PHILADELPHIA — Call it an uncanny habit that Jake Kucera has picked up over the last few years. The 5-foot-10, 185-pound senior has this penchant for swooping in when Downingtown West is in dire straights to make the right play, at the right time, in the nick of time.
On Friday, in the season opener against a very stubborn Lincoln team, Kucera scored twice, picked up over 100 all-purpose yards, and made the play of the game with an interception in the last minute of play to preserve a 32-27 Whippets’ victory.
It was an entertaining, sometimes ugly game played in muggy conditions that featured players cramping all over the field, two safeties, a slew of penalties, and the officials losing track of the downs during a crucial moment of the game that could have lost the game for Downingtown West.
If not for Lincoln quarterback Gabe “The Eraser” Smalley, the game could have gone completely out of whack. The Railsplitters’ 6-foot, 200-pound senior quarterback erased a ton of Lincoln mistakes in singlehandedly keeping the game close.
Within the first 12 minutes, Downingtown West bolted out to a 23-0 lead, thanks to a pair of Kucera touchdowns, a safety, and five Lincoln penalties. In fact, over the Railsplitters’ first two possessions, they had more penalties than yards.
It had the look of a blowout. Then, something happened.
Smalley pulled his first magic act by escaping what was a constant Whippets’ pass rush by rolling right and finding Nathanael Rivera downfield for a 76-yard touchdown. On the next Lincoln drive, Smalley, using great improvisation, found Roling Davis in the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown pass. Lincoln closed the half on Ziyyon Bredell’s 65-yard interception, and suddenly, 23-0 had turned into a 23-20 football game.
“When we went up big, we stopped playing against them and started playing against ourselves, making a lot of mistakes,” said Kucera, who is heading to Maine. “The heat got to us and it’s all about playing four quarters. That team everyone saw in the first quarter can play with anyone. We definitely dealt with adversity. There were a lot of breakdowns. We found a way out. We can take away that we’re 1-0 from this, fix our mistakes, and let’s go.”
A Downingtown West third-quarter score was immediately answered with another Smalley touchdown pass.
The Railsplitters had two chances to finish. With just under 8:00 to play, the officials somehow lost track of the downs with Downingtown West sitting at the Lincoln 31. Whippets’ coach Mike Milano correctly claimed his team ran only one play, which it did. Yet, the officials skipped a down, calling it a third down, when it was actually a second down. Downingtown West quarterback Quinn Henicle took a seven-yard sack, and instead of looking at a third-and-17 at the Lincoln 31, the Whippets were forced to punt.
A low snap resulted in Lincoln jumping on Downingtown West punter Ben Mehan at the Whippets’ 45. Once again, Smalley came up huge with a 29-yard scramble, followed by a 12-yard completion. But Jake Kvech came up with a big sack, and the threat was stomped out.
With 1:05 to play, and the ball at the Downingtown West 20, Smalley tried to yank the Railsplitters back up again, but this time, his pass fell into Kucera’s hands at the Lincoln 40, sealing the victory.
“The D-line felt we had to be the ones to make the stop, and we got it done,” Kvech said. “We have to do this every single game. I’m not sure what was going on early, but we did what we needed to do on defense in the end.”
As for Lincoln, it was a tough loss, though educational. Smalley finished completing 13 of 20 for a career-best 251 yards and three touchdowns. He was under duress the entire game, and either took the punishment or found a way to escape, improvise to buy time to find open receivers downfield.
“We hurt ourselves, we punched ourselves in the mouth a lot of times with the penalties (13/92),” Smalley said. “As a team, we could do better. We have to punch from the beginning. I like our resilience. We’re going to fight back when we’re down. I loved the way our receivers played. I think I could have done better.”
It’s been a while since the Railsplitters last won a Philadelphia Public League championship, dating back in 1981.
Railsplitters’ coach Hakeem Cooper has done amazing work in five years with the program, going 9-3 in 2019, 9-2 in 2020, 6-1 (COVID-19) in 2021, and 9-4 in 2022, losing to Northeast in the PIAA District 12 Class 6A championship.
Judging by the way the Railsplitters looked coming back against Downingtown West, they’re going to be contenders.
“I feel great about my team,” Cooper said. “It could have been ugly. These kids are used to adversity. The way we played today wasn’t to my expectations, but it was close to my expectations. Gabe is special. He has a lot around him, and he has good chemistry with his guys. The biggest thing about Gabe is he’s a leader.
“I think there are a lot of things we did well, and teams in the city know they’re going to be in a fight when they play Lincoln High School.”
Milano was happy to get out with a victory. The Whippets’ defense saved the game.
“Lincoln is a pretty good team, there is a lot of talent and speed over there, and we allowed some stuff to happen,” Milano said. “We had a different week of practice, but we did react to adversity. We faced it and we finished. I’m disappointed in our offense. An ugly win is always better than a pretty loss. We came out with a win.”
Thanks, once again, to Jake Kucera.
Scoring Summary
Downingtown West (1-0) 23 0 9 0-32
Lincoln (0-1) 0 20 7 0-27
1st Quarter
DW – Safety (Ball snapped out of end zone), 10:19
DW – Kam Alex fumble recovery in end zone (Ben Mehan kick), 8:42
DW – Jake Kucera 1 run (Mehan kick), 4:44
DW – Kucera 1 run (Mehan kick), 1:48
2nd Quarter
L – Nathanael Rivera 76 pass from Gabe Smalley (pass failed), 11:45
L – Roling Davis 13 pass from Smalley (pass failed), 4:58
L – Ziyyon Bredell 65 INT return (Smalley run), 1:38
3rd Quarter
DW – Darian Smith 12 run (Mehan kick), 6:40
L – Davis 53 pass from Smalley (Smalley kick), 5:25
DW – Safety (receiver tackled in the end zone), :59
Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter who has been covering high school football since 1992 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on Twitter @JSantoliquito. Follow EasternPAFootball.com on Twitter @EPAFootball.
