District 1 5A Semifinal Preview

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Zak Wolf | November 17, 2021

And then there were four. It’s semi final week in District 1 and the 5A classification has two great games on display. The winners of these two semifinal games for District 1 5A will face off against each other for a chance to play in the state semi final. The top two seeds remain in the 5A classification with to go along with two teams that pulled off upsets last week to get this far.

(1) West Chester Rustin vs (5) Plymouth Whitemarsh 

(1) West Chester Rustin: After surviving a first round scare from Interboro, the top seeded Golden Knights did not mess around in their second round matchup with Kennett. Rustin defeated their league rivals Kennett 41-21 for the second time this season after shutting them out 23-0 earlier this year. Deshawn Jacobs had a record setting day, breaking the single season rushing record (2358) and touchdowns in a season (37) for a Rustin player. Jacobs carried the ball 36 times in the victory, totalling 325 yards and 6 touchdowns. Jacobs is an explosive runner, who’s very dangerous once he gets to the outside, with great breakaway speed. Jacobs had a five touchdown performance against Wissahickon in last year’s 5A semi-final and he’ll look to replicate that against their league rivals P.W in the quarter final. 

(5) Plymouth Whitemarsh: The Colonials had one of the craziest games in the state of Pennsylvania last Friday when they took on rivals Upper Dublin. On three separate occasions P.W held leads of 14, before Upper Dublin stormed back to take the lead. At one point, P.W led 28-14 in the fourth quarter, before UD scored the next 22 points in a span of just 5 minutes to take an 8 point lead with two minutes left. Aidan O’Brien led his team back down the field to tie the game and send it to overtime. The P.W defense got a stop and then Tommy Hannon punched in a touchdown from one yard out to win the game. O’Brien also made his presence felt on defense with a pick six to open up the scoring for P.W. The Colonials might have a tough time replicating that kind of performance, but the 5th seed is confident heading into the semi final

3 Things to Watch

(1) Can P.W stop Deshawn Jacobs? The Colonials have a good run defense and can be a stingy group at times, but will they be able to handle Jacobs, who’s run for over 2,000 yards on the season and nearly 40 touchdowns

(2) How does each team manage the game if they fall behind. Both teams haven’t played from behind much this season, especially Rustin, so what happens if either team gets a double digit lead early?

(3) Does P.W come out ready or will they lay an egg after such an emotional rollercoaster last week? P.W had one of the craziest games you’ll see all year, and it will be interesting to see if they perform as well as they can and follow up with another good performance.

(2) Strath Haven vs (6) Academy Park

One way or another Delaware County will have a representative in the District 1 5A Championship has the Central League’s Strath Haven host Del Val’s Academy Park.

2 Strath Haven: For the second time this season the Panthers took down Central League rivals Marple-Newtown 42-16 in a game that Panthers pulled away with 21-point third quarter. Last week both Anthony Crawford and Chase Barlow rushed over 150 yards and combined for 4 touchdowns. For the season Barlow has rushed for over 1200 yards.

6 Academy Park: The Knights are once again in the district semis having reached the district championship in 2019 where they fell to Cheltenham. Last week the Knights on the road rallied from a 13-0 halftime deficit to defeat Unionville 28-13. In the second half the Knights defense limited Unionville to 64-yards of offense. Terrence Oliver led the Knights offensive attack rushing for 246 yards. Eric Willis also accounted for three Knights touchdowns.

Things to watch

• Can Strath Haven’s offense keep the high-powered Knights offense off the field?
• The Panthers wing-t style offense chews up a lot of clock can the Knights score quick?
• Which defense is going to step up and make the pivotal stop when needed?

Staff Writer Willie McGonigle contributed to this article.

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