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In Downingtown West is Best, Special Teams Make Difference In Battle of Brandywine

Tagged under: District 1, Gameday Hub, News, pfn

| October 25, 2025

DOWNINGTOWN: Special teams is often the overlooked part of the game, but in big-time games, they are usually the difference between a victory and defeat. On Friday night, that was exactly the case for the Downingtown West Whippets, whose special teams unit accounted for nine points and blocked two punts as the Whippets bested their crosstown rivals, Downingtown East Cougars 22-14 in front of a capacity crowd at Downingtown’s Kottmeyer stadium. The victory not only gave the Whippets bragging rights in the Downingtown Area School District but also gave them their first Chest-Mont title since 2013.

“Honestly, all week we harp on the third aspect of the game people always lose sight of it and we work hard on it every week,” the catalyst of the Whippets’ special teams, Brian Carter, said.

Things didn’t start all that great for the Whippet special teams, as on the game’s opening kickoff, their returner had trouble getting control of the ball, resulting in them being pinned at their own 6. Still, their offense responded with an 18-play drive that ate nearly 10 minutes off the clock, but with 4&10 on the Cougar 24, Quarterback Cole Bricker was stopped two yards short of the first down, resulting in the turnover on downs.

The Whippets’ defense took the field and quickly got the Cougars to go three-and-out, bringing on the punt unit. Ryan Neuhaus came from the left side of the Cougars punt, making a diving block and sending the ball back to the endzone, where Carter fell on it, giving the Whippets the 7-0 lead.

In the second quarter, Mason Sharp added to the Whippet lead with his 33-yard field goal, making it 10-0 in favor of West. After being limited to 9 yards on his seven carries of the game, Julez Chiron-Robinson busted through the Whippets’ defense on his ninth carry of the game and raced 61yards for the Cougars’ touchdown, but the Cougars’ special teams woes continued, missing the extra point, making it 10-6 West heading into the locker room at halftime. Robinson, who entered the game being the latest member of the Cougars’ 1000-yard rushing club, finished the game with 105 yards on 17 carries.

In the third quarter, the Cougars took possession first and after being called for holding had to punt the ball away and that’s when the Whippets special teams struck again this time Carter got through the protection and blocked the punt causing the ball to go out the back of the endzone just prior to Neuhaus being able to fall on it making 12-6 Whippets.

“We kept talking about it, ‘we’re going to get one of these,’” West coach Tom Kline said of the punts. “To get two in the same game is great, and it speaks to (Carter) and how hard he works on everything, not just on offense and defense, but also special teams, and he made it count tonight.”

On the ensuing possession, the Whippets needed just five plays to tack on to their lead when Amari Cannon busted through the Cougars’ defense and raced 29 yards, making it 19-6 in favor of West. Sharp added a 26-yard field goal to balloon the Whippet lead to 22-6.

The Cougars didn’t go down without a fight on their third possession of the third quarter. Ethan Ellis connected with Madden Miller for a 24-yard touchdown.

In the fourth quarter, the Cougars appeared to be driving towards possibly a game-tying score, getting deep into Whippet territory, reaching the 22 before Marcus McComsky intercepted Ellis on fourth down. The Whippets went on to run out the clock.

While the District 1 Playoff seedings won’t be announced until Sunday and made official till Monday, both the Whippets (8-2) and Cougars (7-3) are firmly planted in the District 1 6A playoffs. Projections have both teams also hosting home games which if tradition holds up would see one team play Friday night and the other Saturday however, Kottkmeyer Stadium already has an event planned for Saturday so its possible that one game could be played Thursday and the other Friday or that both teams give fans a real treat on Halloween and have a doubleheader on Friday afternoon/night.

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