DiGiovanni

And, North Penn is known as a team that is known for stopping the run better than anyone.

It was not so much the number of yards gained or how many touchdowns the Cougars scored, it was the way the massive Downingtown East offensive line effectively took the will out of the vaunted North Penn defense. You never like to use the word “quit” on a team, especially a proud team coached by Dick Beck, but it did not seem like the Knights wanted any part of the Cougar offense come the fourth period Friday night.

North Penn will be back and will still be a factor in the 6A playoffs, but Friday night Matta and East showed Chester County, 1. MALVERN PREP 2. COATESVILLE 3. DOWNINGTOWN EAST 4. DOWNINGTOWN WEST 5. BISHOP SHANAHAN 6. UNIONVILLE 7. OXFORD Coatesville and the rest of District 1, that, yes, they are still the Cougars and they still will have to be dealt with.

The other Downingtown squad, Mike Milano’s West Whippets, made a different kind of statement Friday night way up in New Jersey against Wayne Valley, a team that defeated West last season at Kottmeyer Stadium. It was a welcome change after a season rife with turmoil and a very un-Whippet like 4-6 record.

Despite the West players’ and coaches’ proclamations that things would be different than last season, an ugly 38-0 opening week loss at Perkoimen Valley had the vultures out again for blood, as it looked like the Whippets’ season was going to be derailed after just one week.

But, sophomore quarterback Will Howard completed 14 of 18 passes for 215 yards and the Whippet defense came alive in a 24-13 win. So, all Week 1 showed was that Perkiomen Valley is better this season than people think, and that this bunch of Whippets from West are very tired of taking it on the chin.

The Whippets stopped the bleeding, stopped the noise from detractors and showed the Ches-Mont and District 1, that they still may be a player this season. The road gets does not get any easier for Milano’s crew with a road game against Neshaminy and a tough Ches-Mont test with a mad Coatesville team.

But, the beauty of high school football is that it shows character and desire week to week. And with Milano at the the helm, he was not going to let his troops feel sorry for themselves.

So, it was only Week 2, but both Downingtown teams made loud statements about who they are. A life lesson learned and it really does not get any better than that.

Peter DiGiovanni covers high school football for Digital First Media and PaPrepLive.com. You can contact him at pdigiovanni07@gmail. com. Follow him on Twitter @PeteDLN.