 rush (Mochulski kick), 3:15

C-Ricky Ortega 24 rush (Pierce Hadzar kick), 1:04

Second quarter

DW-Alex Orsano 27 interception (Mochulski kick blocked), 3:24

C-Abdul-Sabur Stewart 80 pass from Ortega (Hadzar kick), 22.8

Third quarter

C-Dapree Bryant 70 pass from Ortega (Hadzar kick), 9:01

DW-Tyriq Lewis 6 rush (Mochulski kick), 3:23

C-Bryant 59 pass from Ortega (Hadzar kick)

Fourth quarter

DW-Julian Williams 37 pass from Howard (Mochulski kick), 9:55

DW-Lewis 2 rush (Mochulski kick), 1:55

C-Artie Burgess 40 pass from Ortega (Derek Seagreaves 2 pass from Ortega), 1:01

TEAM STATS’DW’C

First downs’27’18

Rushing yards’149’69

Passing yards’302’345

Comp-Att-Int’18-25-0’12-25-2

Penalties-yards’7-70’7-60

Punts-average’3-37’5-36

Fumbles-lost’3-2’1-0

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