WEST CHESTER – Downingtown West and West Chester Rustin have been two of the more consist programs in not just the Ches-Mont league, but of all of District 1 for over more than a decade now. Surprisingly, they had never met each other in each other’s program history until Friday night. However, the matchup between the two unbeaten schools was worth the wait.
Behind an overpowering defensive effort, the Whippets outlasted the Golden Knights 14-7 on a misty Friday night at Rustin Stadium in Ches-Mont League crossover action.
“Our defensive coaches got together Sunday to try and get a plan to stop probably the best rushing team in a long time,” Downingtown West Head Coach Tom Kline said. “We wanted to take that rushing attack away and I am so proud of these kids and coaches.”
Kline’s defense limited the vaunted Golden Knights rushing attack to just 82 yards on 38 carries, averaging 2.2 yards as a team. The size and athleticism on the Whippets defensive line proved large in multiple key situations on Friday night.
Downingtown West quarterback Cole Bricker was intercepted by Pat Maychak at the Whippets 32-yard line on their first drive of the game. The Whippets defense went to work and stuffed the Golden Knights on back-to-back plays after a high snap went 12 yards over the head of Rustin quarterback, David McClain.
With the offense still trying to find its rhythm, the Whippets turned to its special teams to help gain its early advantage when TJ Sinkus launched a 61-yard punt to the Golden Knights 1-yard line. Downingtown West forced a punt, got short field, and took a 7-0 lead when Bricker found Darian Smith open in the end zone for a 7-yard touchdown on Third-and-Goal.
The Golden Knights defense forced a three-and-out on the Whippets opening drive of the second half and a short punt landed at the Downingtown West 36-yard line. McClain completed his only pass of the night on the first play of the Rustin drive and hit Luke Spitzer for a 36-yard touchdown to tie the game at seven with 9:50 left in the third quarter.
“We set our goal from this year was to finish everything,” Kline said. “We knew we would find adversity at some points, and it was a matter of how we respond to that. Tonight showed us what kind of team we got this year and I am proud of them for being resilient.”
With momentum looking as it was swinging to Rustin after a Whippets punt, Downingtown West’s defense was up to task again by forcing a Golden Knights punt. Bricker converted a 3rd-and-7 with a 13-yard pass to Smith and delivered possibly the biggest play of the night, a 40-yard run up the middle to set the Whippets up inside the Rustin 10-yard line. Tommy Miller rushed for a 6-yard touchdown to put the Whippets back in front at 14-7 with six seconds left in the third quarter.
“Cole is by nature a quiet kid but is a determined young man,” Kline said. “People try to compare him to Quinn (Henicle) but he is his own person, a great leader for us and came up clutch when we need him the most tonight.”
The Whippets defense was put to the test once again when JoJo Magolon closed out the third quarter with a 41-yard kick return to the Downingtown West 48-yard line. However, the Golden Knights went 17 yards backwards thanks to a false start, 4-yard loss on a run, and then a sack by Andrew Brown on third down.
“We added some extra things this week that we felt would throw them off their game,” Smith said. “We have grit and everything we have done over the summer has built us to this point. All the long nights and extra conditioning has brought us together as a group.”
Rustin got the ball back at their 28-yard line with 6:23 left in the fourth quarter after Chase Hatton broke up a 4th-and-4 pass from Bricker that was just shy of the goal line. Hatton marched the Golden Knights down the field behind six carries while converting a third and fourth down situation. Rustin made it to the Whippets 24-yard line before a sack and two incompletions forced a 4th-and-14 from the Whippets 28-yard line. McClain went for Hatton in the end zone but the pass sailed just high to preserve the win for Downingtown West.
“They are a lot bigger than us up front, their front seven is very talented, and they just made a couple of more plays than us tonight.” Rustin Head Coach Mike St. Clair said. “The thing we can take away is that they are a very good 6A team and I think we are a very good 5A team. If a 5A team can battle a 6A team like that it shows a lot about yourself.”
It was a full circle moment for Kline, who was on St. Clair’s original staff when the West Chester Rustin program debuted in 2006 and served as an assistant for three seasons.
“It was a lot of fun coaching against Mike tonight,” Kline said. “We go back a long time and the success I have with these guys shows the great lessons I learned from him when I was at Rustin.”
The Whippets, now 6-0, will maintain their Top-10 PIAA 6A State Ranking status and stay in Ches-Mont crossover action next Friday night as they will travel to face Great Valley. West Chester Rustin (5-1) completes its back-to-back with Downingtown schools by traveling to face East this upcoming Friday.
| SCORE BY QUARTERS | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final |
| Downingtown West | 0 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 14 |
| WC Rustin | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
Scoring summary
| 2 | DTW | Smith, 7 pass from Bricker(Sharp kick) | 4:04 |
| 3 | WCR | Spitzer, 36 pass from McClain (Adler kick) | 9:50 |
| 3 | DTW | Miller, 6 run (Sharp kick) | 0:06 |
Team statistics
| Downingtown West | WC Rustin | |
| First downs | 8 | 8 |
| Rushes-yards | 30-112 | 38-82 |
| Passing yards | 58 | 36 |
| Total yards | 170 | 118 |
| Passes COMP-ATT-INT | 6-12-1 | 1-7-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 1-0 | 1-0 |
| Punts-average | 4-46.8 | 7-40.7 |
| Penalties-yards | 3-20 | 3-20 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Downingtown West: Miller 6-48, Bricker 5-27, Taraschi 7-14, O’Connor 0-11, Dunn 4-9, Barry 3-7, TEAM 1-(-1), Smith 4-(-3)
WC Rustin: Hatton 19-64, Loper 4-25, DiAntonio 5-10, Magolon 1-6, McClain 8-(-11), TEAM 1-(-12)
PASSING
Downingtown West: Bricker 6-11-1—58, Miller 0-1-0
WC Rustin: McClain 1-7-0—36
RECEIVING
Downingtown West: Miller 2-24, Smith 2-20, Weller 1-9, Shaughnessy 1-5
WC Rustin: Spitzer 1-36
INTERCEPTIONS
WC Rustin: Maychak
