No matter what you call it- whether it’s The Battle of the Brandywine, a Celebration of Downingtown Football, or the Downingtown Civil War, the game usually has major district 1 playoff implications. Tonight was the twenty-first game between the schools, since Downingtown split after the 2002-03 school year.
This year’s game between the Downingtown East Cougars (8-0, 3-0) and Downingtown West Whippets (8-1, 3-0) was no different. A league title, and a top three seed in the District 1 6A playoffs were at stake. An exciting game was expected.
Although an exciting matchup was anticipated, the outcome of the game was a totally different thing. The Cougars absolutely dominated the Whippets by a score of 35-7, in a game that was never close. This was the fourth win in the last five games between the two schools, and the Cougars have beaten the Whippets 13 times in the 21 games.
Downingtown East was able to capitalize on a couple of Whippet mistakes early. West running back Kam Alex lost a fumble at the Cougar 48-yard line. The Cougars turned that into a touchdown when Ayden Harris barreled in from two yards out.
West’s second possession also resulted in a Whippet turnover, this time a Quinn Henicle interception gave the Cougars the ball inside the West 40-yard line. East turned it into a 14-0 lead when JJ Helverson hit Appapogu from 31 yards out on a fourth down and three. There was nobody in the same zip code as Appapogu.
Downingtown East expanded their lead to 21-0, when Owen Lammy scored from 42 yards out. Ayden Harris scored from six yards out to put the Cougars up 28-0 at halftime.
The only questions that needed to be answered in the second half were if there would be the first mercy rule in the Downingtown rivalry, and would the Whippets be the first team since State College to score on the Cougar defense.
We did not get the first mercy rule in the 21-game rivalry, because the Whippets were able to put a touchdown on the board when Quinn Henicle hit Dean Hangey on a 37-yard pass to convert a fourth down and 13 to close the gap to 28-7.
That’s as close as the Whippets got, as Ayden Harris closed out the scoring on a three-yard run. Harris ran for 188 yards and three touchdowns on the night.
After the game, a dejected Whippet coach Mike Milano stated, “East can all play. They beat us up. We had trouble protecting Quinn all game. We had no balance. They flat out beat our (tails).”
Cougar running back Ayden Harris said, “Shout out to the bigs on the offensive line today. All glory to God.”
Coach Mike Matta added, “They (West) did some things. Our line played well. Our standard is to finish strong. It’s a long season from January with lifting. It’s exciting for the kids. They’re lunch pail kids that work hard.”
Whippets quarterback Quinn Henicle threw for 69 yards on 5-12 passing. The leading rusher, Kam Alex, was held to 12 yards rushing on eight carries. An offense that managed a load of highlights against some solid teams (Lincoln, Neshaminy, Chester, and Coatesville) got systematically taken down for 48 long minutes tonight.
