The game remained in doubt for most of the night until Shane Keenan scooped up a fumble and returned it 62 yards for a touchdown.

The Cougars took a 6-0 lead into halftime behind field goals of 23 and 39 yards by Paul Selden.
After halftime, Jules Robinson broke free for a 62-yard touchdown run to extend the Cougars’ lead to 12-0. Despite Robinson rushing for 220 yards, Northeast’s defense did a good job of making him work for those yards, as he needed 35 carries to reach that total.

Amir Miller answered Robinson’s touchdown run with a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown on the ensuing kickoff, cutting the deficit to 12-7.

Although Northeast was able to produce some highlights, two second-half turnovers proved to be the difference. One came on a strip-sack that resulted in Keenan’s 62-yard fumble return for a touchdown. The other was an interception thrown by Jayden Boyd on Northeast’s final drive.

After the game, Downingtown East head coach Mike Matta said the Cougars’ special teams still had a lot of work to do. He also expressed concern about the upcoming bye week, noting that a team often makes its biggest improvement from Game 1 to Game 2 and that the week off could slow that development.

The Cougars do not play next week and will be off until September 10, when they travel to Perkiomen Valley.

Some games, the score does not tell the entire story, as it was closer than the score indicated. This was a 14-6 game at halftime, and 28-13 late in the third.

Downingtown East started slowly, a Julez Chiron-Robinson 5 yard run was the only score of the opening 12 minutes.

Special teams dominated the second 12 minutes as Great Valley kicker Ryan Wilsher hit 2 field goals (39 and 23 yards), and Downingtown East blocked a punt for a score in between.

The Cougars pulled away from the Patriots in the second half, though. Ethan Ellis hit Abe Sesay for a 13 yard score to go up 21-6, then Chiron-Robinson scored again from 5 yards out to put East up 28-6.

The Patriots got it back to 28-13, when Ty Callahan hit Luke Helmle from 40 yards out.

It was too little too late for Great Valley as John Morrin and Chiron-Robinson added late touchdown runs for the final score.

Downingtown East accumulated 406 yards on offense (105 pass, 301 run). Juelz Chiron-Robinson ran for 157 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Great Valley Quarterback Ty Callahan threw for 200 yards but 3 costly turnovers hurt the Patriots

It was not always easy, as the Whippets overcame three Cole Bricker interceptions to lay claim to a 10-0 lead at halftime.

Omari Cannon and Mason Sharp were the main bright spots for Wests offense tonight- Cannon ran for 133 yards and two touchdowns, and Mason Sharp kicked a 38 yard field goal to close out the first half.

Cole Bricker was 11 of 18 passing for 125 yards on the night.

Defensively, the Whippets suffocated and slowly throttled Spring Ford’s offense all night. The Rams managed 37 yards passing on 7-18, and 63 yards on the ground.

This game could have been worse, far worse for Boyertown, as Downingtown East could have scored 60 or more tonight. In the first half, Boyertown quarterback Conner Foskey completed more passes to Downingtown East defenders (3) than he did his own receivers (1).

The Cougars were unable to capitalize on the first Foskey interception, as the Bears turned them away on a failed fourth down conversion. The Cougars capitalized on the second one, as Connor Kiebort returned Foskey’s second interception 29 yards for a 7-0 lead. Mason Ippolito expanded the lead to 14-0 on a 15-yard run.

Downingtown East returned Foskey’s third interception 41 yards to set up an Alex Rios four-yard run to make it 21-0. Freshman running back Jules Robinson scored his first varsity touchdown from one-yard out. Alex Rios scored his second touchdown in the first half from ten yards out, ensuring the mercy rule for the second half.

Boyertown scored against Downingtown East’s Junior Varsity team to make the final score 35-7.

The score was not remotely indicative of how one sided the game was. Boyertown did not have a first down until the fourth quarter, had negative yards of offense through three quarters, had more interceptions (3) than completed passes (1) after three quarters, and 67 total yards for the game.

Alex Rios (67 yards), and Jules Robinson (70 yards) were East’s leading ground gainers tonight.

The Whippets won again tonight, defeating the Perkiomen Valley Vikings 35-13 in a crossover matchup between the Ches-Mont and Pioneer Athletic Conference.

Perkiomen Valley dug themselves into an early hole, with some uncharacteristic play.  A botched fake punt and a tip drill interception gave the Whippets short fields, where they jumped out to a 14-0 lead early.  West Point bound Darian Smith scored on a 33-yard touchdown run, and Cole Bricker hit JD Weller on a 16-yard pass to make the score 14-0.

