COATESVILLE VS. GARNET VALLEY BREAKDOWN

When Garnet Valley has the ball:

The Jaguars are on their third quarterback of the season, sophomore Ryan Gallagher, but that hardly derails what they do best. That’s run the football, and they have two battering rams that tote the ball 32 times a game between the two of them. Danny Guy (1,279, yards, 16 touchdowns) is the lightning to Matt Lassik’s (1,268, 12) thunder. Coatesville has given up its share of rush yards this postseason, conceding 268 to Harry S. Truman in round one and 235 to Downingtown East a week later. The Red Raiders haven’t faced a triple option team all year, an advantage for the Jaguars. Coatesville benefits from two Division 1 prospects at cornerback in Rutgers commit Avery Young and highly-touted junior Aaron Young. This allows the Red Raiders to stick them in man coverage and keep nine in the box, like they did against Downingtown East. While Coatesville will have numbers at the point of attack, its defenders will have to stick to their keys and trust their eyes or Garnet will get in a flow that is hard to stop. As a result of stacking the box in week nine against the Cougars, Coatesville allowed a couple breakaway touchdown runs with the second and third levels so close to the line of scrimmage. The Jags average 30.2 points and 304.7 rush yards per game, and their style, if they can execute it for 48 minutes, is the kind that can give Coatesville problems.

When Coatesville has the ball:

Coatesville will look to get out and running as fast as possible, as they have much of the year. The Red Raiders have scored exactly 213 points in both the first and second quarters this season and have rarely needed to keep their starters in much after halftime. That might be different this week, as Garnet has outscored its last two playoff opponents 50-0 in the second half of comeback wins against North Penn and Pennridge. Scoring has not been an issue for the Red Raiders, as they’ve outscored their opponents 581-181 this season, with 145 coming in the first three rounds. Offensive coordinator Jim Cantafio has put the ball in sophomore quarterback Ricky Ortega’s hands and trusted him to win the games. And Ortega has flourished. After averaging 8.9 carries per game in the regular season, Ortega has nearly doubled that load in the postseason. He has also not thrown an interception since week three, and with his ability to take off and run, defenses are continuously stressed. If Garnet’s option offense is mostly in a box, Coatesville is more spread out, letting Ortega decide where to attack. Of course, next to him is Aaron Young, who’s 135 rush yards away from 4,000 for his career, and hasn’t run the ball more than 17 times in a game this season. Both teams are rhythm driven, but when the Red Raiders get going, defenses haven’t had answers. Penalties have plagued Coatesville at times, as well as kick coverage. Garnet scored on a long punt return against North Penn two weeks ago. Coatesville’s offense alone is averaging 40.8 points and 436.2 total yards per game, so keeping that unit off the field as much as possible is priority No. 1 for the Jaguars.