Motivated North Penn Takes Down Downingtown East in Meeting of District 1 Powers

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Willie McGonigle | August 23, 2025

DOWNINGTOWN: Last November, the North Penn Knights saw their season come to an end at Downingtown’s Kottmeyer Stadium with a loss to the Downingtown West Whippets in the District 1 6A Final. All offseason, Rylei Gray and Matthew Pownall used that to motivate them throughout the offseason. On Friday night, Gray Pownall and the rest of the Knights made their return to the Kottmeyer season. This time, they were facing the Downingtown East Cougars, and thanks to Gray and Pownall’s combining for 5 touchdowns, the Knights walked away with a 42-21 victory

“Coming back to this locker room, I just felt nostalgia of how we lost, and it motivated me a lot even though its not Downingtown West it’s the same stadium, and I felt the loss and it pushed me to go more”

Gray said of the return trip to Kottmeyer.

It was the Cougars that drew first blood late in the first quarter taking advantage of short field of Logan Litwinko falling on a Knight fumble that set them up with the ball on their own 26, followed by 58 yard run of Julez Robinson that put the Cougars on the Knights 5 yard-line two plays Robinson was in the endzone and the Cougars led 7-0.

The Knights responded right back on their ensuing drive, going 64 yards on the legs of Gray and Pownall, along with a 37-yard pass from Matt Bucksar to Mason Franek that put the Knights at the Cougars’ 4, where two plays later Gray capped the score with his one-yard plunge.

After multiple procedure penalties forces @NorthPennKnight to a to goal situation from the DTE 19 Matt Bucksar connects with @mattpownall27 for a 5 yard touchdown on fourth and goal to give the Knights the 14-7 lead with 20 secs left in 1st half @PaFootballNews pic.twitter.com/mZFia71aY1

— Willie McGonigle (@WilliePAFN) August 22, 2025

After forcing the Cougars to punt on their ensuing possession, the Knights went on a 77-yard drive that ate over seven minutes off the clock, being capped with Bucksar connecting with Pownall for a 4-yard touchdown on 4th and goal, putting the Knights up 14-7 at the half.

On the second play of the second half, Pownall extended the Knights’ lead to 21-7 with his 45-yard touchdown run. Pownall, a Navy commit finished the game with 105 yards on 16 carries. He gave credit to his teammates postgame, saying, “Props to the Offensive line, the whole defense played really well, team football today.”

On the ensuing kickoff, the Cougars couldn’t get a handle on the ball, resulting in the Knights taking possession at the Cougars’ 9 and on 4^th and Goal, Gray again found the endzone from a yard out and the Knights took the 28-7 lead.

The Cougars wouldn’t go down without a fight, cutting the Knights’ lead down to 28-14 thanks to a Robinson 18-yard rushing score.

Gray found the endzone for a third time, breaking through the Cougars’ defense and racing 33 yards to make it 35-14. Gray finished the game with 110 yards on 15 carries.

With 4:11 left in the game, Robinson once again found the endzone for the Cougars, cutting into the Knights’ lead with his 8-yard touchdown run. Robinson, who’s only a sophomore, finished the game with 175 yards on 28 carries. The Cougars appeared to be poised to make things even closer on their next possession, getting deep into Knights territory before Jacob Garrett sealed the victory, picking up a Cougars fumble and racing 67 yards for the score with 14 seconds remaining in the game.

After the game, Knights Head Coach Dick Beck said, “I thought our offensive line really came off the ball tonight, we got a couple of new starters in there.” He added, “I thought Rylei Gray and Matt Pownall really found the holes tonight.”

Beck also offered praise for the Cougars, saying, “It was a great effort, I think Downingtown East is a good team, and they are going to win a lot of games this year.”

The Knights have a quick turnaround this upcoming week, with them hosting Council Rock South on Thursday night. The Cougars will head on the road to face traditional Philadelphia Public League Power Northeast on Friday night.

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