The Vikings’ hole got bigger when it hit 21-0. Darian Smith scored his second of three touchdowns from 36 yards out.  A Patrick MacDonald 11-yard run got the Vikings on the scoreboard in the second, cutting the lead to 21-6, but that was as close as the Vikings would get.

West got their lead back to three scores (28-6) before halftime, when Mike Taraschi scored from 13 yards out.

Both teams traded touchdowns in the third quarter, a Patrick MacDonald touchdown run got the Vikings back to 28-13, and Darian Smith closed out the scoring on a 39-yard reception.

The Whippets’ ground game rolled to 196 yards (315 total) and their defense held the Vikings to 55 yards passing (163 total).

After the game, Whippet coach Tom Kline said, “Spencer Dunn was held out of the second half due to an ankle issue. It was more of a precautionary measure. We had a lot of guys with offers to play in college last year, but we are confident in our 22 this year, and we take what the defense gives us.”

Perkiomen Valley coach Rob Heist acknowledged, “We didn’t play our brand of football tonight.  We had a few uncharacteristic penalties (5-45) and turnovers (2).” Those turnovers snowballed quickly in the first half.  These kids are resilient.

The Cougars are young this season, replacing ten starters on offense and ten starters on defense from last year’s 12-1 team that advanced to the District 1 6A semifinals. Early on, their lack of experience showed, as the Mariners scored at will.

The first half was the TJ Valero show, as he accounted for all three first-quarter touchdowns, a 15-yard run on their first possession, a 26-yard pass to Mekhi Morse, and a 30-yard pass to Cam Thomas, which put Tom’s River North up 21-0.

Nasiah Cormin tacked on a 23-yard field goal for the Mariners’ 24-0 halftime advantage. TJ Valerio put the Mariners up 31-0 on a 39-yard pass to Malachi Ford. TJ Valerio accounted for 375 (272 passes, 103 rush) of the Marniers’ 402 yards

The Cougars prevented a shutout when they tackled the punter in the end zone for a safety.

Downingtown East’s punishing running game was non-existent, managing only 83 yards.

The more things change, the more they stay the same, as the Whippets beat the Abraham Lincoln Railsplitters, by a score of 30-14. The final score could have been far worse, as the Whippets squandered many opportunities.

Downingtown West scored on their opening possession, following a short punt.  The Whippets drove 58 yards in 11 plays (all on the ground), as Tommy Miller punched one in from three yards out.

The Whippets’ defense got in on the scoring after a 50-yard punt.  On Lincoln’s first play, Kysheion Dawkins was tackled in the end zone for a safety resulting in a 9-0 lead for Downingtown West. Spencer Dunn expanded West’s advantage to 16-0 after a one-yard run.

The Railsplitters got on the scoreboard before half, when quarterback Omari Sutton scored on a quarterback zone run to cut the lead to 16-6.

During the third quarter, there was no scoring, but the Whippets squandered a few opportunities to expand their lead.  There was a fumble inside the five and a couple of missed fourth downs inside Lincoln’s 15-yard line. Downingtown West went to the air to put themselves up 23-6 when Cole Bricker hit Taraschi from five yards out.  They weren’t done as Darian Smith scored from 23 yards out making it 30-6.  John Cotton returned the ensuing kickoff 91 yards for a score to close out the scoring.

I observed a more physical running game from the Whippets tonight.  They had 390 yards of offense, 369 of which were on the ground.  Spencer Dunn ran for 171 yards on 25 carries.

For the Railsplitters, Marcus Sutton threw for 137 yards on 16-22 passing.

After the game, new Whippet head coach Tom Kline lamented on a few things saying, “We won’t accept mediocrity, and left points out there. Some of it was rust, and in the past this was a second scrimmage week. We made a few mistakes that will be improved upon.  We are a physical running team, and that is who we will be.”

This week was Downingtown East’s turn, as the Whippets avenged their 35-7 loss to the Cougars in week 10, in epic fashion. The Whippets scored on a Quinn Henicle four-yard run with sixteen seconds left to pull out the 17-14 upset.

The Whippets got on the board first on their opening drive, when Ben Mehan kicked a 21-yard field goal. Following an exchange of punts, Ayden Harris put the Cougars up 7-3 with a six-yard run.

Right before halftime, things got very interesting. Following some issues with clock management and indecision on whether or not to burn time-outs for a punt, Quinn Henicle hit Dean Hangey on a 40-yard Hail Mary for a 10-7 lead.

Late in the third quarter, we had our fourth lead change, when Ayden Harris put East up 14-10 on a two-yard run.

