O'Donnell, Khan, and a meltdown enables Warriors to advance, 35-13.

-Paul Sarpen

    Tonight in a rematch of a game played November 2nd, the West Chester Henderson Warriors downed the Cougars of Downingtown East, 35-13.  The Warriors won the National Division of the Ches-Mont League two weeks ago, when they defeated Downingtown East 20-0.  Henderson's second triumph over the Cougars, enabled the Warriors to advance on to the District 1 semifinals- either at Central Bucks South, or home against Downingtown West.  At the time of the article, Downingtown West was defeating Central Bucks South 38-30 in the fourth quarter.

    During the first quarter, Henderson moved the ball through the Cougar defense like a bull in a china shop.  The Warriors had 191 yards of offense, keyed by the three pronged option attack of John O'Donnell, Jabair Khan, and Russell Jacobs.  Jacobs broke a 42 yard run on the Warriors first play from scrimmage, yet the drive stalled and Henderson gave up the ball on downs.  Unfortunately for Downingtown East, they were unable to capitalize on the field position, and punted the ball back to the Warriors. 

    Following the Downingtown East punt- it took Henderson only two plays to score, as quarterback John O'Donnell scampered 60 yards on a quarterback draw, to make it 6-0.  Following another three and out by the Cougars- Henderson expanded their lead to 14-0, this time Jabair Khan rumbled to paydirt from 30 yards out.

    However, the injury bug struck Henderson early in the second quarter.  One part of the three headed monster that is the Henderson rushing attack in Russell Jacobs, sprained his ankle following a 12 yard carry.  Jacobs' status for the District One semi-final is uncertain. 

    For the time being, Downingtown East made a game of it- scoring 13 unanswered points, spanning the second and third quarters.  A 6 yard touchdown pass from Pete O'Connor to Derek McKinley, made the score 14-6 at halftime.  The Cougars took the second half kickoff, and cut their deficit to 14-13, when O'Connor ran a quarterback sneak on a 4th down and goal. 

    Once the third quarter ended, it was obvious that Downingtown East had all the momentum, and was mounting a comeback, as they did last week against Souderton.  This week was a completely different story.  As poised as the Cougars were in scoring 14 points in the final five minutes last week, they looked equally inept tonight.  Following a Warrior touchdown, Pete O'Connor lost a fumble on their first play from scrimmage.  Six plays later, John O'Donnell scampered 30 yards, expanding the Warriors' lead to 28-13.  The ensuing kickoff was a perfect display of the Cougars' ineptitude, as they tried to lateral the ball all over the field.  The ball was batted into the end zone, where Dave Lundquist recovered it to close out the scoring.

QUOTABLE-

Henderson coach Joe Walsh- "Once Russell went out, we tried plugging things to work.  Our players made key catches, something we could not do all year.  As far as the option goes, no one is better than Johnny O.  He is the man.  As it pertains to Downingtown West, it is nice to play someone that we are familiar with, but they're just as familiar with us.  West has a score to settle with us, and it will be a nice challenge."

Henderson quarterback John O'Donnell- "Our offensive line kept working all night, blocked well, and made clutch blocks.  It got much tougher without Russell."

Downingtown East coach Mike Matta- "They did a lot of things that caught us off guard. We have been through a lot this season, losing Mohammad, new members of the coaching staff.  They did a great job, it has been a great and difficult year. 

Downingtown East 0-6-7-0-13

West Chester Henderson- 14-0-0-21-35

Scoring
First Quarter-         WCH- O'Donnell 60 run (kick failed)

                              WCH- Khan 30 run (O'Donnell pass to Williams)

Second Quarter-     DHSE- McKinley 6 pass from O'Connor (kick failed)       

            Third Quarter-        DHSE- O'Connor 1 run (McKinley kick)

Fourth Quarter-      WCH- O'Donnell 30 run (O'Donnell kick)

                              WCH- Khan 7 run (O'Donnell kick)

                               WCH- Lundquist recovered fumble in end zone (O'Donnell kick)
Team Totals

                                    DHSE              WCH
First downs                  11                    15       

Yards rushing               23-81               49-308  

Yards passing               167                  57

Total yards                   248                  365

Passing                         11-26-2           3-4-0

Fumbles-Lost               2-2                  1-0

Penalties                       3-30                 4-30

Punts-Avg.                               4-32.8              4-34.8

Individual Statistics
RUSHING – Downingtown East- O’Connor 6-20 TD, Wilson 10-47, Goetz 6-12,  Zielinski 1-2

West Chester Henderson- O'Donnell 19-157 2TD, Khan 23-75 2TD, Jacobs 2-52, Mann 5-12

PASSING – Downingtown East- O’Connor 11-26 167 yards, 1 td, 2 int

West Chester Henderson- O'Donnell 3-4, 57 yards
RECEIVING – Downingtown East- Savastio 1-14, Thurm 1-8, McKinley 6-137 1td,  Hummel 1-0, Weber 1-8, Matta 1-0