{"id":7151,"date":"2014-08-30T10:06:27","date_gmt":"2014-08-30T14:06:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=7151"},"modified":"2014-08-30T10:05:12","modified_gmt":"2014-08-30T14:05:12","slug":"season-preview-d-town-east-opens-with-win-new-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=7151","title":{"rendered":"Season preview: D-Town East opens with win, new hope"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cougars look to return to playoff form<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By Denny Dyroff<\/strong>,\u00a0Staff Writer, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"downingtown_east\"<\/a>DOWNINGTOWN \u2014 The phrases \u201cDowningtown East football\u201d and \u201cDistrict 1 Class AAAA playoffs\u201d go together like \u201cham and eggs\u201d or \u201cpeanut butter and jelly.\u201d It\u2019s an anomaly when they are separated — like they were last year.<\/p>\n

If Friday’s night’s contest against Frankford was any indication, the Cougars’ return to form might just be well on its way. East rolled up an easy 45-6 \u2014 it led 45-0 at the half \u2014 cruising to the win.<\/p>\n

But last year was anything but easy, as the Cougars finished with a 4-6 record and were reduced to the role of spectators when the 2013 post-season began. For them, it was an unfamiliar — and uncomfortable — position to be in when November arrived.<\/p>\n

\u201cMissing the playoffs last year is definitely a motivator for our players this season,\u201d said East coach Mike Matta. \u201cSo is the fact that we had a losing season. Our kids are definitely motivated. They\u2019ve been working really hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Downingtown East\u2019s team has a lot going for it this season. One is Cary Angeline, a 6-foot, 7-inch junior tight end who has already attracted attention from BCS programs. According to Matta, Angeline could be one of the league\u2019s all-time premier players.<\/p>\n

There was an old TV commercial that asked \u201cWhere\u2019s the beef?\u201d This year, the answer could be \u201con Downingtown East\u2019s line.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur offensive line is one of our strong points,\u201d said Matta. \u201cMike Clark is 6-8, 260 and Mike Rachlin is 6-3, 260. With returning starters, Tyler Zuraski is 6-2, 240 and Bill McGinley is 6-0, 220. And, we have Jay Ingram, who is 6-2, 235, and Omar Mottaleb, who is 6-0, 240.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur quarterback Andrew Hudson started last year and had a good off-season. We run a no-huddle offense and he does a good job with it. We run a Multiple-I and try to establish a ground game. We have three fullback\/halfbacks who are very good — Jack Kincade, Nik Abando and Keith Connor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think we can run the ball but we also should have a good run-pass ratio. Our top receiver is Danny Chisena. He\u2019s really fast. He\u2019s a senior who was the champion in the 200-meter dash at last year\u2019s Ches-Mont Championships.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cougars\u2019 defense has a very strong linebacker corps with Tyler Buban, Adam Stata, Brody Wilson along with six returning starters in the front seven and two starting safeties returning. Key veterans are defensive back Justin Cohen and linemen Thad Stevenson, Pat Matte, Caleb Fell and Chris Hartoonian.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to be aggressive — pin our ears back and go after people,\u201d said Matta. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to re-establish what we had 10 years ago. We play a 4-3 defense — an aggressive bend-don\u2019t-break defense.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cougars have a trio of tough non-league games at the start of the season to help prepare them for Ches-Mont League National Division competition — games against top teams from the Philadelphia Public League, the Philadelphia Catholic League and the Inter-Ac.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur first three games are a real challenge,\u201d said Matta. \u201cWe start with Frankford High, which lost by 10 to St. Joe\u2019s Prep in the District 12 championship game. Then, we play Roman Catholic — a team from the Philadelphia Catholic League that is always tough. And then there\u2019s Haverford School, which should be one of the top teams in the Inter-Ac this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m optimistic. I\u2019m always optimistic. We\u2019re doing O.K. We have a lot of guys back but we\u2019re still a young team. Everyone is working hard and we\u2019re coming along.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cougars look to return to playoff form By Denny Dyroff,\u00a0Staff Writer, The Times DOWNINGTOWN \u2014 The phrases \u201cDowningtown East football\u201d and \u201cDistrict 1 Class AAAA playoffs\u201d go together like \u201cham and eggs\u201d or \u201cpeanut butter and jelly.\u201d It\u2019s an anomaly when they are separated — like they were last year. If Friday’s night’s contest against […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,13],"tags":[2400,3279,2960],"class_list":["post-7151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-sports","tag-downingtown-east","tag-football","tag-sports-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7151"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7154,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7151\/revisions\/7154"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}