A crucial sequence put the wheels in motion for West’s upset. Ben Mehan boomed a 49-yard punt, pinning East at their one-yard line. East’s vaunted run game managed only seven yards. Then a 28-yard punt put the Whippets in plus territory at the Cougar 35-yard line with about three minutes left to set the table.

Faking a run into the middle, Henicle pulled the ball and ran it in for the four-yard run at the end. Henicle went 13-22 for 196 yards on the night.

Second-seeded Downingtown East mercy-ruled and shut out seventh-seeded Perkiomen Valley by a score of 35-0. This was Downingtown East’s eighth shutout in their 11 games. The Cougars have allowed 39 points in 11 games this fall.

The way the Cougars won tonight, was the way they have won all season so far. Their suffocating, smothering defense, along with a power run game behind a massive offensive line has proved too much for many teams. Perkiomen Valley was only down 14-0 at halftime and was competitive for about 2-1/2 quarters before their defense got worn out.

Ayden Harris put Downingtown East on the scoreboard on their first possession with a one-yard run. The Cougars had an opportunity to go up 10-0, but chose to go for a fourth down and four inside the Vikings’ 15-yard line.  It did not work out however as JJ Helverson’s pass was intercepted, only his second interception of the season.

Owen Lammy put the Cougars up 14-0 before halftime on a 22-yard run, capitalizing off an interception.

After halftime, Downingtown East systematically wore out Perkiomen Valley. Ayden Harris added runs of three and then five yards to put Downingtown East up 28-0. Drew Virelli made the Cougars lead 35-0 with 3:40 left in the third quarter, putting the mercy rule into play again.

Ayden Harris had 41 carries for 252 yards and three touchdowns tonight, his second consecutive 200+ yard game. The Cougars ran for 346 yards on 58 yards.

Felix Mason of Downingtown East had three sacks in the game, “The coaches had another great game plan. We have a mental toughness that we can match other teams’ physicality.”

Mike Matta stated, “He couldn’t be blocked all night without being held.  Number 77 for them (Carter Eucker) is a hell of a player.”

Downingtown East’s defense suffocated Perkiomen Valley’s offense to 65 total yards (22 passing, 43 rushing), and six first downs.

Up next for Downingtown East (11-0), is a rematch of their week ten matchup with Downingtown West (10-2) in the District semifinals.

Perkiomen Valley’s season ends at 9-3.

In tonight’s 56-0 win over Wissahickon, the Cougars showed that there was no layover from wins over league rivals Coatesville (21-0) and Downingtown West (35-7) in the last two weeks. As one-sided as tonight’s game was, it could have been much worse. Downingtown East could have scored 70 points or more.

Despite picking up a few first downs, aided by a successful fake punt and two personal fouls by Downingtown East, Wissahickon’s first drive bogged down. However, the Trojans were able to pin Downingtown East deep in their territory with a 57-yard punt.

Although pinned in a deep hole, the Cougars moved the ball down the field easily, capped off by an Owen Lammy touchdown run of 11 yards, on his only carry of the night. The Cougars added two more first-quarter touchdowns, capitalizing on consecutive interceptions by Wissahickon quarterback Nolan Pounds. Ayden Harris scored from 22 yards to make it 14-0, and on a 38-yard pass from JJ Helverson from 38 yards out for a 21-0 lead after one.

The Cougars’ offensive and defensive onslaught continued in the second quarter to the tune of 28 more points, to make the score 49-0 at halftime. John Morrin scored from four yards out to make it 28-0, Ayden Harris scored from six yards out after another interception to make it 35-0, and Jimmy Stott returned Nolan Pounds’ fourth interception of the night 36 yards for a 42-0 lead. Ayden Harris put the Cougars up 49-0 at halftime. Harris had 217 yards rushing on 23 carries (253 total) and four touchdowns in only one half of play.

The entire second half was played under the mercy rule, but that did not stop the Cougars, as the backups scored when John Morrin put an exclamation point on the game with a nine-yard run. Morrin rushed for 104 yards on 18 carries.

After their first drive bogged down at midfield, Wissahickon never threatened until late in the game against the Cougar backups. Even then, Nolan Pounds threw another interception, his fifth and final one of the game.

Nolan Pounds and the Trojan offense took a literal pounding all game by the Cougar defense, as they were suffocated to a total of 145 yards and five turnovers. Pounds was 7-20 passing for 100 yards and five interceptions. Despite Wissahickon’s best efforts to get Quasir Sampson 1000 yards rushing. He fell 50 yards short, as Sampson was held to 39 yards on 17 carries.

Joe Morrin had an interception, and Owen Lammy and Jimmy Stott had interceptions. Paxson Warnock had two interceptions for Downingtown East as well.

Wissahickon’s season ends at 6-5.