Strong play all around leads to 28 points in opening 14 min. against Haverford
By Kyle Carrozza, Staff Writer, The Times
James Clark returns a kick.
CALN – As if a 10-0 regular season was not enough, Coatesville produced a statement win at home on Friday night, scoring 28 points in just over a quarter en route to a 35-12 playoff victory over Haverford High School in the opening round of the District One, AAAA playoffs.
Receiving the opening kickoff, junior quarterback Jordan Young and senior running back Jalen Hudson marched their team down the field to go up a touchdown early. The two combined for solid gains through the air and on the ground, culminating with a 15-yard pass from Young to senior wide receiver James Clark.
Haverford had little chance to respond when Coatesville’s senior safety Jay Stocker grabbed an interception three plays into the following drive. In single coverage, Stocker read the pass well and out jumped the wide receiver to grab the ball.
“We have a lot of confidence in our secondary,” said Coatesville Head Coach Matt Ortega. “In the back, that was our strength coming in, and obviously they showed that tonight.”
Coatesville converted the turnover into points with strong runs by Young and Hudson to get the offense into Haverford territory. On the first play of the drive, Hudson showed vision and agility, taking a handoff to the left, not finding any holes, and bringing the play back to the right to turn a potential loss into a 12-yard gain. Hudson had 56 rushing yards in the first quarter.
“My O-linemen, they did all the work for me; I just ran the ball,” said Hudson.
Coatesville went to one of its most successful plays to finish the drive as Young found senior tight end Amir Ealey in the seam for a 29-yard touchdown. The score put the home side up 14-0 less than halfway into the first quarter.
Steven Lentz gets a first quarter sack. Coatesville’s front seven owned the line against the run and pass.
The defense again came up big with two minutes left in the quarter with senior linebacker Nick Tucci grabbing an interception.
“That group keeps getting better and better, and they’ve surprised us all year. They came out here and did what we always did,” said Ortega.
Coatesville kickstarted the late first quarter drive with a 38-yard bubble screen to senior wide receiver Keenan Coleman to get past midfield. Completions to Ealey and Young put the team on the four, where Young kept to make it a three touchdown game early in the second quarter.
Haverford did not have a chance to respond at all this time, when Coatesville junior Tyler Grove recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff. Two plays later, Young found Coleman in the endzone for a 25-yard touchdown pass. Young threw for 221 yards and three touchdowns and ran for two of his own in the first half.
With the score 28-0 with 10:09 left in the second quarter, the teams exchanged punts for much of the rest of the half until Haverford’s multifaceted rushing attack started to gain some ground. Senior running back John Kim became the focus for the offense in the run and pass games, allowing junior quarterback Jack Donaghy to connect with senior wide receiver Dan Boyle for a 5-yard score.
Coatesville’s defense swarms the running back in the backfield.
Getting the ball back with 1:01 left, Young once again showed off in the hurry up offense, completing passes to Stocker, Clark, and Ealey to squeeze one more touchdown into the first half. On one play, Young had to pick up a bad snap but still had the presence to complete a 45-yarder to Stocker. Young finished with his feet, sneaking the ball in for a 1-yard touchdown run with no time left on the clock.
The remainder of the game looked like garbage time, with Coatesville running out the clock in the second half.
Coatesville’s senior defensive back Stevie Pugh grabbed the defense’s third interception, and Haverford’s Kevin Maloney would run another one in, but the game never looked contested after the break.
Coatesville will face a ChesMont rival next week in the second round of the playoffs after Henderson put up a landslide 40-13 victory over North Penn. Coatesville won 21-3 at home the last time the teams met, but Ortega is weary of jumping to conclusions.
“It’s the second round of the playoffs. Throw records out, throw whatever happened out in the regular season. It’s a playoff game, it’s a whole new season,” he said.
