WEST CHESTER — With the Ches-Mont League going to three mini-divisions last season, it’s not until week eight most of its teams get to square off against their rivals.
Friday at J. Oscar Dicks Stadium, the tension was palpable, with West Chester East visiting West Chester Henderson for their Central Division opener.
Both offenses were ready for battle, and both defenses made the occasional play, but the special teams, well they weren’t quite ready for those stakes.
East made a field goal, but failed on all four of its point after attempts, while Henderson was 1-4 on PATs but missed a field goal in a 27-26 win by the Vikings.
“It’s a lot of fun playing in this game, and it’s a good experience for the kids,” said East coach Dean Owens, a Henderson alum. “It’s always been a rivalry, even when back when I was playing in the 90’s. We used to say at Henderson, if you didn’t win a game all year, but you beat East, that’s all that mattered. So it’s a rivalry still, and I think that’s credit to those guys. They had a great game plan.”
Despite being without star receiver, Chase Kearney, who was injured, things went about as good as Henderson (0-1 Central, 4-4 overall) could’ve hoped, at least early on. The Warriors blew past their season average of rushing yards (86.4) with 211, and limited East’s big play ability the majority of the night.
The end of the second and third quarters will haunt the Warriors. Late in the second, Henderson had a first-and-goal at the East two before getting stuffed for losses on two straight runs. An incompletion on third set up a 23-yard field goal, which was blocked with under a minute left in the half.
East (1-0, 6-2) led 9-6 at halftime, but Matt Wagner scored early in the third to give Henderson a 12-9 lead.
The Vikings responded with a 69-yard drive capped by a seven-yard touchdown pass from Logan Cummings to Chase Golden, and they led 15-12.
After surviving a lost fumble in East territory, Henderson got the ball back but went three-and-out.
On the punt, the snap went awry before being fielded and hastily punted for a net-loss of five yards.
East made Henderson pay with a nine-yard TD from Cummings to Szollose on the ensuing drive.
“It’s tough,” Henderson coach Bob Brice said. “When you have that decision, when you score a touchdown, what gives us the best opportunity to get a point after?”
The Warriors would not surrender, however, and a 55-yard pass from Jaxon Cherup to Tom Smith set up a six-yard TD run by Cherup, to make it, 21-18.
Szollose would not be stopped the next possession, as he ran for the first 30 yards of the drive before Cummings scrambled to the end zone for the last six.
Szollose tallied 101 of his 169 rush yards in the second half and Cummings was 4-for-6 for 66 yards and two scores after the break.
“It was a very competitive game,” Szollose said. “We knew what we were coming into. East versus Henderson is always a very competitive game and we’re happy to come out on top.”
Henderson would not go away, scoring again with just over two minutes to go. Wagner scored his third TD of the night and he finished with 179 yards on the ground, after entering the game with 256 yards in four games.
“We came out in a nickel defense, thinking they were going to throw, and they stuck to the ground game,” Owens said. “I kind of thought they might do that, knowing (Henderson’s) Dan Ellis, and how good of an offensive coordinator he is. (Wagner) was running his (butt) off all night. They were owning us on the O-line. We were getting blown off the ball, so credit to them, they just came out and punched us in the face in the first half.”
East recovered Henderson’s onsides kick to ice the game, and will host West Chester Rustin next week for the unofficial Central championship game.
“The seniors this year are fantastic,” Owens said. “They don’t quit. At halftime it felt like we were losing, but credit to them, we dug it out and we’re still finding ways to win.”
West Chester East 27, West Chester Henderson 26
West Chester East 6 3 6 12-27
West Chester Henderson 6 0 6 14-26
Scoring
First
WCE- Szollose 3 run (kick failed)
WCH- Wagner 11 run (kick blocked)
Second
WCE- McKenna 27 FG
Third
WCH- Wagner 22 run (run no good)
WCE- Golden 7 pass from Cummings (kick blocked)
Fourth
WCE- Szollose 9 pass from Cummings (kick failed)
WCH- Cherup 6 run (run failed)
WCE- Cummings 6 run (kick failed)
WCH- Wagner 5 run (Cherup run)
Team Totals
WCE WCH
First downs 16 13
Yards rushing 190 211
Yards passing 127 124
Total yards 317 335
Passing 10-17-0 10-18-0
Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-1
Punts-avg 0-0 1-(-5)
Penalties-yds 7-57 5-65
Individual Statistics
Rushing: WCE — Szollose 28-169, TD; Komorowski 2-14; Cummings 5-7, TD. WCH — Wagner 27-179, 3 TDs; Cherup 8-24, TD; Garcia 2-8.
Passing: WCE — Cummings 10-17-0, 127 yards, 2 TDs. WCH — Cherup 10-18-0, 124 yards.
Receiving: WCE — Anderson 2-50; Golden 4-27, TD; Kendro 1-26; Szollose 2-20, TD; Costa 1-4. WCH — Smith 1-55; Turse 3-28; Scott 1-20; J. Lewis 2-11; T. Lewis 3-10.
Source: Berkshire mont
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