Coatesville Greatest Show on Turf wins District 1 title

Downingtown, Pa., The Coatesville Red Raiders won their first District 1, AAAA title with another carnival like performance in a 59-28 pasting of the Spring-Ford Rams at Downingtown’s Kottmeyer stadium last night. The term “the greatest show on turf” was mentioned in the stands many times and the similarities between this Coatesville offense and the one Kurt Warner ran with the St. Louis Rams in the mid 90’s appeared evident here in the last couple weeks.

This Red Raider team has the best collection of skill guys in SEPA if not the state of Pennsylvania. It is very difficult to believe that any defense lining up opposite the likes of Emmitt Hunt, Daquan Worley, Dre Boggs and Chris Jones would be at a comfort level to contain this group. Loading the box would be suicide for a defensive coordinator and playing a deep zone also plays into Coatesville’s hands with explosive RB Worley and the line that protects them.

Coatesville immediately set the tone defensively on Spring-Ford’s first two offensive possessions. The Rams came into this final on the heels of a 35 point performance versus one of the best defensive units in Pennridge last week. The Rams depend on two quality thousand yard rushers in Jarred Jones and Yousef Lundi and quarterback Hank Coyne who himself has thrown for 26 touchdowns.

 Ram coach Chad Brubaker’s plan was to somehow keep the ball away from Coatesville’s offense. He rolled the dice one minute into the game on a third and one from their own 39 but Jones was stuffed by Tyler Burke and Terrance Wright. Hunt went right to work and engineered a quick six play drive which ended courtesy a 10 yard touchdown pass to Boggs and a lightning quick 7-0 lead. The Raider defense set a more serious tone on the Rams next possession when DB Jason Totoram separated the ball from a Spring-Ford receiver allowing Devonte Suber to scoop and score from 31 yards and a 14-0 lead.

Spring-Ford kept things close into the second quarter when Tate Carter returned the ensuing kickoff 92 yards for a score and later scored from 14 yards via the arm of quarterback Hank Coyne. Coyne also connected with Gary Hopkins for a touchdown but fell behind 35-21 at the half.

The Raider defense set the tone to start the game but their offense set it completely in the second half when Worley shook three tackles weaving to his right then sprinting for a 51 yard touchdown on the second play and the spark that literally took Spring-Ford out of the game. Touchdowns by Worley and Jones later made it a route and finally a chance to savor the title and a chance to look ahead to next week’s eastern state championship game.

Hunt was quick to give credit to the guys that protect them up front. “The linemen jokingly call me their girlfriend” said Hunt. “They feel their being cheated on when I get any pressure. My name may get put in the paper a lot but I know inside that I wouldn’t be where I’m at without them.”

The Raider offensive line indeed is what sets up these great skill guys. Titus Richards, Dylan Morgan, Joe Phillips, Andrew Baker, Tyler Burke and Colin Raysor provided great protection for Hunt which makes this offensive as explosive as it is.

Coatesville coach Matt Ortega (formerly from District 3’s Willam Penn in York) now will await the winner of the LaSalle, Parkland game. Next week’s game is tentatively set for Kottmeyer stadium next Saturday.

Notes: Thousand yard rusher Lundi only carried 5 times for 21 yards. Jones was held to 34 yards on 15 totes. Worley had 176 yards, 2 TD’s on 19 carries. Boggs twice almost broke for touchdowns on kick returns. Both Chris Jones and Hunt received interest from Villanova in the last week.

Final                          1^st         2^nd     3^rd     4^th     T

Spring-Ford             14         7        0        7       28

Coatesville                21         14      17      7       59

Scoring by Quarter

1^st Quarter

CV – Dre Boggs 10 pass from Emmitt Hunt – (PAT – John Bollenbach) – 8:25

CV – Devonte Suber – 31 fumble return – (PAT – Bollenbach) – 6:58

SF  – Tate Carter – 92 kick return – (PAT – Dave Gulati) – 6:43

CV- Hunt – 1 run – (PAT – Bollenbach) – 3:33

SF – Carter – 14 pass from Hank Coyne – (PAT – Gulati) – :00

2^nd Quarter

CV – Chris Jones – 22 pass from Hunt – (PAT – Bollenbach) – 9:02

SF – Gary Hopkins – 8 pass from Coyne – (PAT – Gulati) – 4:15

CV – Jones – 14 pass from Hunt – (PAT – Bollenbach) – :08

3^rd Quarter

CV – Daquan Worley – 51 run – (PAT – Bollenbach) – 11:38

CV – Bollenbach – 27 Field Goal – 9:21

CV – Worley – 11 run – (PAT – Bollenbach) – :56

4^th Quarter

CV – Jones – 7 pass from Hunt – (PAT – Bollenbach) – 9:13

SF – Yousef Lundi – 3 run – (PAT – Gulati) – 3:48

Photo’s by Lee Vivian