The Wester Chester Rustin defense forces a Chester fumble in Friday’s District 1-5A quarterfinal game at Rustin. (Photo: Owen McCue/For Eastern PA Football)
WESTTOWN — West Chester Rustin knew the formidable foe it had in front of it Friday night. A season-ending loss to Chester in last year’s district semifinals was hard to forget.
The No. 7 Clippers traveled to the No. 2 Golden Knights for a District 1-5A quarterfinal fight that pitted two powerful defenses and potent offenses against each other in a playoff rematch.
Aided by the sting from last season’s, Rustin rode a three-touchdown day from senior Chase Hatton and took advantage of a multitude of miscues by Chester to cruise to a 45-16 victory and advance to next week’s semifinal against No. 6 Upper Dublin.
“I know everybody else it didn’t sit well with them,” Hatton said of last season’s season-ending defeat. “We were working all offseason for this moment. Personally, I was disappointed in myself because I thought I could have gone a little bit more than I had. So this year I promised myself to give everything I had every second of every game.”
Chester (10-2) took down Rustin 26-20 last season and came in on an absolute tear having scored 40-or-more points in eight straight games, while allowing a total of 27 points in its last six. The Golden Knights (11-1) were averaging more than 45 points per game, while holding opponents to just a touchdown per game in their four contests heading into Friday.
Through a quarter of play the lock-down defenses kept the high-powered offenses in check with a scoreless 12 minutes of play. However, after a fourth-down stop at midfield, Rustin scored the game’s first points on a 12-yard run by Hatton with 9:28 left in the second quarter and that seemed to break the game loose.
A Chester fumble two plays later helped set Hatton up for his second score of the game — this time from three yards out. The Clippers’ next drive lasted just two plays as well as the Golden Knights turned another Chester fumble into another Hatton score, going up 21-0 with 1:46 left in the first half. Hatton ran the ball 17 times for 98 yards.
“It’s amazing when the defense goes out and gets the ball for us,” Rustin offensive lineman Charlie Covington said. “We can’t ask for any more and they stopped a great team like that to 16 points.”
Chester ended its final three offensive drives of the first half with fumbles. The Clippers lost four fumbles in the first half and finished the game with seven fumbles, losing five of them. Another fumble almost spoiled the Clippers’ first offensive drive of the second half, but quarterback Jalen Harris was able to recover it and find Shamar Williams for a 47-yard pass play.
The offensive burst was short lived for the Clippers, who were halted by the Golden Knights defense at the Rustin 31 on a 4th-down try. Hatton ripped off a 47-yard run of his own to set up a 10-yard touchdown pass from quarterback David McClain to Luke Matthias that extended the lead to 28-0 with five minutes left in the third.
Hatton’s big run was one of just two Golden Knights plays that broke for more than 20 yards in the game. Behind Covington, who Hatton described as a “dog” and a “great leader”, and fellow linemen Nicky Santangelo, Jackson Wolfe, Nick Hornbach and Andrw Shallo, the Rustin backfield was content to grind the ball down the field, toward the goal line and keep the Chester offense off the field.
“Coaches teach us to do eight minute drives and that’s what we do,” Covington said. “That’s what we did.”
Rustin scored the game’s first 38 points — adding a 37-yard field goal from Freddie Adler and an eight-yard touchdown pass from McClain to tight end Billy Tigue — before Chester finally got on the board on a 75-yard kickoff return by Jerrell Palmer with 7:24 left in the game.
Outside of a 47-yard pass play and a 74-yard touchdown pass Harris to Williams against Rustin’s backup defense, Chester was held to just 54 yards from scrimmage.
“Both our offensive and defensive scout team, they did a phenomenal job to get us playing up to that standard,” Rustin coach Mike St. Clair said.
“They had a couple turnovers that really hurt them,” he added. “We learned a lot from playing them last year down there, what to expect defensively. We just repped it all week and we executed very well tonight. We didn’t turn the ball over.”
Ryan Loper ran 15 times for 72 yards and a touchdown for Rustin. McClain completed three of his four pass, including a pair of touchdowns to his tight ends, who were rewarded for their blocking up front. Williams caught two passes for 124 yards and a touchdown to highlight Chester’s offensive night.
Prior to last season’s semifinal loss to Chester, the Golden Knights finished as District 1-5A runner-ups in 2020, 2021 and 2022. Rustin won a district title in 2008. Also lost a 4th finals in 2018
Rustin has now reached at least the district semifinal round for the seventh straight season. The Golden Knights have reached the title game four times during that stretch — though they are still chasing an elusive district crown.
The team that has stood in Rustin’s way in three of those title games is Upper Dublin. The Cardinals have won four of the five postseason games the teams have played since 2014 heading into next Friday’s matchup.
The key for the Golden Knights?
“Same thing we’ve been doing,” Hatton said of what it will take to get past the semifinal round. “If it aint’ broke don’t fix it. We keep winning. We’ve got a game plan. We celebrate tonight but tomorrow it’s back to work.”
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Rustin won a district title in 2008. Also lost a 4th finals in 2018