CRUSADE DENIED... COUGARS STOMP OUT CRUSADERS, 35-20

 

In the opening week of High School football in Chester County, the Downingtown East Cougars extracted some revenge on Lansdale Catholic, 35-20.  Last season, the Cougars were handed a season-opening defeat in Lansdale by the newest member of the Philadelphia Catholic League. 

 

During last season's game, Downingtown East discovered a young talent at quarterback in rising junior Trey Lauletta.  Lauletta struggled mightily in last year's contest, but has matured in a big way in the year since.  Tonight, East head coach Mike Matta heaped some high praise on Lauletta, when he stated that Lauletta is a "mature kid", and the fact that he is a strong leader.  Lauletta proved Matta right during tonights game, as he had a solid opener- completing 11-21 passes for 179 yards and 3 scores. 

 

I will give Trey credit, his quarterbacking skills have improved the more he played during last season, and getting better this season.  He threw some impressive deep balls to wideouts Tyler Kroft (26 yards), and Eric Baretta (55 yard touchdown).  I will go as far as to compare his deep ball to Pat Devlin and Pete O'Connor- which is high praise, Devlin's starting at Delaware, after shredding the Pennsylvania record books.

 

However, it was not all about Lauletta and the offense, but more about the defense forcing six turnovers.  The offense took advantage of the Crusader miscues, leading to 21 of their 35 points.  Coach Matta and Lauletta gave a lot of credit to the defense- as Lauletta stated that the "Defense put us in a lot of good positions with the turnovers".  Matta stated that "the defense did a lot of things good tonight, and the front seven dominated the line of scrimmage".  Meanwhile, the Cougar secondary has three new starters, but they more than held their own.

 

The turnover "Crusade" for Lansdale Catholic began on their first drive, as they lost a fumble- which the Cougars capitalized on right away.  It only took four plays for Downingtown East to take a 7-0 lead, as Lauletta hit Tyler Kroft for a 15 yard toss.  Following a Crusader punt, as the Cougar offense went on a 85 yard Crusade through Lansdale Catholic's defense for a 14-0 lead, when Lauletta hit Baretta for the 55 yard score.  It only went from bad to worse, as Lansdale Catholic turned it over deep in their own territory, and the Cougars staked claim to a 21-0 lead 5 seconds into the second quarter, when Drew Harris scored from six yards out.

 

Lansdale Catholic would not go away quietly however, as the Crusaders cut the lead to 21-13- with touchdown runs by Mike Bradley on a perfectly executed triple option play, and a 10 yard Ryan Tiedeman counter run.  Downingtown East emptied their bench, after expanding their lead to 35-13- on a 16 touchdown pass from Trey Lauletta to Baretta, and a Mike DiStefano 1 yard touchdown run.