Coatesville Holds off LaSalle in Classic AAAA Eastern Final
Written by: Armand Vanore on Saturday, December 8th, 2012. Follow Armand Vanore on Twitter.
Downingtown- The Coatesville Red Raiders held off a furious last minute LaSalle Explorers rally and Devonte Suber’s interception at the Coatesville 10 yard line helped the Raiders punch their ticket to Hershey 42-35, and their first trip toChocolatetown and the AAAA state title game next week.
The magnitude of this game was apparent when there were over 50 people lined up at the gate at Downingtown’s Kottmeyerstadium more than two hours prior to game time. One half hour prior to the start Coatesville’s side was completely filled and LaSalle’s was already over half filled and building quickly.
The Explorers planned to make a statement immediately and didso on their second possession in two plays with quarterback Chris Kane’s 44 yard completion to Mike Eife, then Jimmy Herron’s seven yard touchdown run which drew first blood. After forcing a season rare Coatesville punt LaSalle appeared on their way to a two score lead when Kane found a wide open Eifeagain deep in Raider territory. As Eife made the catch he was drilled by a Coatesville safety causing him to drop the ball andhelped off the field. Later in that same drive, Sean Coleman hurt his ankle and was also helped off the field not to return.
The game took on an immediate offensive posture when each team began to score touchdowns on consecutive, multiplepossessions. Coatesville has averaged over 50 points a game in the post season and wanted to make an offensive statement. They certainly did by scoring touchdowns on their next three possessions. Their nine play drive tied the game at seven when quarterback Emmitt Hunt connected with Daquan Worley out of the backfield from 11 yards. Hunt’s 3 yard plunge followed by Worley’s 6 yard touchdown had the Explorers on their heels with still plenty of time left in the half.
After a LaSalle touchdown, Hunt made a rare miscue when he was intercepted by Ryan Coonahan on an attempted screen pass.Coonahan took the pick and scored from 28 yards for a touchdown tying the game at 21. The Explorers took away the momentum that Coatesville was beginning to build.
Holding a 28-21 lead at halftime, the Red Raiders started the second half with two, time eclipsing scoring drives. The first went 13 plays, and took six minutes and Hunt had completions of 14, 16, 19 and finally a 30 yard touchdown to Chris Jones.The second went 12 plays and ended with Worley’s five yard jaunt which extended their lead to three touchdowns.
Four minutes into the final quarter Kane connected with Herron on a 46 yard touchdown then forced a couple Raider 
three and outs then scored again in five plays ending with JordanMeachum’s 3 yard touchdown.
Down by 7, the Explorers stuffed Coatesville on their last possession forcing a punt. Herron fielded the punt inside their 20 and returned it to the Raider 22 yard line. A holding call took the ball back to Coatesville’s 44 and Coordinator Brett Gordon had a little more than two minutes left to tie this game. Kane had two potential touchdown passes dropped from Coatesville’s 19 setting up Suber’s AAAA, eastern title’s game winning interception.
With the rain falling as the game ended, hundreds of Hershey’s kisses were flung on the field by the Coatesville faithful. Both teams fought to the very end and deserved to be in next week’s state title game.
Notes: This game had an incredible 136 total offensive plays.Coleman was 74 yards short of being Philly area’s all time leading receiver prior to his game ending ankle injury. Tyler Burke played an absolute monster game for the Raiders. He provided great pass blocking for Hunt; made a big time 19 yard reception in their first, 3rd quarter drive and unoffially had 15 tackles from his LB spot. The game started with a warning, then a 5 yard penalty on Raider kicker Jon Bollenbach for not raising his hand prior to kicking off. Explorer punter Ryan Winslow had a couple of booming, high 40 plus yard punts.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total
LaSalle 7 14 0 14 35
Coatesville 7 21 7 7 42
Scoring By Quarter
1st Quarter
LS – Jimmy Herron – 7 run – (PAT – Ryan Winslow) – 8:32
CV – Daquan Worley – 11 pass from Emmitt Hunt – (PAT – Jon Bollenbach) – :24
2nd Quarter
CV – Hunt – 3 run – (PAT – Bollenbach) – 8:57
CV – Worley – 6 run – (PAT – Bollenbach) – 5:23
LS – Chris Kane – 3 run – (PAT – Winslow) – 2:42
LS – Ryan Coonahan – 28 yard interception return – (PAT – Winslow) – :1:34
CV – Chris Jones – 4 pass from Hunt – (PAT – Bollenbach) – :29
3rd Quarter
CV – Jones – 30 pass from Hunt – (PAT – Bollenbach) – :6:13
4th Quarter
CV – Worley – 5 run – (PAT – Bollenbach) – :10:07
LS – Herron – 46 pass from Kane – (PAT – Winslow) – : 8:06
LS – Jordan Meachum – 3 run – (PAT – Winslow) – : 4:38
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December 11th, 2012 at 11:35 pm
The issue of public vs private is not about the players or coaches. It’s about the times were there is an imbalance due to a neighborhood team playing agaisnt a team that has kids from many neighborhoods. No need to knock the school/kids… Argue the point, I am sure the PIAA does it every year.
