Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Ches-Mont takes its lumps from PAC
The first week of the scholastic football season is in in the books, and the Ches-Mont League took some lumps, especially from the newlook Pioneer athletic Conference.
The PAC went 3-1 over the ChesMont, with only Great Valley holding up the Ches-Mont banner, defeating Phoenixville 38-0.
Strong 6A squads Perkiomen Valey and Spring-Ford downed Downingtown West and Unionville, respectively, with 5A power Academy Park putting a 25-6 whipping on West Chester East. Now, Perkiomen Valley and SpringFord are both top teams in District 1 and both will be playoff teams again this season, but it was not that long ago that the Ches-Mont would wipe out the larger PAC schools. But, at the largest classification, the PAC has really come on in the last three years.
Whippets Roll the Dice
Downingtown West showed how tough its offense is going to be to stop this season as the Whippets roared back from a 42-14 deficit to fall one point short in a 42-41 defeat. West went for the twopoint conversion and the win at the end of the game but fell short, as Mike Milano rolled the dice with his high-powered offense.
The Whippets have another tough game this week as Wayne Valley (N.J.) invades Kottmeyer Stadium a week before Neshaminy, one of the District 1 Class 6A fa-
vorites, comes calling on the Whippets.
Downingtown West junior quarterback Kyle Geiser was very impressive in his first varsity start, as were Bryce Lauleta of Downingtown East and freshman Ricky Ortega of Coatesville. The ChesMont looks set at quarterback for the foreseeable future with these impressive young arms.
Small School, Big Win
It was also a big win for Octorara, as the smallest school in the Ches-Mont rolled over Springfield (Montco) 47-20. The Braves rushed for an impressive 372 yards and were led by Scott Burridge, who totaled 180 yards on 15 carries and scored four touchdowns.
The Braves are one of only six District 1 schools playing in Class 4A, and only two of those six teams will miss the district playoffs under the new format. The Braves travel to Twin Valley this week to take on former West Chester East and West Chester Henderson assistant Dean Owens and his Raiders. Octorara has a good chance of going 2-0 for the first time in school history.
Around the District
Notable games around District 1 included Neshaminy
downing Roman Catholic 28-20, and North Penn winning its first season opener since 2007 by defeating a good La Salle team, 33-24.
Sloppy Start
When the NFL gives its players four preseason games to get ready, but the PIAA has now cut teams down to just one scrimmage, something is out of whack. Teams lost between eight to 10 practices, and that may explain the sloppy play and penaltyplagued contests in Week 1. August 26 is too early a start date for high school football, but the PIAA is really only concerned with generating revenue, and if you can expand the playoffs,
then they go all in.
City Slickers
Bishop Shanahan went to Northeast Philadelphia to take on 6A George Washington Saturday and wiped out the host Eagles, 56-13. George Washington has 1,900 students, but with school still two weeks away in Philadelphia, GW had just 23 players in uniform against the visitors. Shanahan quarterback Nick Skulski was seven for nine for 120 passing yards and two touchdowns, with all of that coming in less than a half before he sat down to rest.
Shanahan head coach Paul Meyers is a 1990 graduate of George Washington, and he tried to keep the score down as 1. DOWNINGTOWN EAST 2. COATESVILLE 3. DOWNINGTOWN WEST 4. MALVERN PREP 5. WEST CHESTER RUSTIN 6. GREAT VALLEY 7. BISHOP SHANAHAN
best he could. Meyers pulled his first team way before halftime and ran the football for the entire second half. Good to see sportsmanship on the first week of the 2016 season.
Looking Forward
Two big tests for area
teams coming up in Week 2 as Downingtown east travels to Lansdale to take on big, bad North Penn. The Cougars hope to exorcise some past demons the Knights have inflicted. Coatesville welcomes perennial state power Cumberland Valley, meaning we’ll get a clearer picture of where the Red Raiders are this week. Malvern Prep opens its season in New Jersey with a road date against a very strong St. Augustine Prep squad.
Peter DiGiovanni covers high school football for Digital First Media. He can be reached at pdgiovanni07@gmail. com. Follow him on Twitter @PeteDLN.