WHIPPETS 'KHAN-NED', WARRIORS ADVANCE TO DISTRICT FINAL, 36-24

-Paul Sarpen

 

Tonight, the West Chester Henderson Warriors defeated their third straight opponent from Chester County, and second straight Ches-Mont League foe in Downingtown West, 36-24.  With the win, the Warriors advance to the District One AAAA championship, to play Ridley.

 

The loss of Russell Jacobs to a sprained ankle last week was a non issue, as Temple bound halfback Jabair Khan rushed for 295 yards and 3 touchdowns.  Khan's first score came on the Warriors' second play from scrimmage- on a 68 yard run.  John O'Donnell missed the extra point, and the Warriors had a 6-0 lead.

 

When down 6-0, the Whippets answered immediately with 10 points on their next two possessions- the touchdown came on a 20 yard pass from Nolan Kearney to Jared Heller, and a 22 yard field goal by Owen Phillips.  Downingtown West took a 17-6 lead and appeared to run the Warriors out of their own stadium, when Jared Heller scored from four yards out.   Henderson narrowed the lead to 17-14, when John O'Donnell found Dave Lundquist in the end zone from 28 yards out.

 

After forcing a Downingtown West punt to start the second half, Henderson took a 22-17 lead, when John O'Donnell found a wide open Jack Cunningham for a 38 yard touchdown pass.  Sensing an opportunity to re-take the lead, Downingtown West drove back down the field, and failed to convert on fourth down.  Any opportunity for a Whippet comback was quickly squelched, when Jabair Khan extended Henderson's lead to 30-17 with a 60 yard run, and 2 point conversion.

 

Downingtown West made a game of it, when Ryan Miller took a shovel pass from Kearney to close the gap to 30-24 with 5:30 left in the game.  That is as close as the Whippets would get, as Jabair Khan closed out the scoring with a 4 yard run.

 

Downingtown West 10-7-0-7- 24

WC Henderson- 6-8-8-14- 36

Scoring
First Quarter-     WCH- Khan 68 run (kick failed)

                          DHSW- Heller 20 pass from Kearney (Phillips kick)

                          DHSW- Phillips 22 FG

Second Quarter-DHSW- Heller 4 run (Phillips kick)

                          WCH- Lundquist 28 pass from O'Donnell (Khan run)

Third quarter-     WCH- Cunningham 38 pass from O'Donnell (Khan run)

Fourth quarter-   WCH- Khan 60 run (Khan run)

                           DHSW- Miller 30 pass from Kearney (Phillips kick)

                           WCH- Khan 4 run (run failed)

Team Totals

                                    DHSW             WCH
First downs                  15                    20       

Yards rushing               24-91               50-376  

Yards passing               257                  91

Total yards                   348                  458

Passing                         17-27-0           4-8-0

Fumbles-Lost                  5-2               3-2

Penalties                       4-33                 5-25

Punts-Avg.                               1-32                 1-22

Individual Statistics
RUSHING – Downingtown West- Kearney 9-23, Heller 9-47 TD, McLaughlin 2-13, Boggs 4-8

Henderson- Khan 26-295 3td, O'Donnell 13-38, Mann 9-33, Morgan 1-9, Burkenstock 1-1

PASSING – Downingtown West- Kearney 17-27-257 yards, 2 TD

Henderson- O'Donnell 4-8-91 yards, 2 td
RECEIVING – Downingtown West- Pirri 4-35, Heller 2-35, Ludwig 9-150, McLaughlin 2-13

Henderson- Cunningham 1-38 td, Lundquist 3-57