December 11th, 2012 at 9:42 pm
Nice spelling Kevin. *La Salle, College, it’s, Hershey…Don’t knock La Salle people, then go and spelling everything wrong.
December 10th, 2012 at 6:38 pm
Dear Raider fan,
You won the game. Do you need anything else ?
December 9th, 2012 at 10:32 pm
@Kevin, I don’t think you can put a price on education. I’m assuming you got a freebie from a public school. It is spelled LaSalle and that other tough word is spelled Hershey. Keep up living in the moment, your future looks bleak.
December 9th, 2012 at 8:53 pm
Good luck Coatesville in hershey. Bring a state championship back to District 1!
December 8th, 2012 at 11:32 pm
Raider Fan,
Actually, Hunt has 43 TD passes, tied with North Allegheny’s Mack Leftwich for 8th-best single season touchdown pass total in state history. State record for TD passes in one season is 52. Leftwich & Hunt are tied for the AAAA single-season TD passes mark.
December 8th, 2012 at 10:16 pm
YO cville people!!! Where the hell is all the Le Salle Collage I paid to much for school fans now? lol, Live in This moment its everything this team is about!! I’m booked for hershy!!!
December 8th, 2012 at 10:10 pm
EPAF.NET
I cant believe you keep deleting my post.
Are you LaSalle fans? Am I going to insult somebody. Whats the deal. Your staring to give me a complex.
December 8th, 2012 at 5:48 pm
let me clarify emmit hunt become leading touchdown passer for one season 42. in AAAA look it up
December 8th, 2012 at 5:45 pm
yo armad what kind of article is that. lasalle was lucky to even be close in that game. officials where onesided on calls all night. that game should have been a blowout. the better team one period. all you got out of that game was there dropped passes. what about the punt return called back. clean blocks through out. coleman a nice player no question, but emmit hunt just became the alltime leading touchdown passer in AAAA history how but mentioning that. that is pretty impressive I THINK. REMEMBER WHO WON THE GAME
December 8th, 2012 at 3:04 pm
EPAF.NET
Where’s your web site moderator. Do he/she sleep in on Saturdays? Let get this ball rolling.
December 8th, 2012 at 1:59 pm
Jr standout rb #4 Dequan Worley paced the CV ground game with 146 yards 2 TDs rushing one 11 yard screen pass TD & numerous huge 1st downs…Note: Soph. #15 Jay Stocker had an interception right before the half on Kane’s hailmary…that should be 2 picks
December 8th, 2012 at 1:42 pm
Nicely done Armand…few things to point out one being Dre Boggs performance has to be recognized as he played a strong all around game with 7 rushes for 83 yards…3 catches for 71 yards & at least 3 returns for near 50 yards + 1 of them a 94 yarder on the Raiders first touch which was the 1st of 3 CV TDs called back…Amazing game fought to the finish but this was some of the most ridiculous & biased officiating I ever put my eyes on. Consistently halting Red Raider Fireworks but instead of whining or folding up to the country club boys like people thought the Raiders consistently fought back & answered the bell. Sr. CB #1 Jason Totoram sparked the Raiders defensively early with 2 major hits on Eife & Coleman when the Explorers literally went to the “Wheel” well one too many times(Fav play). CV got the ball back with 1:39 left before the half & Hunt led a drive capped with a Chris Jones TD with seconds remaining. Note: this is the Raiders 3rd week in a row in AAAA in which they excuted big 2 minute drives for scores in the final seconds of the half. Also did anyone else see anything illegal on Devonte Suber game sealing interception that he returned to the house & had the RaiderNation rocking until yet another bogus flag appears…Guess they had to keep the score close on that “great” defense lol #SpeedKills #RaidersAdvance
December 8th, 2012 at 11:53 am
Listening to the game on the radio, it sounded like one of the most poorly officiated playoff games in history — ineptness or something else? Does anyone know where the crew was from? Despite the adversity, Coatesville still put up 42 points on the vaunted LaSalle defense (easily could have been 56). I find it interesting that the Philly papers only seem to focus on the injuries LaSalle had, not that Coatesville had over 500 yards (and were predicted to lose). I still don’t think private schools should be allowed in the playoffs (LaSalle has a key player from Liberia?). Anyway, chalk one up for the public schools and community spirit.
December 8th, 2012 at 11:44 am
CONGRATS COATESVILLE FOR THEIR WIN , ON THEIR WAY TO HERSGEY. WELL FOUGHT GAM, WELL COACHED , WELL PLAYED BY EVERYBODY. THE ONLY THING IS COATESVILE DIDNT BEAT LASALLE THEY BEAT THE[ REFS ] THEY WERE ONE SIDED THE WHOLE GAME AND NEVER GAVE COATESVILLE A CHANCE TO DO ANYTHING.. BUT IN THAT SAID GREAT JOB COATESVILLE AND SEE YOU IN HERSHEY … GRAD 1996