Overcoming adversity seems to be the mantra on a regular basis during the 2015 football season in Chester County.
Tonight was Downingtown East’s turn. On the night: the Cougars overcame a safety, an interception returned for a touchdown, and a total of three rare interceptions by quarterback Saunders Healy, in the second quarter alone. Downingtown East showed they are to be feared for the last three weeks of the regular season, after downing the Coatesville Red Raiders by a 22-12 score.
After a scoreless first quarter, the Red Raiders took a 3-0 lead on a 31 yard field goal by Ibrahim Kallie. Coatesville’s defense joined in on the fun after a poor kickoff return, when the Red Raiders stuffed Cougar tailback Jack Kincade in the end zone for a 5-0 advantage to Coatesville.
Downingtown East was able to drive down the field to take a 7-5 lead, when Jack Kincade scored from a yard out. The highlight of the drive was a 41 yard pass play from Saunders Healy to Cary Angeline. The Cougars’ lead would be short lived, due to an opportunistic Coatesville defense, when Kevin Kirk jumped a route and took a Saunders Healy pass 19 yards to the house for a 12-7 Coatesville lead at halftime.
That would be the last time the Red Raiders would lead tonight. After the Cougars blocked an Ibrahim Kallie field goal, the Cougars drove 87 yards to take a 15-12 lead; when Nik Aivado scored from 10 yards out and Healy hit Angeline for a two-point conversion.
Once Downingtown East took the lead, Coatesville ran into a major issue. Already without Avery Young who did not play tonight, Quarterback Jordan Young went down with a ankle/leg injury. The extent of the injury is currently unknown. The Red Raiders were unable to muster any offense with backup quarterbacks Mekhi Alexander, or Dominic Macolino. After Downingtown East recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, the Cougars took a commanding 10 point lead, when Saunders Healy hit Angeline for a 13 yard pass.
After the game, Downingtown East coach Mike Matta was happy with his team and their leadership, “We faced adversity and handled it well. I can not say enough about how well we responded. Our defense played well. The secondary tackled well, which was our top key. We kept their offense out of the end zone, which says a lot, Coatesville has a very strong offense year in and year out.” Tight end Cary Angeline stated, “They played man coverage all game. Our pass game set up the run well. It’s great to finally beat Coatesville. We were 0-3 against those guys before this season.”
NOTABLE- Tonight was the first time in 21 games that Coatesville’s offense failed to score a touchdown. The last time this occurred was the first round of the 2013 district 1 AAAA playoffs, in a 31-0 loss to North Penn.
STATS
DE- 0- 7 -15-0- 22
CV- 0-12- 0- 0- 12
CV- Ibrahim Kallie 31 FG
CV- Safety, Kincade tackled in end zone
DE- Jack Kincade 1 run (Brennan kick)
CV- Kevin Kirk 19 yard interception return (Kallie kick)
DE- Nik Aivado 10 run (Angeline pass from Healy)
DE- Cary Angeline 13 pass from Healy
CV DE
First Downs 9 15
Penalties-Yards 5-50 2-10
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 1-0
Punts-Average 9-39.3 8-31.3
Comp-Att-Int 12-28-2 14-28-3
Yards Passing 168 166
Rushes-Yards 24-37 44-93
Total Plays-Yards 52-205 72-259
Passing-
Coatesville- J. Young 9-20-127 yards-1 int, Alexander 0-2, Macolino 3-6-41 yards- 1 int
Downingtown East- Healy 14-28-166 yards-1 td, 3 int.
Receiving-
Coatesville- Alexander 1-22, Kirk 1-9, Aaron Young 2-32, Hudson 7-106, Hammond 1-(minus 2)
Downingtown East- Angeline 7-127-td, Hammond-Green 1-(minus 3), Hanford 4-32, Day 1-4, Harris 1-6
Rushing-
Coatesville- Macolino 2-(minus 15), Alexander 1-(minus 8), Aaron Young 7-18, Hudson 5-7, Jordan Young 9-35
Downingtown East- Healy 12-26, Kincade 22-46-td, Aivado 1-10-td, Liauditis 7-8, Hanford 2-3
