In what seems to be the case on a yearly basis, the Downingtown East Cougars had an opponent from out of district 1, and won in a convincing fashion. This season is no different, as the Cougars beat Archbishop Ryan out of the Catholic League, by a mercy rule 42-12.
The game was not nearly as close as the score indicated- Archbishop Ryan didn’t get a first down until their fourth possession. By then they were down 21-0. The Raiders were out-gained by almost a 3-1 margin (302-109).
Archbishop Ryan went three and out on their first three possessions of the game. It took the Cougars two plays to go up 7-0 on a Drew Person sneak. It took one play to make it 14-0, after Drew Person hit Luke Connolly for 57 yards. Person hit Connor Noble from five yards out for a 21-0 lead.
Once the Raiders were down 21-0, they sustained their only decent drive of the game. Their drive was capped off when Cole Lowe hit Justin Collier from 15 yards out on a busted play. The extra point failed, so it was 21-6 at this point.
From there, the onslaught continued. Spencer Uggla scored from 22 yards out to make it 28-6, and a 39-yard run by Josh Asante made it 35-6.
The Cougars delayed hitting the mercy rule by six minutes, when a pass was intercepted in the end zone. The teams traded punts on their first possessions of the second half, then with six minutes left in the third quarter, the mercy rule was put into play when Brendan Littlepage hit Situ Koye from ten yards out.
Julian Jones scored from a yard out on Downingtown East’s JV team, for the 42-12 final.
