DOWNINGTOWN EAST PLACES FIVE COUGARS ON THE COACHES ALL STATE TEAM

Tagged under: All-Stars, District 1, News, pfn

Marcus Sic | January 5, 2024

Cougars Adham Abouraya, Ayden Harris, Michael Leo, Ryan Moses and Ryan Shannon selected All State

Downingtown East featured a record setting ferocious defense that yielded  only 50 points in 12 games, the defense was so smothering it shut out the opposing offense in 9 contests. Complimenting the defense was a run first, ball controlling offense that rushed for over 3,000 yards. Five of the Cougars were recognized as All State players  nominated and voted on by the coaches: OT Adham Abouraya 6’6′ 276 an early signee to Pitt, RB Ayden Harris 5’10’ 217 has already enrolled at Kent State, KR/PR Michael Leo 5′ 11″ 175 uncommitted, OG Ryan Moses 6’4″ 247 an early signee to Lafayette and OLB Ryan Shannon 6’1″ 210 uncommitted.

Michael Matta’s Downingtown teams believe that games are won starting in January in the weightroom, four of the five All State selections squatted and dead lifted over 500 pounds, the lifting paid off as the Cougars rolled through the regular season, with the starters rarely seeing anytime in the second half. First team selections, Abouraya and Moses were part of one of the most dominate offensive lines in Pennsylvania, clearing the way for over 3,000 yards of rushing in back-to-back seasons.  Downingtown’s power offense is based on power and pulling linemen,  Abouraya and Moses excelled at both. Leading the way at running back was first team selection Ayden Harris, who was an All State running back in Missouri in 2023, is the son of former Downingtown All State running back Arlen Harris.  Ayden who has already begun his college career at Kent State as an early enrollee, accounted for 2,000 + yards in only 12 games, while sitting out the second half in most games.

If you like down hill attacking defenses, you would have loved the Cougars defense.  The defense was lead by safety Michael Leo and OLB Ryan Shannon. Shannon who was a first team selection was a force at outside linebacker, torturing opposing running backs while hammering paralyzed quarterbacks. Leo, who was a second team KR/PR, was the glue that held the defense together. Leo’s punt returning was electric, he seemingly caught ever ball kicked by the opposing punter, constantly flipping the field, setting up the Cougars offense with short fields.

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