The years may change, but some things stay the same.
Two of those items that seldom changed the last few years- that the Downingtown West Whippets and the Pennsbury Falcons will cross paths in the District 1 6A playoffs, and the other is that the teams will have a high scoring affair.
Both of those items came true to form tonight for the third time since 2014- as the top seeded Whippets hosted the Falcons from Fairless Hills, and this time it was the Whippets’ turn to come out on the right end of a high scoring affair, by a score of 63-35. The game had 44 first downs, 985 yards of offense, and 13 plays of over 25 yards.
Both teams went up and down the field right away, as Pennsbury went 80 yards in 7 plays on their opening drive- when JayVon McNeill scored from 32 yards out on a zone read, which was set up by a 28 yard run by CJ Kohler on a 4th and 1 at their own 40.
Following a West three and out, and Pennsbury drive covering 35 yards before stalling on downs; the Whippets tied the score on a Tyriq Lewis 14 yard run. Lewis rushed for 218 yards on 21 carries, and had his second 5 touchdown game of the season tonight.
From there, Pennsbury went back down the field in 5 plays- as Brad Mickles scores 44 yards out to take a 14-7 lead. The Falcons were able to steal a possession on an onside kick that was touched by a West player around midfield (and booted by multiple players on both sides), all the way down to the Pennsbury 18 yard line, before the Falcons recovered it. It took Pennsbury 7 plays to cover 82 yards, before McNeill scored for a 21-7 Falcon lead.
The teams traded scores, as Tyriq Lewis score to close the gap to 21-14, Bond apparently hauled in a 33 yard pass from Kohler to put the Pennsbury lead back to 14 at 28-14 midway through the second quarter.
From there- the game was dominated by Downingtown West. Terrence Gainer scored from 8 yards out to cut the Falcons’ lead to 28-21, and Will Howard threw a 16 yard pass to Julian Williams to tie the game at 28-28 going into halftime.
Coming out of halftime, it took Downingtown West two plays (aided by 3 penalties by Pennsbury) to take a 35-28 on a Howard pass to Mahmoud from 32 yards out. After a short punt, Tyriq Lewis scored his third touchdown on the night on the first play of the drive, to put West up 42-28. Pennsbury closed the score to 42-35, on JayVon McNeill’s third score- the final time Pennsbury found paydirt. Tyriq Lewis put the Whippets up 49-35 on a 27 yard run, and 56-35 on a 3 yard run. Terrence Gainer put the stamp on this one, on a 7 yard run.
West put up 481 yards of offense- 116 passing and two touchdowns by Will Howard, along with 365 yards rushing led by Tyriq Lewis’ 218.
Pennsbury had 502 yards of offense in the loss. CJ Kolher threw for 139 yards, and the Falcons rushed for 363 yards- led by JayVon McNeill’s 158 yards and 3 scores (24 carries), and Brad Mickles’ 142 yards and a score (23 carries).
